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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani Christians express anger over killings |
| 2009-08-06 |
| Hundreds of Pakistani Christians staged a protest Wednesday over the killing of eight of their community members by a Muslim mob, with some demonstrators smashing the windows of public buses. Television footage showed dozens of protesters in the eastern city of Lahore climbing onto the vehicles and breaking their windows. Ijaz Sindhu, chairman of the organizing group, the Pakistan Christian Labour Party, said some young people attacked four buses but caused no injuries to fleeing passengers. Police officer Rana Ayaz Salim said about 1,000 people took part in Wednesday's demonstration. Hundreds of Muslims attacked a Christian neighborhood in Gojra city on Saturday after reports that a Quran had been desecrated. Eight Christians were killed. Authorities say an initial probe debunked the claims that the Muslim holy book was defiled, and government officials have said members of the banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and its al-Qaida-linked offshoot Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were arrested as suspects in the attacks. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said its fact-finding team has determined that the rioting had been planned and was not spontaneous. It said hard-line clerics made incendiary speeches. The assault, in which dozens of homes were also burned, underscored the precarious status of religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation where extremist Islam is on the rise. Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Kamran Michael said Wednesday that a judge had been appointed to conduct a judicial inquiry into the Gojra riots, and that the judge had visited the site. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 I really don't understand why, when India and Pakistan became independent, some Christians chose to go with Muslim Pakistan instead of a secular India. One of life's great mysteries. Was it really that hard of a decision? Under the rule of the British Raj, the specific demography of a given area made no difference - British law (with a bit of local flavor) applied to all. The propaganda of the Indian independence movement was that all of the India's ills came from oppression and exploitation by whitey. According to this worldview, once India became independent, Indians would become rich as Croesus. When that failed to materialize, South Asians began to blame their poverty on the aftereffects of and a global economic system based on whitey oppression and exploitation. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-08-06 22:17 |
| #4 When you've lived in the same place as your parents and grandparents for eight or nine generations, it's very difficult to cut those ties, even under the oppression of Islam. Eventually Islam will have to be hammered into a box and the top nailed shut. Cede them the territory from Morocco to Afghanistan/Pakistan, from the Bosporus and the Med to about 10 degrees North, and REQUIRE EVERY MUSLIM to live within that area. The rest of the world could trade or interact as much or as little as they choose, but no Muslim could ever leave that geographic area. Let them fight among themselves, and leave US out of it. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-08-06 16:28 |
| #3 The Christians are deliberately kept poor. Perhaps they couldn't afford the move. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-08-06 13:38 |
| #2 Taqiya, sludge? Eternal optimism? |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2009-08-06 12:24 |
| #1 I really don't understand why, when India and Pakistan became independent, some Christians chose to go with Muslim Pakistan instead of a secular India. One of life's great mysteries. Was it really that hard of a decision? |
| Posted by: sludge 2009-08-06 09:25 |