Collective outrage: Christians express anger, anguish over church carnage
Protests against church attack in Peshawar cause massive traffic jams.
Several protesters vowed to continue to sit-in at the D-Chowk overnight to record their protest. PHOTO: ONLINE, INP, MYRA IQBAL/EXPRESS
RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD:
As the sun set on the federal capital on Monday, slogans of protection for Pakistani Christians and justice for victims of previous day’s deadly attack on a historic church in Peshawar tinged the September air with a profound sadness.
A large number of protesters stayed put at the D-Chowk, near Parliament House, till in the evening to stage a sit-in, after messages of interfaith unity and peace from Islamabad priests were followed by a call for an all-night protest by Julius Salik.
The former federal minister was leading hundreds of Christian protesters who had first gathered outside the National Press Club in Sector F-6 in the afternoon and then marched to the D-Chowk.
On Sunday, in what is believed to be the worst attack on Christians, two suicide bombers exploded outside the All Saints Church killing 83 people and injuring over 120. The attack triggered a nationwide wave of anguish and protests, reminiscent of the January protests by the Shia Hazara community after deadly attacks in Quetta.
From early morning, Christians, including women and children, held protest rallies at different locations in Rawalpindi including Faizabad, Liaquat Bagh and Rawal Road.
At Faizabad, the protest turned violent when some of the participants burnt tyres and uprooted a billboard and set it on fire.
Near the Zero Point interchange, there was a skirmish between police and protesters from G-7 as the police tried to stop a rally from reaching the press club. “We are not here to listen to political speeches,” said some Christian youth as they burnt tyres near the D-Chowk too.
But the priests from different churches urged them to stay calm in the face of Sunday’s tragedy.
“We must not take the law into our own hands,” said Priest Emmanuel Lorraine of the Church of Pakistan. “By remaining peaceful we can thwart the agenda of the terrorists who are trying to sow seeds of hatred in the country.”
Rehmat Michael Hakim, the parish priest at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Islamabad, told The Express Tribune that he was hopeful the government will provide better security to the Christians.
“No one, be it Muslims or Christians, has any assurance about their security because the militants do not respect anyone,” Hakim said. “But we are never going to abandon hope.”
Meanwhile, the protesters said despite regular attacks on churches and Christian neighbourhoods, the government has taken no steps to ensure security.
“Those whose duty it is to protect us should resign immediately, whether it is the prime minister, chief minister or army chief,” said the 35-year-old Afzal Masih, a mechanic, at Faizabad.
Kamran Daniels, also a priest at the Our Lady of Fatima Church, said since Sunday, the administration or police had not provided any significant security to the F-8 church.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Bishop of Saint Paul Church Samuel Titans said, “we are humans, we are Pakistanis, sons and daughters of this soil so please let us live here peacefully.”
The twin cities witnessed one of the worst-ever traffic jams during the protests as most of the main roads were blocked by protesters. Commuters also faced problems to reach their homes as public transport vans disappeared soon after the protests. Traffic wardens diverted traffic to IJ Principal Road and Peshawar Road to regulate the flow. The protesters at Faizabad dispersed peacefully around 7pm.
Civil society speaks out
The civil society also condemned the attack in a strongly-worded statement that denounced official plans for negotiations with terrorists. Civil society members also joined the Islamabad protest.
“This business of spreading hate among people will continue until we form the Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam believed in a secular Pakistan, where state and religion are separate and everyone has equal rights,” said Farzana Bari, a member of the Awami Workers Party. Some activists of the AWP, National Student Federation also joined the protest to express solidarity with the Christians.
National Commission on the Status of Women Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz urged authorities to “make stringent arrangements to protect lives of its non-Muslim citizens, especially women, and to end the culture of violence, intolerance and impunity.”
Staff and students at the National University of Modern Languages led by Italian-language professor Javed Masih held a peaceful protest on the campus and Peter Jacob of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, who is travelling abroad, issued a statement saying, “This colossal loss only strengthens our resolve to support the marginalised, who are vulnerable to such tragedies. For us, it is a foregone conclusion that peace is the way to change.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2013.
