The future for Pakistan's minority Christian community is uncertain after the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf this week, says Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada.
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(Photo: AP Images / Emilio Morenatti)Outgoing President Pervez Musharraf inspects a guard on honor before he leaves the presidential house in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Aug. 18, 2008. Musharraf announced his resignation Monday, ending a nearly nine-year tenure that opponents said was hampering the country's shaky return to democracy.
“Even Christians in Pakistan are somewhat mixed in their response,” he said, according to Mission Network News. “There are those that are quite glad to see a return to civilian government, and there are others that are also concerned with, I think, the uncertainty of what is going to happen now for the future.”
Musharraf ended his nine-year reign as Pakistan’s army chief when he stepped down on Monday to avoid impeachment.
Discussions on the new president already ran into trouble on Tuesday when coalition leaders came to blows over the re-appointment of 60 judges who were purged by Musharraf last year because they opposed his election for a second presidential term.
Musharraf was a key U.S. ally in its campaign against terrorism. Now rights groups are anxious to see whether his departure will lead to tighter controls on non-Muslim religions under the largely Islamic coalition government.
Stability took a further knock on Tuesday when a suicide bomb in the compound of a hospital in northwest Pakistan killed 20.
Penner said there was an urgent need for Christian leaders in Pakistan to “help Christians in the country know how to be good citizens at a time when Pakistan needs good citizens.”
“They need people who are concerned about their country and who are going to be able to make a positive impact."
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I do not think that Musharraf help in any way to stop persecution of Christians in Pakistan. Pakistani Christians relied solely on the Holy Spirit of the Lord to protect them from Islamic Jihadist terror attack such as the following.
In January 2008 a Christian medical superintendent in Bannu was kidnapped and held for 25 days
On August 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of Lahore in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians
On June 5, 2006, a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near Lahore when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for polluting the glass. A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a Christian dog.
Bystanders encouraged the beating, because it would be a good deed that would help them in heaven. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized
In February 2006, churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in Denmark, leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police
In November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih.
The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan. However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice.
Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics make hateful speeches about Christians and continue insulting Christians and our faith.
On September 25, 2002, unidentified gunmen shot dead seven people at a Christian charity in Karachi central business district. They entered the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) and shot their victims in the head.
All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.
They can thank "Mr. Evangelical Christendom President" (all roads lead to the same gOd) ... President Bush