Elsewhere in Karachi, a court convicted and sentenced to death a militant involved in a suicide bombing that killed an American diplomat, lawyers said in comment monitored by BosNewsLife. David Foy and three Pakistanis died when an attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into his car on March 2, 2006, near the US Consulate in Karachi.
The following August, police arrested two suspects — Anwarul Haq and Usman Ghani — and said they had admitted orchestrating the attack. Prosecutors have alleged that Haq accompanied the bomber to the scene. He has denied the allegations and his lawyer said he would appeal.
At a closed-door hearing on Wednesday, March 5, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced Haq to death on charges including murder and committing an act of terrorism, government prosecutor Naimatullah Randhawa told The Associated Press (AP) news agency outside the court.
TRIAL EXPECTED
It was not yet clear Friday, March 7, when the trial would begin for the three suspects who were allegedly involved in killing Christians. The apparent militants, identified in Pakistani media as Zubairuddin, also known as Sharjeel, Asif alias ‘Pasha’ and Muhammad Atif, are members of
the terrorist group Tehrik-e-Islami Lashker-e-Mohammedi, police said. A fourth suspect and alleged ring leader remains at large.
The suspects reportedly confessed to Karachi police that they took part in killing seven Christians working for the Idara Amn-o-Insafa, or ‘Institute of Peace and Justice (IPJ), a Christian charity backed by Catholics and Protestants. On September 25, 2002, they reportedly entered the offices of the organization and shot their victims in the head. The gunmen escaped after the attack in this southern port city, which already saw mounting
attacks on Western and Christian targets.
Priest Bonnie Mendes, who was present at the slain Christians’ funeral, said in published remarks that he was pleased that "these extremists were captured,” nearly six years later, apparently following a tip-off. However he told Catholic news agency AsiaNews it was important that the government is cracking down on extremism.
NATIONAL COMMISSION
The Executive Secretary of the Catholic Church’s National Commission for Justice and Peace, Peter Jacob, added that the killings had added to a "sense of insecurity" among Christians, that he blamed on a lack of government protection.
Christians have said that attacks increased since the US-led war on terrorism began following the September 11 attacks in 2001, as they are often seen as supporting a ‘Western’ religion and ideas. Since 2002, attacks on Christians in Pakistan left at least dozens of people dead and many more injured.
In addition, blasphemy laws have been misused to target Christian communities, rights groups say. Christian politicians supporting the incoming government have made clear they expect a new prime minister to tackle Islamic extremism and improve the legal and human rights of religious minorities in the country.
NEW PRIME MINISTER
The party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has however deferred a decision on who should become Pakistan’s prime minister, a move analysts say is deepening uncertainty how a new government will handle President Pervez Musharraf.
Bhutto’s party, which finished first in last month’s elections, had been expected to nominate Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a longtime Bhutto aide from her home province of Sindh, as its candidate for the premiership. But a meeting of its newly elected lawmakers at the residence of Bhutto’s widower broke up Thursday, March 6, broke up without an agreement.
However in a statement the party said it was confident the candidate would be known within the next few days, in time for the next parliamentary session. Christian leaders say there is little time to wait, amid increased bombings. In one of the latest incidents Thursday, March 6, a military pickup truck struck a land mine Thursday, March 6, in the insurgency-hit southwestern part of the country, killing a soldier, police said. (With reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos. Read more from Jawad Mazhar via http://www.raysofdevelopment.org ).
