Dear friends,
We wish to share with you the following statement from Centre for Legal Aid assistance and settlement (CLAAS).
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FST-031-2011
May 03, 2011
A Statement from Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PAKISTAN: The growing situation of the Religious Intolerance in Gujranwala
Following the unanticipated information about a brutal attack on the Christians in Aziz Colony & Gulzar Colony after alleged burning of the Holy Quran in Gujranwala, a CLAAS team headed by Mr. Joseph Francis accompanying with Mr. Nadeem Anthony and Mr. Sohail Habel rushed to the place of incident. The team visited the affected local residents of Aziz Colony & Gulzar Colony, meeting with Rev. Arthur James (Principal Presbyterian Theological Seminary-Gujranwala), police high officials, administrations and various others and found the following:
The Incident: CLAAS team was informed that today (Saturday) early in the morning a copy of a burned Holy Quran was found from the Khokharki graveyard, Gujranwala. The graveyard is nearly situated at the Christians vicinity. According to the details collected by CLAAS the information of alleged burning of a Holy Quran panic-stricken subjected to mob violence.
The Terrorization: The angry mob subsequently armed with sticks, iron rods, stones etc marched towards the Aziz Colony, Gulzar Colony, Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Mission Road, Presbyterian Church, Technical Training Gujranwala (CTTC) and several adjacent churches belongs to different congregations. The infuriated mob blamed the Christians of the area for the burning of the Holy Quran. They protesters chanted slogans during rallies demonstrated from different streets of the area. The enraged mob started their cruelty burning tires set on fire at front gate of the Regional Police Officer (RPO) Gujranwala, Sialkot Road, Aziz Abad, Saeed Abad and Civil Lines. At first the annoyed mob stoned at the newly constructed building of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary and broke the glass.
Brutal Attack in Aziz Colony: The rumors sparked in the vicinity that Pastor Eric Isaac burned the Holy Quran and the protesters approximately comprising over two thousands attacked on his charity school and destroyed everything in the school in particular broke the windows glass, rip apart the doors of the classrooms, exterminate the birds, wrecked the furniture, buffalos made suffer and also tried to kill the person take caring the school.
CLAAS team visited different affected areas and recorded the testimonials of the following:
Mr. Shaukat Gill (the caretaker of the attacked school): Mr. Shaukat Masih aged 50 and resident of Aziz Colony and the caretaker of the wrecked school narrated the whole episode of violent attack and said around 06:30am in the morning two police vehicles came in the school for security. After fifteen minutes of police arrival around 06:45 a mob of hundreds of people entered in the school premises and started breaking the windows glass, rip apart the doors of the classrooms, exterminate the birds, the buffalos were made suffer and also tried to kill him but he managed to escape from the place of occurrence. Mr. Shaukat added that the protesters also destroyed other properties belongs to Pastor Eric Isaac. The CLAAS team looked into the smashed portions of the school accordingly.
Mr. Daniel Masih: Another resident of the Aziz Colony said “he is surprised over the growing situation of religious intolerance and never expected the brutality. He said they wished to live with peace and harmony. He further said that the Christians are peaceful and almost 90% Christians of Aziz Colony and Gulzar Colony fled from their houses over fears of violence and saved their families to avoid any unpleasant incident.
Mr. Hameed Masih: He stated when the protesters were attacking on the school and chanting slogans against Christians he was on his rooftop and saw the whole occurrence. He saw the angry protesters were fully armed with sticks and stones were in their hands but unfortunately was unable to protect.
Pastor Amin: Pastor said they have grave concerns over the worst situation of intolerance and is worried about the law and order state of affairs.
Mr. Rasheed Sabir and Mr. Javed Akhtar: They recalled the situation of two weeks ago, the starting worst situation of the vicinity when Mushtaq Gill and his son Farrukh Mushtaq Gill falsely blamed for the disrespect of Prophet Muhammad and desecrating the pages of the Holy Quran. They further informed CLAAS that the Christians are living here since the creation of Pakistan and no one among the Christians can do such a heinous crime against any religion.
Mrs. Susan: A seventy years old lady stated she is concerned over the situation and sad that the Christians of the locality are out of their homes. She prayed for the Muslim brothers (the protesters) and hoped for peace and harmony in the country. She added that she born here in this colony and how she can leave her place of birth.
Mr. Muhammad Imran (Security In charge): The CLAAS team inquired about the arrest of the alleged accused persons the communal tension including Molvi Irfan, Molvi Majeed, Molvi Malik, Dr. Irfan, Arshad Butt and Sharif Saroyyia alias Changar. Mr. Muhammad Imran informed the CLAAS that soon the criminals will be booked.
Muslim eyewitnesses
The areas Muslims also shared their concerns over the situation and were shocked over the mob violence. They further said the religious fanatics are destabilizing the situation of peace and harmony in the country especially in Gujranwala. Christians of the area are peace loving and never alleged for desecrating the Holy Quran. The so-called members of the religious political parties are promoting anarchy in the country and encouraging the hands of the extremists.
Meeting with Regional Police Officer (RPO) Gujranwala: The CLAAS also was meeting with Mr. Ahmad Raza Tahir (Regional Police Officer-Gujranwala), in the meeting church leaders and senior police officials including Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gujranwala, Superintendent of Police (SP) Cantonment Gujranwala, Superintendent of Police (SP) City, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Investigation Gujranwala etc and other high officials from the district administration were also present in the meeting. The RPO Ahmad Raza briefed about law & order situation and also explained that how the police broken up the mob threatening to burn the Churches, Christian colonies and educational institutions after the alleged burning of the Holy Quran. The police used tear gas, intense aerial firing, and baton-charge and stopped the angry mob to attack. Mr. Ahmad Raza further added that police has been booked 150 protesters so far and the police attentively broke up the plans of attack of the protesters. Six police guards injured and the moment they are out of danger. Finally the RPO gave assurance for the protection of Christians of the area and pledged that the culprits will be punished according to law.
Observations/Findings
1. Pastor Eric Isaac was blamed for the alleged burring of the Holy Quran while he was detained by the police some two days ago.
2. The Christians of the Aziz Colony and Gulzar Colony are still out of their houses.
3. According to the police the situation is under control but the psychological loss is bigger.
4. The economic jealousies against Christians are on high in the vicinity and they are well educated, has their own business and properties.
5. Some unknown people of the area are showing the wrong side of the blasphemy laws and trying to harm the Christians in the name of religion.
6. The timely interventions of the police saved the Christians from the big massacre.
7. The spreading information regarding burning of churches, houses and killings of the Christians were baseless only a school and a home were attacked but the attack damaged the trust.
8. CLAAS also observed that the religious harmony & interfaith committees instead of stopping the enraged protesters they are just holding the meetings and not advising the Muslim protesters.
9. The Muslim residents of the area shared that the attackers were outside form their area and only attack on the school and left the other proprieties of the Christians.
Conclusion
In previous report of communal tension CLAAS has warned about the growing situation of religious intolerance and also was concerned that the furious activities of the religious extremists must be stopped otherwise these incidents of violence will continue in future. Once again the radical used the blasphemy law to settle personal grievance and encourages extremists. Reported By, CLAAS-Pakistan, Joseph_francis2010@yahoo.com
