MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Jibran Khan, AsiaNews – “For more than 20 years, a Pakistani Christian family has been living in a constant state of fear, the victim of threats from extremist groups and under constant pressure from the radical fringe to convert to Islam. A tragic story in a country increasingly hostage to the Islamists, in which young people prefer Sharia law and the military to the democratic model proposed by the West and branded as ‘corrupt.’ In recent times, threats and pressures against the Zafar family have increased. And the father has been forced to lock one of his daughters indoors for fear she will become a victim of kidnapping, as was the case in 1998 when her older sister was abducted and subjected to torture.

Sadiq Masih Zafar, born in Muridke, a town in the district of Shaikhupur, in the province of Punjab, was appointed to oversee the construction of a church between 1988 and 1989, by the Lahore Church Council that had previously purchased the land. Since then Islamic extremist groups have showered him with threats and injunctions, ordered him to stop building places of worship and convert – with his family members – to Islam.

In 1990, a raid of fanatics led to the demolition of the structure and the confiscation of the land. In the context of the assault, the Islamists also violently attacked Zafar and some relativesHis reporting of the incident to police proved futile, who closed the case without proceeding to any investigation. A similar result, a few months later, when the man filed a complaint against the daily threats of fundamentalists who want him to convert to Islam.

In 1998, Zafar’s daughter, Sarwat Naheed was kidnapped while returning home and subjected to violence and torture that resulted in the breaking of her legs and deep wounds to the head. The girl also had signs of strangulation and was found abandoned and unconscious in a field. A few days later his son Azeem Zafar was stopped by a group of people, who beat him up.

These two incidents prompted the Zafar family to flee to Lahore, in search of a quiet place. However the extremists hunted them down, and discovering their new home, continued to threaten them with death.” Read more.

• Flashback: Pakistan: Islamic Persecution Forcing Christians To Flee Into The Wilderness
• Flashback: Pakistan: Christian Man Murdered For Refusing To Convert To Islam
• Flashback: Pakistan Islamists: ‘You Christians Have Offended Our Prophet, We Will Kill You All!’
• Flashback: Christians In Pakistan Told To Convert To Islam Or Leave, ‘Otherwise They Will Face Consequences’

By Emmanuel Uzodinma, Daily Post – “Unknown gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram sect launched a daring attack on a local Church of the Brethren, popularly known as Ekilisiyar Yan’uwa Nigeria, EYN during a sunday service in Maiduguri, the Bornu state capital.

This will be the first time an attack would be launched on a church in the Maiduguri metropolis in broad daylight during Sunday service since the Boko Haram insurgence in the area reached its crescendo.

According to worshippers, about five gunmen riding in a [a three-wheeled motor vehicle] came to the church area located at Bulunkutu ward in the metropolis at about 11a.m and began shooting sporadically into the church targeting the worshippers as the sermon was being delivered.

The worshippers were taken aback that the gunmen could dare the soldiers in front of the church to launch such an attack.

Spokesman of the Joint Task Force, JTF, Lt Col Sagir Musa who confirmed the incident said the soldiers at the church post immediately repelled the attack.

‘They came firing into the church area but our men at the post rose to the occasion and fired back at them. We successfully repelled the attack and the gunmen fled immediately,’ Lt Col Musa said.

He however revealed that a policeman attached to the JTF was injured at the process. He further confirmed that he has since been treated and discharged.” Source – Daily Post.

• Flashback: Boko Haram: Our Goal is to Eliminate Followers of Christ
• Flashback: Nigerian President: Islamist Killings Means End Times Are Upon Us
• Flashback: Islamists Massacre Dozens Of University Students For Being Christian

And what should be done about all of the Christians who attend those churches? The prophet of the “Religion of Peace” is equally clear …

Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”

Charisma News – “Earlier this month, news reports surfaced out of Saudi Arabia that raised the red flag for Christians.

Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs USA, says, ‘The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia—the top Islamic official in the country of Saudi Arabia—has declared that it is ‘necessary to destroy all the churches of the region.’ Nettleton goes on to note that the report hasn’t surfaced anywhere except on the Council on Foreign Relations Web site, which was then picked up by The Atlantic.

