The twin church blast in Lahore caused 14 Christian deaths and around 80 people were injured
An Islamic extremist claimed 14 lives and injured 80 innocent worshippers at a church
Amid the blood, destruction and havoc, the panicky mob lynched two bystanders when one of them was shouting, “Tum logon ke saath har roz yeh hona chahiye
” (This should happen to you people every day) We have forgotten about the 14 who were martyred at the hands of Islamic extremists and here we are, attending to the one that was perhaps wrongly killed by a fearful mob
Later that day, I came across a blog on The Express Tribune, titled ‘Our way or the high way: Vigilante justice for Lahore Church Blast’, and pondered upon the author’s words
She wrote, “The vulnerable, the helpless, those who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong appearance; they are the ones deemed as the culprits, the accused, the condemned and, eventually, they are the unheard – under this law of the jungle
” If your brothers and sisters are lying dead all around you, covered in blood and pain, it is likely that you will act irrationally
No Christian I know would want to do that but I would not be surprised if fear brought out the worst in them
Together, the media and the nation have ridiculed the Christian community
Only The Express Tribune published photos of the Christian victims of terrorism, reminding people of the smiling faces that died because of extremism, hatred and bigotry
On Twitter, the hashtag #WeStandWithMinorites began trending, but was commonly followed by an insult or a threat to the Christians of Pakistan
https://twitter
com/NazranaYusufzai/status/577592658731741184 https://twitter
com/amarbail1/status/577416341566566400 Worst of all, we saw hashtags like #ChristianTerrorism and #WeSupportPunjabPolice
Do not forget that this is the same Punjab Police that failed to provide protection to the church
The same Punjab Police that stood there and did little when the mob burnt a Christian couple in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan
The same Punjab police that can offer us no protection because they cannot protect their own police lines, as we saw at the Gujjar Singh Police lines last month
The situation took a grotesque turn when things became uncontrollably savage
Buses were attacked, cars were stoned and the flag of the Islamic Republic was set aflame
https://twitter
com/pmlntrends/status/577451655228235776 https://twitter
com/sikandarkiani/status/577444719560523777 https://twitter
com/SaniRaza/status/578105129896779776 https://twitter
com/muhammadismsclb/status/577553199881584641 It is said that about 4,000 people took to the streets, demolishing public property
Christians and Muslims managed to inflict a lot of damage
Large crowds of violent protestors were seen near Youhanabad, and pictures show that they were pulling down the name “Youhanabad” from the gate
Besides all the violence, Forman Christian College was open to display a show of solidarity against acts of terrorism
A friend from Forman Christian College told me how people ambushed them by throwing stones at their car when she went to drop her mother to Youhanabad
She said she was consumed by fear her when she heard people shouting, “Ab nahin choreingey inko
” (We will not leave them now
) These gestures and tweets tell us that we never really accepted the Christian community
They will never be a part of Pakistan, because obviously Pakistan ka matlab kya (what does Pakistan mean)? Let us look beyond religions
Our government has failed us and this democracy is nothing but a farce
The most basic things – our lives – are not protected
We are all equally vulnerable despite what religion we subscribe to
No churches, no temples and no mosques are safe
Our schools and our children are not safe
We are citizens of Pakistan, so where then is our fundamental right to life? Must our humanity be tested this brutally all the time?
| Date: | 20-Mar-2015 | Reference: | View Original Link |
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