Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a wave of persecution against the religious minority groups has again started with the connivance of military and local authorities. In the recent days more than 100 graves of Ahamadis were desecrated by excavating the graves and breaking the headstones bearing the names of the dead persons. The same happened with a Hindu temple which was destroyed along with the houses by the military authorities, allegedly after being bribed by a private builder who wanted to grab the land. In another case a six-year-old girl from the Hindu community was raped in a bid to push the Hindu community to leave the country and take refuge in India. Also, a 70-year-old Swedish Christian missionary was shot at and is in critical condition. Her cook was also beaten up by the unknown persons two days before the incident.
CASE NARRATIVES:
The military of Pakistan demolishes the Hindu temple:
The Military Estate Office, which assisted a private builder in the demolition of a Hindu temple and houses in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar, on December 2, insists that the Hindu community has encroached on the precious land for commercial building. Despite debris lying over the compound, the president’s notice and the angry protests by the Hindu community the Director of Military Lands and Cantonment Zeenat Ahmed was adamant to acknowledge that the Shri Rama Pir Mandir had not been damaged. She says that her people have told her that the deities were all in sound condition. In her attempt to humiliate the Hindu community she said that “the people who had deities in their homes had deliberately put them in front of the debris of the damaged houses. This was done to present a wrong picture that the temple was destroyed.” She was referring to the photo graphs printed in the newspapers and the video clips of different electronic channels. She also confessed that military did the operation when a builder approached him and the temple was already in bad condition.
The insulting statement from the director has infuriated the Hindu community and they rejected the idea that the army had the right to demolish the houses and temple of a marginalized community. In fact, the land belongs to the Evacuee Property Trust Board which has nothing to do with the cantonment board, the military. The temple was constructed around seven years before the creation of Pakistan and at the time the property belonged to India. It is interesting to note that the provincial High Court of Sindh had already given the stay order against the demolition of the temple which has still not been vacated.
This action of the army is a gross violation of UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which Pakistan has already ratified and pledged before the UN Human Rights Council that it will follow all the articles of the ICESCR. However, the military always acts as if it is above the law.
It is astonishing that the military has come to such a point where it started working at the behest of an ordinary builder with legal requirements. It is no more a secret that the Pakistan Rangers has illegally occupied much land in Karachi in the name of maintaining law and order in the city. They also have occupied many public schools and their buildings and it is very difficult to get them off public land.
Ahmadis graveyards desecrated:
15 gunmen attacked the Ahmadiyya Graveyard in Model Town, Lahore on December 3, desecrating more than 120 graves of Ahmadi community. They also tortured the watchman and caretakers in a bid to start a new phase of intimidation against Ahmadis, a minority sect which was declared by the constitution as the non-Muslims.
The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan has been under attack for last several years and in this latest incident, 15 masked and armed men attacked the graveyard and shattered the tombstones and headstones of more than 120 graves.
According to police, eyewitnesses, watchmen and locals of the area, at around 1:30 am (after midnight) the attackers entered the graveyard through a seven foot high wall and tied up the watchman. The watchman was able to call his seniors and when he did this the attackers snatched his phone and tortured him. The attackers told him that they were from the banned Muslim religious organizations, the Lashkare Tayba and the Taliban.
To-date the Punjab provincial authorities have yet not arrested any of the attackers. It has been observed that Punjab provincial authorities have the mindset of hating the Ahmadis and that is the reason that not a single perpetrator has been arrested. Indeed, in the recent incidents of attacks against Ahmadis no one has yet been arrested. The Punjab government every year holds a conference against the Ahmadis in the name of Namoos-e-Risalat (in the honour of last prophet of Islam). That is the reason the perpetrators, particularly the banned Islamic militant organizations, never face any resistance from the authorities.
A six year old Hindu girl was raped:
A six years old minor girl from the Dalit (untouchable) and student of class 1, Wijenti Meghwar was raped in Umerkot district of Sindh province, a city at the Indian border where a sizeable population from the Hindu religion lives. The rapist belongs to a political party which has close connection with the military. She was found close to the house of former town council chairman of Pithoro. Her father, Manohar Meghwar says that his daughter was playing outside the house when she was abducted. At the time of recovery she was found in a pool of blood and could not move. She was brought to the district hospital where there was no doctor to attend to her. She was then taken to the civil hospital Mirpurkhas district, 60 kilometers away from her home where she remains in critical condition. Despite the fact that the police know the identity of the rapist they have failed to arrest him.
The police are not taking any action because they know that if they take action against the perpetrator the strong Muslim fundamentalists groups will come out on the street in favour of perpetrator and the authorities will use exert pressure for the release of the accused person to appease the Muslim fundamentalist groups. These groups are openly operating in the Hindu areas to forcibly convert them to Islam but authorities cannot apprehend them because of government policies.
70-year-old Swedish Christian missionary shot:
Sister Birgitta Almby, a 70-year-old Swedish Christian missionary, who has been serving the local Christian community for over 38 years, was shot and seriously injured in an attack on December 3.