As Saudi Arabia is ranked second on the Open Doors World Watch List (a compilation of the 50 countries where persecution of Christians is most severe), the news is not really a surprise. There is no provision for religious freedom in the constitution of this Islamic kingdom.

All citizens must adhere to Islam, and conversion to another religion is punishable by death. Public Christian worship is forbidden; worshippers risk imprisonment, lashing, deportation and torture. Evangelizing Muslims and distributing non-Islamic materials is illegal. Muslims who convert to Christianity risk being subjected to honor killings, and foreign Christian workers have been exposed to abuse from employers.

Sheikh Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, created an implication with his assertion. Nettleton explains, ‘This was in a meeting with Kuwaiti officials who came to Saudi Arabia. They were asking this Islamic official, ‘What should we do about the churches?’ His statement was, ‘There should be no Christian churches on the Arabian Peninsula.”

According to the report, the delegation wanted to confirm Shariah’s position on churches. Essentially, Nettleton says, ‘If you have churches in Kuwait, which they do, they should be destroyed. The interesting thing about this is that there are no churches in Saudi Arabia. There are no church buildings that are allowed to exist there. So he clearly wasn’t talking only for his own country. He was trying to export this ideology to the surrounding countries.’

This proclamation could affect churches in Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Nettleton observes that ‘in most of these countries, we’re not talking about a lot of churches; we’re talking about a few that are allowed to exist primarily to serve foreigners that are living in that country.’

However, the U.N. Human Rights Council has yet to take a stand on such blatant violations of freedom of religion. How the governments implement this declaration is yet to be determined.” Read more.

Saudi Arabian Textbooks Promotes Hatred Of Jews And Christians – “… AlAhmed gave examples of what Saudi children are taught. He said a guidebook says first-grade teachers should tell students that: ‘Adhering to Islam is the only path to enter heaven, and escape hellfire.’ ‘It is from Islam to love Muslims, and to hate the unbelievers and not to imitate them.’ ‘Examples of false religions [include] Judaism, Christianity.’ AlAhmed says a ninth-grade book teaches that, ‘The Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believers. He says an 11th-grade book states, ‘The cursed are: The Christians and all those who have erred from the true path, and worshipped God with other than his orders.'” Read more.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi wasn’t joking …

Mining Gazette – “Ezzat Kromer’s resistance to his kidnappers did not last long. One of the masked gunmen fired a round between his feet as he sat behind the wheel of his car and said with chilling calm, ‘The next one will go into your heart.’

The Christian gynecologist says he was bundled into his abductors’ vehicle, forced to lie under their feet in the back seat for a 45-minute ride, then dumped in a small cold room while his kidnappers contacted his family over a ransom.

For the next 27 hours, he endured beatings, insults and threats to his life, while blindfolded, a bandage sealing his mouth and cotton balls in his ears.

Kromer’s case is part of a dramatic rise of kidnappings targeting Christians, including children, in Egypt’s southern province of Minya, home to the country’s largest concentration of Christians but also a heartland for Islamist hard-liners.

The kidnappings are mostly blamed on criminal gangs, which operate more freely amid Egypt’s collapse in security since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Crime has risen in general across Egypt, hitting Muslims as well. But the wave of kidnappings in Minya has specifically targeted Christians, and victims, church leaders and rights activists ultimately blame the atmosphere created by the rising power of hard-line Islamists.

They contend criminals are influenced by the rhetoric of radical clerics depicting Egypt’s Christian minority as second-class citizens and see Christians as fair game, with authorities less likely to investigate crimes against the community.

Over the past two years, there have been more than 150 reported kidnappings in the province — all of them targeting Christians, according to a top official at the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police.

Of those, 37 have been in the last several months alone …” Read more.

• Flashback: Egypt: Christian Girls Kidnapped by Islamists and Forced to Convert to Islam
• Flashback: Egypt: Christian Boy Kidnapped At Knifepoint, Abductors Open Fire On Church
• Flashback: Egypt: Salafistists Kidnap 13-Year Old Christian Girl, Attempt To Convert Her To Islam
• Flashback: Egypt: Christian Father Fights For Daughter Abducted By Islamists, ‘Become A Muslim And We’ll Spare Your Life’
• Flashback: Egypt: Muslim Gang Attempts To Kidnap Christian Mother, Kills Family Members And Threatens Coptic Community For Resisting