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PAKISTAN & NIGERIA: ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE ESCALATING
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‘Cartoon Intifada’ violence has erupted in Pakistan and Northern
Nigeria. Because Islamic zeal has escalated, other minor
religious issues have quickly become excuses for violent Islamic
pogroms against Christians. This RLP is a little longer than
usual to cover both these urgent situations.
PAKISTAN
On 14 February Muslims rioted across Pakistan protesting over the
Danish Mohammad cartoons. Two demonstrators died whilst countless
others were injured in a 15,000-strong rally in Lahore. In
Islamabad, rioters fought through police lines to storm the
Diplomatic Enclave. Stopped from entering Islamabad, the religious
parties of North West Frontier Province led protests in Peshawar,
where two more died. Thousands of students marching to the
Diplomatic Enclave blocked the Kashmir Highway, burning tyres and
effigies. Western fast-food outlets, a Norwegian mobile-phone
outlet and two cinemas were torched. Some 50 mostly opposition
members of the National Assembly staged a protest march from
Parliament House to the Foreign Office shouting, ‘Allah-o-Akbar. We
are ready to sacrifice our lives for Prophet Muhammad.’
Christian properties targeted in Peshawar included Edward College
on 13 February when some 7000 protesters smashed windows throughout
this century-old college run by Christian missionaries. On 15
February, protesters damaged St Michael’s Convent School, St
Elizabeth Girls’ College, and a Mission Hospital run by the Church
of Pakistan. A Christian Girls’ School run by the United
Presbyterian Church in Kasur, 40km from Lahore, was also attacked.
On 3 February a church in Kawanwali, Sialkot, was attacked; its
windows were smashed and its Bible desecrated. Two women there were
assaulted: Salima Bibi (50), and Veero Bibi (70) who suffered
fractured legs and back injuries. On 19 February in the southern
province of Sindh two churches, Pastor Ilyas Saeed Masih’s home and
a convent school were burnt by a mob of some 500 Muslims, angrily
protesting a rumour that a Quran had been desecrated. According to
Compass Direct, a Muslim was arrested later that day for allegedly
burning pages of the Quran and trying to frame his Christian father-
in-law (with whom he had a property dispute) with the crime.
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NIGERIA
On Saturday 18 February Muslims in Maiduguri, capital of north-
eastern Borno state, gathered in Ramat square to protest the Danish
Mohammad cartoons. When they refused the police order to disperse,
the police fired teargas into the crowd. The Muslims erupted in
fury, rampaging, targeting known Christians and anyone who could
not speak the local dialect. (That meant they were probably Igbo
immigrants and Christian, rather than local Hausa and Muslim.) They
torched Christian-owned shops, cars and churches. Fifteen believers
and their priest were murdered inside St Rita’s Catholic Church.
According to local Christian leaders who spoke to Compass Direct,
31 churches were burnt and at least 50 believers were murdered, and
Reuters reports that some 200 shops, 50 houses and 100 vehicles
were torched or vandalised.
Rioting also erupted in Katsina state, north-central Nigeria,
allegedly over a rumour that some supporters of President Obasanjo
(a Christian) were wanting to amend the Constitution so he could
stand for a third term. The Red Cross reported seven deaths. On
Monday 20 February violence broke out in the north-eastern state of
Bauchi. Reuters reports, ‘Residents said trouble began after a
teacher in a secondary school tried to confiscate a Quran from a
student who was reading it during class. Word got out into the
streets that the teacher had desecrated the Quran.’ In the
subsequent Islamic pogrom, 18 people were killed, more than 60
injured were hospitalised and two churches were burnt before police
gained control.
On Tuesday 21 February a bus from the north arrived in the
southern city of Onitsha, the capital of the substantially
Christian state of Anambra, bearing the corpses of Christian Igbos
killed in Maiduguri on 18 February. Igbos in Onitsha responded by
unleashing bloody reprisals on local Hausa Muslims. At least 35
were killed and several mosques were burned.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:
* those responsible for this violence – the international Islamic
organisations that incite rage, local militants who organise
pogroms and governments that permit them – to be exposed and
justly held accountable for the resultant death and destruction.
* local, state and national leaders to use their God-given
authority to maintain law and order, defend the vulnerable and
promote civilised responses. ‘The king’s heart is in the hands
of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he
pleases.’ Proverbs 21:1
* peace and comfort for the families grieving the brutal murders
of their loved ones in Nigeria, especially in Maiduguri where
around 50 believers were murdered; for grace to forgive.
* great courage and wisdom for Christian leaders, teachers,
advocates and pastors in the traumatised, terrorised minority
Christian communities of Pakistan and Nigeria; may they be
channels of God’s peace and wisdom.
* God to pour a restraining spirit of peace and conviction of sin
over all these troubled lands.
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SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE:
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ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE ESCALATING IN PAKISTAN & NIGERIA
‘Cartoon Intifada’ violence has erupted in Pakistan and Northern
Nigeria. As Islamic zeal has escalated, other minor religious
issues have quickly become excuses for violent pogroms. During 13
to 15 February, Muslims protested across Pakistan and rioters
vandalised several Christian schools in Peshawar and Lahore. On 19
February, a rumor that a Quran had been desecrated unleashed a
pogrom in Karachi that left two churches burnt. In Nigeria, riots
in three northern cities have been the costliest and deadliest yet
for Christians. The most devastating rampage was in Maiduguri,
Borno state, where some 30 churches were razed and 50 Christians
brutally murdered on 18 February. On 21 February Igbo-Christians in
the southern city of Onitsha, Anambra state, launched reprisals on
their Hausa-Muslim northerner neighbours. More than 35 were killed
and two mosques were burnt. Pray for peace and justice.
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The WEA Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this
RL Prayer List to help
individuals and groups pray
specifically and regularly for religious liberty
issues, and in particular to uphold the Church
where it is suffering persecution.
RL Prayer is moderated by Ron Clough, a commissioner
of the WEA RLC and convenor of the Australian EA RLC.
Elizabeth Kendal researched and authored this message.
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