"The majority of the population of South Asia derives from 'lower caste groups' and the Christian population is no exception and shouldn't be made to sound like one. I say this as someone who has, as everyone knows, an indisputably different lineage."

OXTRAD: Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy & Dialogue
Website: www.michaelnazirali.com

ISLAMABAD -- The suicide bombing in the city of Lahore on Easter underscores how Pakistan's Christian minority has become an easy target for the country's Islamic militants, although Muslims also were among the victims.

There are barely 2.5 million Christians in the mostly Muslim country of 180 million, and they say they worry about sending their children out and rarely feel safe even in church.

"It is very fearful living in your own country ... when you are attacked by fanatics in your own home," said the Rev. Riaz Arif of Lahore, adding that radical Muslim groups seek revenge for perceived aggression against them by predominantly Christian nations in the West.

A look at the Christian community in Pakistan

HISTORY

For centuries, Christians have been a part of the Asian subcontinent in what is now known as Pakistan. There are famous Pakistani Christians, such as A.R. Cornelius, the first non-Muslim chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, but also politicians, educators, health care professionals and fighter pilots. But Christians often rank among the country's poorest people, often working at menial jobs and living in poor, slum-like areas. Some of the Christian population has its roots in the Hindu religion. When Pakistan was carved from a larger India in 1947 and given independence as a homeland for South Asia's Muslims, many Dalats or lower caste Hindus living in what is today Pakistan, converted to Christianity. While looked upon with suspicion, it worsened for Christians, like many minorities, after dictator Zia-ul Haq, with Western support, nurtured Islamic militancy to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The intolerant views of these militants began to dominate, and minorities became easy targets. In the 1980s and 1990s, Christians sometimes were set upon by mobs of militant Muslims, but it wasn't until after the 2001 U.S.-led assault on Afghanistan that attacks against Pakistan's Christians increased both in numbers and ferocity.

NATURE OF THE VIOLENCE

In predominantly Christian neighborhoods, radical Muslims have carried out attacks based on trumped-up charges of blasphemy, which is punishable by death. Christians are routinely accused by radical Muslims of trying to undermine Pakistan as an Islamic state. There have been reports of forced conversions of Christian girls. In January, a girl was killed and two were injured when they refused the advances of three Muslim men, who ran them over upon learning they were Christian. An Islamabad-based think tank, The Jinnah Institute, called the violence "some of the worst mob attacks against minority communities in Pakistan." Christian neighborhoods in Punjab and Islamabad "have seen mass attacks fueled by hate speech. These attacks have led to widespread destruction of homes and properties," he said.

MUSLIM EXTREMIST GROUPS

Radical Muslim extremist groups that espouse a violent anti-Western philosophy and demand Islamic law throughout Pakistan see Christians as allies of the West and opponents of their interpretation of their faith. While Pakistan's most violent militant groups are sectarian-based and often attack each other, they will routinely unite against Christians. The alliance of Taliban groups operating in tribal areas known as the Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan specifically target Christians. Attacks have increased as Pakistan's military has stepped up its assault on the Taliban's tribal hideouts. The Lahore bombing was carried out by a breakaway Taliban group that also said the violence was in retaliation for an army offensive in North Waziristan that began in 2014. Also targeting Christians are groups like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a virulent anti-Shiite group; Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is also known as the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba; and the Sunni militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba. Many independent local clerics also spread hate over loudspeakers, which the government has sought to curb.

SOME ATTACKS ON CHURCHES, HOMES AND INDIVIDUALS SINCE 2002

-- Islamabad, 2002: An American woman and her daughter were killed along with three other people when multiple assailants breached security and attacked a multidenominational church inside the diplomatic enclave where the foreign missions are located.

-- Islamabad, 2002: Attackers with grenades hit a Christian-run hospital, killing four people.

-- Eastern Punjab, 2005: three churches were destroyed, but no deaths were reported.

-- Gorja, eastern Punjab, 2009: A mob burned an estimated 60 homes, killing six Christians.

-- Eastern Punjab, 2010: mobs of militant Muslims attacked four churches after controversial U.S. pastor Terry Jones called for people to burn the Quran.

-- Islamabad, 2011: Gunmen killed prominent Christian politician Shahbaz Bhatti, who served as a minister in the government of Asif Zardari, husband of the late Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto.

-- Peshawar, 2013: multiple attackers, some in suicide vests, killed 85 Christians.

-- Eastern Lahore, 2013: Mobs of Muslims burned nearly 200 homes belonging to Christians in the Joseph Colony.

-- Eastern Lahore, 2015: Two suicide bombers attacked two churches, killing 15 worshippers.

Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report

Below is a video clip with Church of England Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03p98z3?

*****

Help Christian victims of Lahore Easter Day attack
Many women and children were killed and injured by the blast

BARNABAS FUND
3/29/2016

Will you help us send immediate assistance to Christian victims of the Lahore suicide bombing? The death toll of the attack, targeted at Christians, is at present 74 people with more than 370 injured. Many of the victims are women and children. Today, we are sending aid for funeral costs, medical treatment and medicines.

Women and children are high in number among the victims of the suicide attack, which took place on Easter Day (27 March) at a public park in Lahore. At present 29 children have died.

Christians had gathered in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park to celebrate Easter when explosives, packed with ball bearings to maximise casualties, ripped through the crowds near a children's play area.

At least 15 Christians were killed, but it is expected that the number will rise as bodies are identified. Of the 370 people who suffered injuries and admitted to various hospitals in the city, 172 remain under treatment with serious injuries. It is not clear yet how many of the wounded are Christians.

"I have personally seen children, women and old people. Some of them unconscious. Some of them from our church. It is a very, very tragic and sad event," Samuel Azariah, Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, said, after visiting Sheikh Zaid hospital and Jannah Hospital where many of the wounded had been brought.

Bishop Irfan Jamil, Lahore Diocese of Church of Pakistan, told Barnabas Fund, "It is most sad. One of the women in our congregation was in church in the morning. In the afternoon I visited her in the intensive care unit of the hospital."

"It hurts you. Easter is supposed to be a day of joy, of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. And then you hear this," he added.

Joseph Francis, national director of CLAAS, a Pakistani Christian legal centre supported by Barnabas Fund, told us that he found a chaotic situation when he visited a hospital soon after the attack. He spoke to a wounded Christian twelve-year-old girl who was there alone. Joseph was able to contact the father's girl to let him know that his daughter was in the hospital and pass her over to the care of a Christian group.

Joseph Francis said that he thought the park was chosen for the attack because security at churches has become very tight since the 2013 church attack in Peshawar where 99 Christians were killed and 131 Christians wounded.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction, a Pakistan Taliban splinter group have claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide attack, saying Christians were their target and that they will continue to attack Christians amongst other groups.

Will you help?

Barnabas Fund is sending aid today to pay for the funeral costs, medical treatment and medicines for some of the Christian victims. Families of victims will also be supported with food.

Give today:

If you would like to help provide immediate assistance to Christian victims of the Lahore suicide bombing, please send a donation to our Victims of Violence Fund (Project 00-345).

Donate

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For a quick donation of £3.00 by SMS (see terms and conditions here) text Barnabas/345 to 70007 (Please note: This facility is presently only available to UK supporters).

Please pray:
Lift up in prayer all the injured and bereaved from Sunday's suicide bombing.
Pray for the Christians of Pakistan, many of whom have become fearful of the future after this latest targeted attack.
Pray that the help provided by Barnabas Fund will be a comfort to the victims and their families.

END