As the sun set on the federal capital on Monday, slogans of protection for Pakistani Christians and justice for victims of previous day’s deadly attack on a historic church in Peshawar tinged the September air with a profound sadness.
A large number of protesters stayed put at the D-Chowk, near Parliament House, till in the evening to stage a sit-in, after messages of interfaith unity and peace from Islamabad priests were followed by a call for an all-night protest by Julius Salik.
The former federal minister was leading hundreds of Christian protesters who had first gathered outside the National Press Club in Sector F-6 in the afternoon and then marched to the D-Chowk.
On Sunday, in what is believed to be the worst attack on Christians, two suicide bombers exploded outside the All Saints Church killing 83 people and injuring over 120. The attack triggered a nationwide wave of anguish and protests, reminiscent of the January protests by the Shia Hazara community after deadly attacks in Quetta.
Several protesters vowed to continue to sit-in at the D-Chowk overnight to record their protest. PHOTO: ONLINE, INP, MYRA IQBAL/EXPRESS
From early morning, Christians, including women and children, held protest rallies at different locations in Rawalpindi including Faizabad, Liaquat Bagh and Rawal Road.
At Faizabad, the protest turned violent when some of the participants burnt tyres and uprooted a billboard and set it on fire.
Near the Zero Point interchange, there was a skirmish between police and protesters from G-7 as the police tried to stop a rally from reaching the press club. “We are not here to listen to political speeches,” said some Christian youth as they burnt tyres near the D-Chowk too.
But the priests from different churches urged them to stay calm in the face of Sunday’s tragedy.
“We must not take the law into our own hands,” said Priest Emmanuel Lorraine of the Church of Pakistan. “By remaining peaceful we can thwart the agenda of the terrorists who are trying to sow seeds of hatred in the country.”
Rehmat Michael Hakim, the parish priest at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Islamabad, told The Express Tribune that he was hopeful the government will provide better security to the Christians.
“No one, be it Muslims or Christians, has any assurance about their security because the militants do not respect anyone,” Hakim said. “But we are never going to abandon hope.”
Meanwhile, the protesters said despite regular attacks on churches and Christian neighbourhoods, the government has taken no steps to ensure security.
“Those whose duty it is to protect us should resign immediately, whether it is the prime minister, chief minister or army chief,” said the 35-year-old Afzal Masih, a mechanic, at Faizabad.
Kamran Daniels, also a priest at the Our Lady of Fatima Church, said since Sunday, the administration or police had not provided any significant security to the F-8 church.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Bishop of Saint Paul Church Samuel Titans said, “we are humans, we are Pakistanis, sons and daughters of this soil so please let us live here peacefully.”
The twin cities witnessed one of the worst-ever traffic jams during the protests as most of the main roads were blocked by protesters. Commuters also faced problems to reach their homes as public transport vans disappeared soon after the protests. Traffic wardens diverted traffic to IJ Principal Road and Peshawar Road to regulate the flow. The protesters at Faizabad dispersed peacefully around 7pm.
Civil society speaks out
The civil society also condemned the attack in a strongly-worded statement that denounced official plans for negotiations with terrorists. Civil society members also joined the Islamabad protest.
“This business of spreading hate among people will continue until we form the Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam believed in a secular Pakistan, where state and religion are separate and everyone has equal rights,” said Farzana Bari, a member of the Awami Workers Party. Some activists of the AWP, National Student Federation also joined the protest to express solidarity with the Christians.
National Commission on the Status of Women Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz urged authorities to “make stringent arrangements to protect lives of its non-Muslim citizens, especially women, and to end the culture of violence, intolerance and impunity.”
Staff and students at the National University of Modern Languages led by Italian-language professor Javed Masih held a peaceful protest on the campus and Peter Jacob of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, who is travelling abroad, issued a statement saying, “This colossal loss only strengthens our resolve to support the marginalised, who are vulnerable to such tragedies. For us, it is a foregone conclusion that peace is the way to change.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2013.