---

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 23797 • Posted: Saturday October 17, 2009  

---

Christians considered ’soft targets’ for attacks by Islamic militants

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife) — Fighters linked to the militant Taliban group have threatened to kill Christians and burn their homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province if they don’t meet their demands.

In a letter sent to the Christian community in the northeastern city of Sargodha, Taliban militants said Christians should convert to Islam, pay an Islamic tax imposed on religious minorities,  known as ‘Jizya tax’, or leave the country.

If Christians refuse to accept these choices, Christians “will be killed, their property and homes will be burnt to ashes and their women treated as sex slaves,” said the letter, which was distributed to BosNewsLife and other media by rights group International Christian Concern (ICC). The Christians “themselves would be responsible for this,” the letter added.

News of the statement emerged as Pakistan’s army prepared for a ground offensive elsewhere in Pakistan, in  South Waziristan, following a string of brazen attacks, believed to be part of a Taliban campaign, that killed more than 150 people in the last two weeks.

CHRISTIANS IN THE CROSS-FIRE

Christians have been in the cross-fire or directly targeted by Islamic militants with links to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Militants have accused them of representing an evil Western religion and of supporting the U.S.-led war on terror.

It was not immediately clear which faction within the Taliban sent the threatening letter, but local Christian leaders apparently took the statement seriously.

Reverend Zaheer Khan, pastor of Maghoo Memorial Church, Reverend Aamir Azeem, pastor of United Christians Church and Reverend Zafar Akhter, pastor of United Presbyterian Church apparently each received a copy of threatening letter.

Other Christian institutions reportedly included  St Peter’s Middle School, the Sargodha Institute of Technology, Sargodha Catholic High School, St John’s Primary School and Fatima Hospital.

Besides these Christian institutions, the letter was also sent to a key center of Shiite Muslims, the Immam-Bar-Gha, ICC said. Shiites are a minority Muslim group in Pakistan where the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim.

CHRISTIANS CONSIDERED “SOFT TARGETS”

ICC representative Jonathan Racho told BosNewsLife in a statement that “Christians in Pakistan are soft targets for attacks by Islamic extremists. Over the past four months alone, 12 Christians have been killed by Muslims due to their faith.”

Racho said ICC has been “alarmed by the increase in attacks against Christians in Pakistan. We urge Pakistani officials to take the threatening letters seriously and take measures to protect the Christians and their institutions from attacks.”

ICC said it had urged Christians around the world to contact Pakistani embassies in their countries and express concern about the situation. (With reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: Hate Groups, Islam, Religious Persecution Tags: Hate Groups, Islam, islamic, islamic extremism, Islamism, muslim, muslims, Religious Persecution, Taliban Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: Hate Groups, Islam, Religious Persecution Read Another Article Previous entry: ‘Abusive rabbi’ Elior Chen to be extradited to Israel Next entry: 3rd person dies in Arizona sweat lodge ceremony case RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books Hate Groups Most Popular Today Scientology’s feet held to the fire in Australia: Struggle between a church and the state

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.