Slain Pakistani Pastor Possibly Murdered for Evangelizing
The Protestant Pakistani pastor whose body was found last Thursday with his driver’s was possibly murdered for trying to lead Muslims to Christ
The Protestant Pakistani pastor whose body was found last Thursday with his driver’s was possibly murdered for trying to lead Muslims to Christ, according to a UK-based ministry to the persecuted Church.
Although police said that they suspect the motive for the murders of Shamoon Babar and his driver was that Babar’s brother had been having an affair with a Muslim woman, the Barnabas Fund reported on Tuesday that those close to the Pakistani pastor say the real motive has to do with his evangelistic activities.
Prior to the Apr. 5 kidnapping of 37-year-old Babar and 36-year-old Daniel Emmanuel in Peshawar, approximately 120 miles west of the capital of Islamabad, Babar had been accused of trying to convert Muslims and had been receiving anonymous death threats for some time, according to the Barnabas Fund.
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The Karachi-based Dawn Group, one of Pakistan's most widely circulated English language newspaper, reported similarly that Babar had been receiving threats from an unknown group, demanding Rs1.5 million from him.
Shahbaz Bhatti, the Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), believes the murders were a ‘targeted act of terrorism’, intended to intimidate Christians.
“The APMA has strongly condemned the killing of pastors and repeated attacks on Christians,” Bhatti said in a statement released shortly after the discovery of the bodies. “The APMA has asked the Government to take concerted and practical steps to stop the growing violence against Christians and to protect religious freedom, and the human rights of oppressed Christians and minorities in Pakistan.”
While reports say Babar and Emmanuel had been stabbed and shot, some state that one of the victim’s hands had been cut off, others add that their ears and noses had been severed.
Their abandoned bodies were found on Thursday, Apr. 7, dumped on a road on the outskirts of the city.
Following the discovery of the bodies, a crowd of 200 Christians gathered to protest, demanding that the killers be brought to justice, and that the Christian community receive greater protection. The demonstrators blocked a main road in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, for two hours on Friday, Apr. 8.
A police statement acquired by the Agence-France Presse said a woman and her relative had been arrested in connection with the abductions. It said the detained woman, identified as Samina, had a relationship with Babar's brother Amer.
