ICC Note:
In protest to the September 22 bombing of All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan, Christians and Muslims in Lahore joined together this past Sunday to form a human chain protecting a church. The leaders of the protest preached about unity between Christians and Muslims being the only way to overcome the extremists who have been plaguing Pakistan for many years. Hopefully this is the beginning of a movement that sees a decrease in Christian persecution in Pakistan.
10/8/2013 Pakistan (Opposing Views) – Muslims in Pakistan formed a human shield Sunday at a church in Lahore to protect Christians from terrorist attacks. It was the second such demonstration in the past week, following a similar display of Muslim-Christian unity in Karachi.
Christians, many of them poor, form a tiny minority in Pakistan, making up about 3 percent of the Muslim-dominated country’s 180 million population. Recently, terrorist groups have targeted the Christian minority in what one such group says is a protest against United States drone strikes in the country.
On Sept. 22, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a church in Peshawar, killing more than 80 people and injuring about 130 more. A group calling itself Jundullah claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying that it would continue to target non-Muslims in Pakistan until drone strikes ceased.
“The terrorists showed us what they do on Sundays,” said Mohammed Jibran Nasir, organizer of the human-chain protest. “Here we are showing them what we do on Sundays. We unite.”
At the center of the chain, Muslim cleric Mufti Mohammad Farooq linked hands with the priest at St. Anthony’s Church in Lahore, Father Nasir Gulfam.
The anti-terrorism protesters carried signs reading “Many faiths, one God” and “One Nation, One Blood.” The protest was organized by a group called Pakistan For All.
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