ICC Note:

A Christian prayer service at a private residence was disrupted by Muslims as part of an ongoing dispute between the two communities. The Christians have noted that this is the first time they have experienced intolerance from their Muslim neighbors. Pakistan continues to be considered one of the world’s worst persecutors of Christians. Both the government and Muslim-majority population participate in widespread discrimination of Christians while extremist groups operating in Pakistan actively attack Christians and their places of worship.

1/15/2016 Pakistan (The Gospel Herald) – Muslims in a town in Pakistan’s Punjab Province who seized a church property have disrupted a prayer meeting at a private residence, sources said.

After police arranged a reconciliation meeting between the Muslims and members of the congregation in Sialkot District on Jan. 4, the Muslims instead armed themselves with guns and machetes and attacked the Christians’ family members in their homes, said Bashir Masih, a Christian in Nawan Pind, Sadho Mahal, 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Lahore.

Masih said area Muslims have “made it almost impossible” for church members to worship even in their homes.

“We obtained written approval from the district police chief, Rai Ijaz, to hold a three-hour prayer meeting in the private courtyard of a Christian, Javed Masih, on Jan. 3, which was a Sunday,” said Masih, adding that the police chief had also assigned two policemen to provide security at the venue.

When the congregation of about 30 Christians began worshipping, Rashid Jutt, a Muslim in his late 20s, arrived to disrupt the meeting, Masih said.

“The policemen assigned our security were late, therefore one of our boys, Gulshan, stepped forward to stop Jutt from harassing the congregation,” he said. “The two soon started fighting, but we intervened and separated them. Jutt then left, vowing to ‘teach all of us a lesson.'”

Masih said that later in the evening, Christian residents learned that Jutt had filed a report with police accusing Gulshan and five others of torturing him.

“We immediately reached the police station and told the inspector in-charge what had really happened,” Masih said. “He said we could file a counter application against Jutt for disrupting the prayer meeting, but at the same time he advised us to let go of the matter and reconcile with the Muslim youth.”

The police official offered to set up a meeting between both parties the next day, Jan. 4, at a property of the municipal chairman, Chaudhry Arshad.

Masih said that seven Christians went to the site at the scheduled time, but Jutt and his supporters did not show up.

“After waiting for some time, we returned to our homes,” he said. “There we saw Jutt and some 30 other men armed with guns, machetes and batons storming through our houses and beating up our boys. We immediately telephoned the police emergency helpline, and a patrol vehicle arrived there after some time. The police rescued our boys from the attackers’ clutches, but they did not arrest any of the Muslims.”

Instead, police told the Christians to resolve the issue at a village council meeting (Panchayat).

Masih said that although none of the Christians were seriously injured, the area’s 10 to 12 Christian families were shocked and fearful.

“We feel that the entire Muslim community has turned against us for standing up against their aggression,” he said. “Even the local police are on the Muslims’ side, as raids were being conducted to arrest Christian boys while no effort is being made to arrest Jutt and his accomplices, whom we have named in our police complaint for attacking our homes and beating up our boys.”

Noting that this was not the first time area Christians have been persecuted for their faith, he said young Muslim men gang-raped a Christian girl about four months ago. The suspects escaped arrest by forcing the victim’s impoverished family to withdraw the case, he said.

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