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Sialkot (AsiaNews) – The young Christian man who was arrested on 12 September in a village in Punjab accused of blasphemy was killed last night in prison. Police had Fanish, 20, remanded into their custody in order to continue their investigation. This morning prison guards in Sialkot district prison found the lifeless body of the young man with visible signs of injuries. For Nadeem Anthony, member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), his death was judicial murder. Condemning in the strongest terms the latest anti-Christian outrage, the activist told AsiaNews that for police the young committed suicide by hanging himself in jail, something that for him does not make sense. Instead, “it is a torture killing” because “we can see signs of torture on his body in the picture.”

AsiaNews also received photos of the lifeless body. In it the type of injuries that can be seen appear unrelated to strangulation by hanging.

The body is at the disposal of the legal authority, which has ordered an autopsy at Sialkot’s Civil Hospital.

Fanish (pictured in prison) was arrested last Saturday after accusations of blasphemy were made against him. A day earlier a Muslim mob had gathered in front of the church in the village of Jaithikey, not far from the town of Samberial, in the district of Sialkot (Punjab), to teach the local Christian community a “lesson”.

Extremists damaged the building before setting it on fire. They also pillaged two homes near the church.

A relationship between the 20-year-old Christian man and a young Muslim woman appears to be the cause of the turn of events.

Fanish was accused of provoking the young woman and of throwing away a copy of the Qur‘an she had in her hands.

Fr Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Church, said that “Muslims cannot stand the idea that a Muslim woman might fall in love with a Christian.”

Yesterday the NCJP expressed “grave concern’ over the rising tide of violence against religious minorities, all in the name of the blasphemy law.

For Catholic activists, urgent government measures are need. It is increasingly clear that profanations of the Qur‘an are just excuses used to attack non-Muslims, who are increasingly victimised and persecuted by Islamic fundamentalists.

In another incident, also last Saturday but reported only today, a Christian settlement in Ghaziabad, a neighbourhood in Orangi Town, near Karachi (Sindh), was attacked by a mob of Muslims, enraged by blasphemy charges against a 40-year-old Christian man called Lawrence.

After repeatedly attacking the man’s house with stones and rocks, the mob attacked local Christians and tried to storm the local Catholic Church. Only a quick intervention by police prevented a blood bath. Still police arrested Lawrence’s nephew, Shahkeel. The accused man went into hiding.

Violence action by Pakistani Islamists is funded by foreign jihadist organisations. In fact, the Arab Herald recently reported that a Saudi charity gave 15 million dollars to a pro al-Qaeda militant organisation.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is said to be preparing to strike Punjab’s main cities.

In conjunction with the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), the TTP is also planning to attack Pakistani Shiites.

Sources told AsiaNews that the al-Qaeda-linked SSP was involved in the anti-Christian attacks in Gojra where several people were killed.

The Al-Haramain Foundation, an organisation banned by the UN Security Council for its links to al-Qaeda, reportedly funded the attacks.

UPDATE

I’m adding this article from the Catholic News Agency as this is regarding this poor martyr lad:-

(CNA).- A Friday outbreak of anti-Christian violence in Pakistan, which included the burning of a church, was reportedly sparked by a Muslim woman who was furious that her daughter had become romantically linked with a Christian man. The mother allegedly tore pages from a Koran and framed the young man for the deed.

Hundreds of Christians in Jethki village in the Sialkot district of Punjab Province fled for their lives as extremists went on rampage.

The extremists were armed with bricks, stones and sticks. They sprinkled kerosene on the church before setting it on fire and desecrating it, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.

The mob set fire to two Christian homes next to the church and threatened to kill the village’s inhabitants.

Church leaders claim the violence was sparked by a Muslim mother who was determined to break off the three-year-old relationship between her 18-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old Christian man. Clergy allege that she ripped a page containing verses of the Koran out of a book and was seen throwing it in front of the man’s house.

She then allegedly ran to the local Muslim authorities and accused the man of desecrating the Koran, in violation of Pakistan’s strict Blasphemy Laws.

The laws carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

According to ACN, Muslim authorities apparently orchestrated the violence as an act of revenge. The man accused of desecrating the Koran is now detained in prison while police investigate. He was not named for security reasons.

Father Andrew Nisari, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Lahore in which Sialkot is located, told ACN that people are “very frightened and upset” by the attack.

“Although the church is still standing, it is completely burnt inside – the altar, the statues, the pews, the priest’s chair, Bibles and other religious books. The whole church is now totally unusable,” Fr. Nisari reported.

All the priests of the village told the Christians to run from the village or they would be killed, he reported. The displaced Christians have taken refuge with friends and relatives in nearby towns.

“We are actually glad that the 19-year-old boy is in jail at the moment – at least there he will be safe. It means he won’t be killed by the fanatic Muslims,” Fr. Nisari added.

The priest characterized the Blasphemy Laws as an “invisible sword” used to take revenge.

“This case shows that religion is being misused in our country and that it is very necessary that the Blasphemy Laws be repealed.”

The anti-Christian incident is the fourth within three months. Last month, nine Christians were killed in anti-Christian attacks in Gojra city in Punjab province.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday condemned the attacks and pledged government funds to repair the church. Shahbaz Mhatti, the Pakistan minorities’ minister and the only Christian in the federal cabinet, will visit the region and submit a report to the government.

The Friday violence has prompted more calls from Christian leaders and others in Pakistan for the repeal of the Blasphemy Laws. ACN has also endorsed the laws’ repeal.

“I urge all the Christians in the world to pray for us who are persecuted in Pakistan. We need your prayers right now,” Fr. Nisari appealed.

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Tags: Christian Persecution

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