Menacing Mail
By Aftab Alexander Mughal
15 August, 2007
Countercurrents.orgChristians, Hindus and Sikhs of Peshawar city of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan are living under constant fear after the latest threatening event in which they were asked by the militants to convert to Islam.
For last three months, Christians of Peshawar, Charsadda and Shantinagar have been receiving threatening letters from militants in which they were asked to leave their religion or ready to face the dire consequences. Though the militants have not yet materialized their warnings, Christians all over the country have been living under a continuous trepidation. In a first of its kind incident, Hindus and Sikhs of the frontier province also received the same type of letters.
The anonymous threatening letters were delivered on Aug. 7 and 8. These were mostly dropped in peoples’ houses and posted to the various Churches as well. The letters asked the religious minorities to convert to Islam by Aug. 17 failing which their locality will be destroyed. Religious minorities are only one per cent of the total population of the province, where Muttahida Majlas-e-Amal (MMA, a coalition of Islamic political parties) is the ruling party. Militants’ presence in NWFP is well known and in some of the cities they have be operating freely. Many say that near the Afghanistan border they have their hideouts and training camps.
The letters were posted to Church of Pakistan, Catholic Churches, and other denominations residing within Peshawar. “Quite a large number of people have received it, but we were able to collect around 15 from various people,” Ashar Dean from Peshawar diocese of Church of Pakistan said.
Title of the letter was, “God is great.” The letter says, ‘Long Live Islam,’ ‘Death To Infidels,’ ‘Long Live Jihad (Holy War)’, ‘Death To America’ and ‘Knocking By Death’. The letter stated, ‘All the residents are openly invited to abandon the infidel religion, that is Christianity, embrace Islam and become Muslims, and you will make home for yourself in heaven. Otherwise, after next Friday, Aug. 10, your colony will be ruined. You will be responsible for the death and destruction of your families. Be prepared. This is not just a threat our suicide attackers will eliminate you. Consider this as Knocking by Death.”
The letters written in Urdu did not carry the name of the sender.Christian religious, political and social leaders approached the local security agencies and met the Governor of the province and presented the letter to him.
The letters were mainly sent to the Christian community in the Kohati area, a mixed Christian - Hindu locality in the city, where some of their old places of worship are situated. Christians of Peshawar cantonment area have also received letters.
Christian elders had a meeting with Peshawar City Police Chief Abdul Majeed Marwat on the same day and told him about the terrifying situation. On their request, police patrols had increased in the locality and a number of policemen have been deputed for Christians’ security. Marwat gave assurance to Christians and said that it is primary responsibility of the police to provide security to the minorities.
Bashir Ahmed Bilour, leader of Awami National Party, a secular opposition party in NWFP assembly, has strongly condemned the threatening letters.
No one can deny that militants have a growing strong presence in the province and are active in many parts. They are closing down girls’ schools, barber shops, music and video outlets. In some cases they have even bombed CD and video shops. Formerly they were writing letters only to Muslims with warnings to close down girls’ schools and shops. It is the first time that they have addressed non-Muslims and have asked them to convert to Islam or be ready to face the consequences.
This is the third incident of its kind in the recent months in which the militants addressed non-Muslims to change their religion and convert to Islam.
The first incident of its kind happened when Christian residents of Muslim Colony in Charsadda City of NWFP, received a letter from militants on May 8, asking them to convert to Islam within the next 10 days or leave the area. On May 18 again they found another written message on a wall near a local Church with the same message. Under fear, several Christian families of Charsadda city have fled their homes and still they are living in other cities. Police arrested 3 people in this connection but Christians are skeptical about whether the real culprits have been apprehended or not.During the same period, in Peshawar, two militants put a gun to the head of a junior staff member at the Pakistan Bible Institute and threatened him saying that he should convert to Islam.
Christians of Shantinagar village of Khanewal district in Southern Punjab were shocked when they received 10 letters, written in Urdu, on June 12 from unknown persons by post. Through these letters they were also asked to either convert to Islam or leave the area or be ready to face the consequences. Nobody knows what these consequences would be. Under apprehension, many Christians of the village have left their home and have been staying somewhere else.