Sister Birgitta, who is a resident of Model Town and works as the director for Full Gospel Assemblies, left her office in Kot Lakhpat at 2pm for her house when two unidentified men fired shots at her. She was hit in the chest from where the bullet damaged her lungs and jugular vein. Passersby and police rushed her to Jinnah Hospital in serious condition.
Dr Ali Usman of Jinnah Hospital told that the bullet had damaged Birgitta’s lungs. “We have kept her in Intensive Care Unit where her situation is precarious because of excessive bleeding,” he said.
FGA Principal Liaqat Qaiser told Pakistan Today that Sister Birgitta had been ministering in Pakistan for a long. “She never expressed any threats to her life and moved in the city quite comfortably. Pakistan is her home for so many years and everyone who is acquainted with her will vouch for her dedication and commitment to serve the poor and downtrodden Christians”. Almby’s cook Mukhtar told that a few days ago some unidentified men had beaten him up for no reason when he was returning home. This is a very strange incident and we are assuming it might be linked with the attack on Almby.
She was managing three orphanages besides teaching at the FGA Bible School. It’s quite clear that the extremist mindset currently fomenting hatred and unrest in the country is behind this attack. Who else would have any reason to target a harmless elderly foreign lady?
Police say that they are investigating the incident from all angles but nothing concrete could be said at this point of time. Gospel Assemblies, which describes itself as a ‘church fellowship’ was founded in the United States with congregations worldwide. The organisation runs charities in Pakistan including a technical training institute, adult literacy centre and orphanages.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write the letters to the authorities mentioned below calling on them to stop persecution of the religious minority groups in the country. Please urge them to stop the policy of appeasement towards the religious fundamentalist group for their political targets. Please also urge them to take immediate action against the military authorities of Military Lands and Cantonment board of Karachi for working on the bribe provided by the land grabbers for demolishing the worship places of Hindu minority.
The AHRC writes a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Freedom of Religion or Belief calling for his intervention into this matter.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
PAKISTAN: Military demolishes temple, Ahmadis graves desecrated, Six year old Hindu girl was raped and a 70 year old Christian missionary shot
Name of victims:
Religious minority communities
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Military Land and Cantonment Board, Karachi
2. Authorities at Sindh and Punjab provinces
Date of incident: 3 and 4 December, 2012
Place of incident: Karachi, Umerkot, Sindh province and Lahore, Punjab province
I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the continuous persecution, rape, desecration of their paces of worship and attacks on the lives of minorities. The government and provincial authorities are failing to provide protection to their lives and property.
The military demolishes the Hindu temple:
In the first case the Military Estate Office, which assisted a private builder in the demolition of a Hindu temple and houses in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar, on December 2, insists that the Hindu community has encroached on the precious land for commercial building. Despite debris lying over the compound, the president’s notice and the angry protests by the Hindu community the Director of Military Lands and Cantonment Zeenat Ahmed was adamant to acknowledge that the Shri Rama Pir Mandir had not been damaged. She says that her people have told her that the deities were all in sound condition. In her attempt to humiliate the Hindu community she said that "the people who had deities in their homes had deliberately put them in front of the debris of the damaged houses. This was done to present a wrong picture that the temple was destroyed." She was referring to the photo graphs printed in the newspapers and the video clips of different electronic channels. She also confessed that military did the operation when a builder approached him and the temple was already in bad condition.
The insulting statement from the director has infuriated the Hindu community and they rejected the idea that the army had the right to demolish the houses and temple of a marginalized community. In fact, the land belongs to the Evacuee Property Trust Board which has nothing to do with the cantonment board, the military. The temple was constructed around seven years before the creation of Pakistan and at the time the property belonged to India. It is interesting to note that the provincial High Court of Sindh had already given the stay order against the demolition of the temple which has still not been vacated.
This action of the army is a gross violation of UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which Pakistan has already ratified and pledged before the UN Human Rights Council that it will follow all the articles of the ICESCR. However, the military always acts as if it is above the law.
It is astonishing that the military has come to such a point where it started working at the behest of an ordinary builder with legal requirements. It is no more a secret that the Pakistan Rangers has illegally occupied much land in Karachi in the name of maintaining law and order in the city. They also have occupied many public schools and their buildings and it is very difficult to get them off public land.
Ahmadis graveyards desecrated:
In the next incident 15 gunmen attacked the Ahmadiyya Graveyard in Model Town, Lahore on December 3, desecrating more than 120 graves of Ahmadi community. They also tortured the watchman and caretakers in a bid to start a new phase of intimidation against Ahmadis, a minority sect which was declared by the constitution as the non-Muslims.
The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan has been under attack for last several years and in this latest incident, 15 masked and armed men attacked the graveyard and shattered the tombstones and headstones of more than 120 graves.
According to police, eyewitnesses, watchmen and locals of the area, at around 1:30 am (after midnight) the attackers entered the graveyard through a seven foot high wall and tied up the watchman. The watchman was able to call his seniors and when he did this the attackers snatched his phone and tortured him. The attackers told him that they were from the banned Muslim religious organizations, the Lashkare Tayba and the Taliban.
