China, Russia, Pakistan and India' competing for 'Taliban's favour'
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Pastor William Siraj died instantly in the ambush, church authorities said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting in a city where a twin suicide bombing killed scores of people outside a church in 2013 – one of the deadliest attacks on the country’s Christian minority.
Azad Marshall, the most senior bishop in the protestant Church of Pakistan, condemned the attack and tweeted: “We demand justice and protection of Christians from the Government of Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan have seen a rise in militant attacks on security forces in recent days, most of them claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group which associates itself with the Afghan Taliban.
The attackers opened fire on the car carrying Pastor Siraj and the Rev Patrick Naeem in the city’s Chamkani area, church officials said.
Naeem was out of danger and being treated, a spokesman for the city’s Lady Reading hospital said.
Bishop Azad said both were clergy of the Diocese of Peshawar in the Church of Pakistan, which is a union of protestant churches including the Methodists and the Anglicans.
Pakistan’s northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan have seen a rise in militant attacks on security forces in recent days, most of them claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group which associates itself with the Afghan Taliban.
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In November, nine people were wounded, three of them seriously, after a group of men opened fire on them as they watered their fields in Trikhani, a village near the city of Burewala.
Raja Masih told Asia News: “They wanted to kill us. They fired straight at us, so I got a bullet that almost hit me in the heart”.
Eyewitness Kamran Masih, another resident of the village accused Muslim landowners of having ordered Christians to sell their lands, warning of “serious consequences” if they refused.
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Ashiknaz Khokhar, who described himself as an activist for the Christian minority, said: “This is the second attack of this kind in Sahiwal.
“In the village of Okara, two brothers were killed and several Christians wounded from gunshots over irrigation.
“It is frustrating to see, on the one hand, Christians fighting for their survival and, on the other, the culprits on the loose, pre-released on bail without being arrested.”
Across the border in Afghanistan, Christians are also facing the threat of execution at the hands of brutal Taliban death squads purely because of their faith, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the European Parliament claimed in September.
The ECT further accused the EU of turning a blind eye to their plight – as well as warning of potential disaster if swift action is not take to protect them.
An ECR statement said: About ten thousand persons have converted from Islam to Christianity, which is – according to Sharia law – a crime punishable by death.
“Despite great difficulties, since 2001 – with the arrival of NATO forces – the Christian community has grown and strengthened.
“However, since Kabul fell, the community has dispersed, rightfully fearing repercussions as worrying reports of killings, harassment and intimidation of Christians emerge.”
The Statista website puts Afghanistan joint top of its Index of persecution of Christians in countries worldwide 2021 with a score of 94, matched only by Kim Jong-un’s North Korea. Pakistan is fifth.
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