Early results released Tuesday, February 19, showed the Pakistan People’s Party of the recently assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the lead with the largest number of seats, edging out Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League.
President Pervez Musharraf’s PML-Q party is a distant third, and his allies already conceded defeat, BosNewsLife monitored. Christian politicians said they hope a new government would be able to bring back democracy and overturn controversial blasphemy laws that they claim have encouraged Muslim extremists to attack Christians.
In one of the latest incidents this month, a Muslim mob attacked Christians in a village of Punjab Province after announcement in mosques "to teach infidel Christians a lesson," seriously injuring several believers local Christians told BosNewsLife. During the February 6 attacks in Sabz-Kot village, in Punjab’s tense Sialkot District, John Masih was asked by gunmen to kneel down before them, BosNewsLife learned.
LOSING EYE
On refusal, three Muslims allegedly overpowered him, with one of them taking out one of his one eyes out with a double-edged blade, shouting "we will take out eyes of every infidel who shall dare to look straight in our eyes."
Another Christian, identified as Khariat Masih, apparently tried to help Masih, but was attacked by a man with an axe. He reportedly fell down with a broken head, wounds in abdomen and legs. The area’s Christian Councilor, Basharat Masih, rushed to defuse tensions, but was "brutally beaten" with sticks, witnesses said.
His mother Salima Bibi reportedly tried to save Basharat Masih, but was dragged by her hair in a courtyard, locals alleged. Later, Muslims broke doors of the local church, which were closed in fear of attack, Christians said. The attackers reportedly dragged out children, men, women and elders of the church. Shooting in the air, Muslim extremists abused women and "tortured men" in front of their families, witnesses said.
MUSLIM YOUTH
The troubles began after Christians urged Muslims youth to stop harassing girls after Sunday church services. In addition Christian elders asked Muslim leaders to advise Muslim youth to stop drinking alcoholic beverages and using drugs in the common courtyard of the church or in front of Christian homes.
John Masih, Khariat Masih, Basharat Masih, Salima Bibi and three other were reportedly hospitalized. John Masih and Khariat Masih remained in critical condition Tuesday, February 19. Police officials have been reluctant to investigate the incident and initially detained Christians rather than Muslims sparking the riots, locals alleged. There was no immediate independent confirmation from police officials.
Blasphemy laws, dealing with the alleged abuse if Islam by Christians, have been partly blamed for riots and arrests of Christians by religious rights groups. In addition, there have been reports of kidnappings. One Christian doctor, who was kidnapped recently, said Tuesday, February 19, he had received various death threats by Islamic militants in an area of Pakistan reeling from extremist violence.
MILITANT KIDNAPPINGS
Militants in parts of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province have forced Christians and moderate Muslims to don Islamist garb, bombed CD shops for perceived decadence and, in the case of Dr. Reginald Zahiruddin, apparently attempted to force conversion to Islam.
Muslim militants released Dr. Zahiruddin on January 2, after kidnapping him for 25 days, a Christian news agency reported.
During that time he was allegedly asked to renounce his faith in Christ, at gunpoint, as a main condition for his release. "I was bold enough to refuse, and I even told them that God has the authority of taking my life as he has given it to me," the doctor was quoted as saying by Compass Direct News.
NEW ERA?
Christian politicians and rights groups have accused Musharraf of not doing enough to tackle attacks against Christians and other religious minorities. They hope of a better future under the rule of the Pakistan People’s Party in this predominantly Muslim nation.
Officials said Tuesday, February 19, they were still waiting for final results from the election commission before declaring victory, but that the early results are encouraging. "By and large I would say it is a reflection of the sentiment of the people," said Raza Rabbani, a senior PPP politician and the opposition leader in Pakistan’s senate. "It has turned out to be a referendum against the policies of General Musharraf."
He came to power in 1999 with a military coup d’état and suspended the constitution of Pakistan twice. Although controversial, he had been actively supported through military and monetary aid by western countries. The United States and the United Kingdom saw Musharraf as a crucial ally in the US-led war on terror.
However analysts have said that the West will now have to deal with a new political line up, at a time when it is fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban militant groups in the region. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).