Christians of Peshawar cantonment area had a meeting with Senior Superintendent Police Operations Mohammad Tahir Khan. Police officers assured for full protection to them. After the meeting police had taken some measures for the security of their houses and their worship places. Police has also organized a close communication link with the Christian leaders to handle the situation if something unpleasant does happen. Personnel of the Anti-Terrorist Squad had also been deployed at churches and Hindu temples situated in different parts of the city.
A Christian MNA, Member of National Assembly (lower house of the parliament), from Peshawar belonging to the MMA, a pro-Taliban Islamic parties alliance, has also raised the issue on Aug. 10 during a parliament session. He read out the contents of the letter. He urged the government to take a serious note of the incident as it had created a sense of insecurity among the Christians living in Peshawar.
Surprisingly, the speaker of the house, Chaudhry Amir Hussain did not take the matter seriously and asked Masih to remind him about it in the presence of the interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao. Ironically, no other member of Masih’s party, MMA, bothered to speak in support of the MNA. It is not clear, had Masih taken up the issue with his party leadership as the incident had happened in that province where his own party was in power.
Many blame the local as well as the federal government for encouraging extremist elements. “Taliban and other extremist groups, like Lashkar-i-Islam (LI), are openly functioning in many districts of Fata and the NWFP. They are running a parallel government, but nobody stops them,” said a member of the minority community.
It is a serious matter that the militants are operating in 19 of the 24 districts of the NWFP. From 2004 till June, in 106 different attacks 127 people have died and 379 others have been injured in the province. During the last three-and-a-half years, 31 different attacks were prevented by the police. In the first five months some 100 people have been killed and 154 injured in 38 attacks.
It is tragic that with each passing day, minorities feel increasingly unsafe in their own country. Every time a minority community or place of worship is attacked, members move out — be they Christians, Hindus or Sikhs who have been living in their areas for decades. “It will be unwise to take these threats lightly for there is every likelihood that they are seriously meant, especially given the current climate of religious extremism in the province,” a Pakistani English daily warned.
Just after a day when Christians of Shantinagar received intimidating letters, a Christian was murdered in Landi Kotal, NWFP, which aggravated fear of the Christians around the country. A young man, Simi Salman was killed by some unknown person on June 13 in Tatra ground, Landi Kotal. Before Salman’s murder, few Christian pastors were also killed in year 2005 and 2006 at different places in NWFP. Though the police has not still arrested the culprits, Christian leaders suspect that the pastors were killed by some militant groups.
On the day when Christians of Shantinagar received threatening phone calls, June 18, a group of about 30 armed people, provoked by a Union Council nazim (mayor), attacked Christians of Chak 248-RB, Bismillah Pur near Faisalabad city, a predominantly Muslim village, in front of a local Church while they were finalizing the preparation of a Christian convention. Their houses were also attacked to stop their religious gathering in front of the Church. Nine Christians, including 3 women, were seriously injured and taken to the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad. Christians alleged that the hospital administration did not admit the injured persons and they had to wait for hours before getting first aid. They were immediately discharged from the hospital. After the incident, police was reluctant to file an FIR against the offenders, but the FIR was only lodged when Christians organized a protest rally outside Deputy Inspector General (DIG) police’s office in Faisalabad.
Christians, Hindus and Sikhs form a tiny minority in the Frontier. They live under constant pressure exerted by social prejudices and intolerance against them. Many laws also curtail their freedom as equal citizens. The blasphemy law is a classic example, which has been widely misused against them.
A Hindu leader Kishwar Nadeem John confirmed that Hindus have also received letter which had unusual message. Christian, Hindu and Sikh community of Peshawar feel helpless. Especially after MMA’s government the situation has gone from bad to worse. According to Gill Saran Lal, a Hindu member of NWFP provincial assembly, Hindus and Sikhs now feel more unsafe, because now the social integration has finished. “Now, we face more discrimination on the basis of our religion,” another Hindu leaders said.
The recent incidents show the unsafe situation of the religious minorities in their own country. How the state institutions are responding to situations like this is a matter of concern for them. The question of getting status of equal citizenship for the religious minorities guaranteed in the Article 25-A of the Constitution, and getting proper protection to live without any fear still remains unanswered.
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