Armed men desecrate and occupy church Compound

Armed men desecrate and occupy church Compound

Written by: Jawad Mazhar (ROD)

MandiBhaudin, Pakistan, March 25^th (ROD): Armed men made their entry forcibly, brandishing deadly fire arms and occupied the church compound of Catholic Church Chak # (Village) 2 Shumali (North Branch), here at MandiBhaudin, Pakistan on February 29^th, 2008. They built boundary walls of the premises of church compound before the dusk of March 1^st to further strengthen their occupation, said Arshad Gill.

A Christian resident and social worker of MandiBhaudin Mr Arshad Gill apprised ROD Fact Finding Team (RFFT) that on the night of Feb 29^th fifteen men armed with deadly weapons, two of which are recognized as Ghulam Abbas, Muhammad Iqbal forced their way into the church compound of the local Catholic Church. “They desecrated and occupied the Church’s 1.5 Kanal compound”, Gill added.

Arshad Gill also said that assailants threatened and kept aerial gunfire with deadly fire arms like AK-47, making loud bangs, to terrorize the local Christians through out the night between Feb 29 and March 1^st. He went on saying that Christians of Chak # 2 NB were so much terrified that 5 (five) neighboring Christian families left their homes to save their lives. And they are still living in hiding away from their homes.

Gill said that on March 4^th local Christians led by the local clergy man registered a case against the assailants at Civil Lines Police Station. ‘But police are reluctant of taking any action against the culprits despite the fact that a case had been lodged against them, and police have not arrested any one, to date’, added Gill.

Concerned Gill said that this piece of land was owned and in use by the church since 1937. ROD tried to contact Investigating Officer, Sub Inspector (SI) Muhammad Zafar for details, but either he was not in the Police Station or he deliberately evaded talking to the RFFT. Enraged Gill said that Police are blatantly leaning and aiding their towards the culprits and disdaining deprived local Christians.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------