To-date the Punjab provincial authorities have yet not arrested any of the attackers. It has been observed that Punjab provincial authorities have the mindset of hating the Ahmadis and that is the reason that not a single perpetrator has been arrested. Indeed, in the recent incidents of attacks against Ahmadis no one has yet been arrested. The Punjab government every year holds a conference against the Ahmadis in the name of Namoos-e-Risalat (in the honour of last prophet of Islam). That is the reason the perpetrators, particularly the banned Islamic militant organizations, never face any resistance from the authorities.
A six year old Hindu girl was raped:
In the most shocking case a six-year-old minor girl from the Dalit (untouchable) and student of class 1, Wijenti Meghwar was raped in Umerkot district of Sindh province, a city at the Indian border where a sizeable population from the Hindu religion lives. The rapist belongs to a political party which has close connection with the military. She was found close to the house of former town council chairman of Pithoro. Her father, Manohar Meghwar says that his daughter was playing outside the house when she was abducted. At the time of recovery she was found in a pool of blood and could not move. She was brought to the district hospital where there was no doctor to attend to her. She was then taken to the civil hospital Mirpurkhas district, 60 kilometers away from her home where she remains in critical condition. Despite the fact that the police know the identity of the rapist they have failed to arrest him.
The police are not taking any action because they know that if they take action against the perpetrator the strong Muslim fundamentalists groups will come out on the street in favour of perpetrator and the authorities will use exert pressure for the release of the accused person to appease the Muslim fundamentalist groups. These groups are openly operating in the Hindu areas to forcibly convert them to Islam but authorities cannot apprehend them because of government policies.
70-year-old Swedish Christian missionary shot:
Sister Birgitta Almby, a 70-year-old Swedish Christian missionary, who has been serving the local Christian community for over 38 years, was shot and seriously injured in an attack on December 3.
Sister Birgitta, who is a resident of Model Town and works as the director for Full Gospel Assemblies, left her office in Kot Lakhpat at 2pm for her house when two unidentified men fired shots at her. She was hit in the chest from where the bullet damaged her lungs and jugular vein. Passersby and police rushed her to Jinnah Hospital in serious condition.
Dr Ali Usman of Jinnah Hospital told that the bullet had damaged Birgitta’s lungs. "We have kept her in Intensive Care Unit where her situation is precarious because of excessive bleeding," he said.
FGA Principal Liaqat Qaiser told Pakistan Today that Sister Birgitta had been ministering in Pakistan for a long. "She never expressed any threats to her life and moved in the city quite comfortably. Pakistan is her home for so many years and everyone who is acquainted with her will vouch for her dedication and commitment to serve the poor and downtrodden Christians". Almby’s cook Mukhtar told that a few days ago some unidentified men had beaten him up for no reason when he was returning home. This is a very strange incident and we are assuming it might be linked with the attack on Almby.
She was managing three orphanages besides teaching at the FGA Bible School. It’s quite clear that the extremist mindset currently fomenting hatred and unrest in the country is behind this attack. Who else would have any reason to target a harmless elderly foreign lady?
Police say that they are investigating the incident from all angles but nothing concrete could be said at this point of time. Gospel Assemblies, which describes itself as a ‘church fellowship’ was founded in the United States with congregations worldwide. The organisation runs charities in Pakistan including a technical training institute, adult literacy centre and orphanages.
It is astonishing that the military are now working for private builders and assisting them to grab lands which are clearly out of their jurisdiction. As a result even the places of worship of the religious minorities are fair game.
It is appalling that as the elections approach there is a deliberate attempt to persecute the religious minorities in order to win votes from the religious extremists.
I call upon the authorities listed below to ensure immediate and comprehensive investigations into the incidents listed above. The perpetrators must be brought to justice and any authorities found to have failed in their duty must be removed from their offices.
Yours sincerely,
----------------
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
President of Pakistan
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 9204801/9214171
Fax: +92 51 9207458
Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk
2. Mr. Raja Pervez Ashraf
Prime Minister
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1596
Tel: +92 51 920 6111
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk or pspm@pmsectt.gov.pk
3. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
E-mail: pppsindh@yahoo.com
4. Federal Minister for Human Rights
Ministry of Human Rights
Old US Aid building
Ata Turk Avenue
G-5, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +9251 9204108
Email: sarfaraz_yousuf@yahoo.com
5. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk
6. Minister for Human Rights
Government of Sindh
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92,
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9207044
Tel: +92 21 9207043
E-mail: lukshmil@yahoo.com
7. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452
E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk
8. Inspector General of Police
Police Head office, I. I. Chundrigar road
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9212051
E-mail: ppo.sindh@sindhpolice.gov.pk
9. Mr. Lateef Khosa
Governor of Punjab
Governor House
Mall Road
Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 99203044
Email: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk
10. Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial
Chief Justice of Punjab Province
Lahore High Court
Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Lahore
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 42 99212951-66
Fax: +92 42 99212279
Email: webmasterlhc@lhc.gov.pk
11. Mr. Shahbaz Shareef
Chief Minister
Government of Punjab
Province
Chief Minister
Secretariat
5-Club Road
GOR-I, Lahore, Punnjab
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 99205065
Email: cmcomplaintcell@cmpunjab.gov.pk
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
