From Compass Direct
Armed and drunken Muslims struck two greeters at a Sunday evening service of a church outside Lahore last week, later returning to pelt the building with stones and bricks. Led by Zulifiqar Akbar Jutt and Asif Ramzan, 10 men broke fluorescent lights and a cross on the outer gate of the Talab Sarai village Nazarene church on November 12, a Lahore-based human rights organization reported. This is the eighth attack on a Pakistani church confirmed by Compass this year.
The attack on the vacant church occurred while the congregation was lodging a complaint against Jutt and Ramzan for harassing them earlier that day .... According to Nazarene Pastor Rafiq Masih, prior to the 6 p.m. service, Jutt and Ramzan had approached the church intoxicated, singing swear words to the tune of the churchÂ’s hymns. Two greeters stationed at the church compoundÂ’s outer gate intervened when Jutt and Ramzan began harassing Christian women on their way to the evening meeting, the pastor said. |