John R. Houk
© February 22, 2013
Shamim Masih writes about a Pakistan Non-Governmental Organization called World Vision in Progress (WVIP). The about page offers this self-description:
WVIP news is a project of World Vision in Progress a ground NGO working for the rights of Christians in Pakistan. It has been observed that every year 150 Million Christians endure from Persecution around the world. Almost every day Christians were persecuted in Islamic world due their faith in Christ, and local media hardly cover the reports.
World Vision in Progress is Pakistani based NGO, working against the social and religious Discrimination of Christians in Pakistan. Blasphemy Laws, forcible conversion, rape and Abduction are the level of Persecution in Pakistan.
Christian persecution in Islamic world is a modern Holocaust and WVIP felt its obligation to share and reports to international world through the Web-media, so together we all can lift our voices for our brothers and sisters.
BE THE FIRST TO LIFT YOUR VOICE……
The focus of the WVIP then is providing civil rights, human rights and social training for Pakistan’s Christians. Shamim’s post is information acquired in an interview with Farrukh Harrison. That information is a classic description of good bad old fashioned dhimmitude in which non-Muslims are offered pseudo-protection. I call the concept of dhimmitude ‘pseudo-protection’ because it is actually a theo-political muscle racket that extorts a poll tax called jizya that offers non-Muslims safety from death as long as the tax was paid and that the non-Muslim followed Islam’s Sharia Law in respect to honor Islam above their own faith or face the removal of safety and the penalty of death.
I tried to find some profile information on Farrukh Harrison and discovered he also known as Farrukh Harrison Saif. As usual when the West ignores the plight of Christians in Muslim lands profiles of heroes like Harrison are hard to come by. I did manage to find an excerpt about Harrison dated 3/21/11 so I can’t vouch for the info being up to date:
A Christian, Farrukh Harrison, is the only one amongst his family who has decided to stay back in the country. A year ago, his family moved to Holland and sought political asylum there.
“I see no future for the religious minorities in Pakistan. My relatives moved abroad, and they keep on pressing me to leave as well. The way the extremists are taking over the country, it seems that very soon all the minorities would be forcefully converted or would be killed, he says emotionally.”
He continues, saying that a number of well-to-do Christians have left for safer abodes, and others are in process of doing the same.
Running a small non-governmental organization for Christian rights, he said that it is a viable option for those who have money in their pockets to leave the country.
“Hundreds of our community have left and seek asylum abroad. It is sad that despite being the sons of the soil, and playing a major role to progress in health and education, we are the ones who are forced to pack our bags.”
Harrison feels that the cloud of extremism which blanketed the country was formed when General Ziaul Haq took the country towards a new path of Islamisation.
While the more affluent have made arrangements to leave, for the poor, there is no choice exist to stay within their four walls, and restrict their activities. … (The silenced minorities; by Rabia Ali; Beautiful Pakistan; 3/21/11)
“I see no future for the religious minorities in Pakistan. My relatives moved abroad, and they keep on pressing me to leave as well. The way the extremists are taking over the country, it seems that very soon all the minorities would be forcefully converted or would be killed, he says emotionally.”
He continues, saying that a number of well-to-do Christians have left for safer abodes, and others are in process of doing the same.
Running a small non-governmental organization for Christian rights, he said that it is a viable option for those who have money in their pockets to leave the country.
“Hundreds of our community have left and seek asylum abroad. It is sad that despite being the sons of the soil, and playing a major role to progress in health and education, we are the ones who are forced to pack our bags.”
Harrison feels that the cloud of extremism which blanketed the country was formed when General Ziaul Haq took the country towards a new path of Islamisation.
While the more affluent have made arrangements to leave, for the poor, there is no choice exist to stay within their four walls, and restrict their activities. … (The silenced minorities; by Rabia Ali; Beautiful Pakistan; 3/21/11)
Apparently WVIP has another website separate than the one Shamim provides at the end of his article and that link is:
This website provides better detail than the on Shamim provides; the person who edited the website I have posted writes in a bit of broken English which is understandable because English is not the national language of Pakistan. I encourage you to click there to get a clear look of the plight of Christians in Pakistan. The Christian plight in Pakistan (and the entire Muslim world) is not a pretty one.
Here is some video from the link I posted that demonstrates how Sunni Muslims use Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws to persecute, assault and deprive Christians of their basic Civil Rights. Most heinous is how the Sharia Blasphemy Law mentality of Muslims looks the other way as Christian girls are raped oft times as punishment for something like the father or husband refusing to convert to Islam.
JRH 2/22/13
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WVIP- shelter for victims of persecution
By Shamim Masih
Sent 2/19/2013 4:01 PM
Islamabad Pakistan (Shamim Masih):
“…..by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. John 13:35
World Vision in Progress WVIP is nonprofit organization, workings based on this commandment.
WVIP is fighting against the social injustice, constitutional and religious discrimination, and forced conversion with Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan, said WVIP chief.
Farrukh Harrison, Executive Director, World Vision in Progress- WVIP said in a telephonic interview, on his return to the country few days back.
I remember, last month, he called me and shared his concern about the safety of an accused of the blasphemy law a young man Ryan Stanten, accused of blasphemy law 295- PPC from Karachi.
Pakistani Boy Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ Relates Ordeal
Cell phone mishap results in mob attacking home of Ryan Stanton, 16.
Special to Morning Star News
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, October 17 (Morning Star News) – When 16-year-old Ryan Stanton and his father returned to their home in the middle-class area of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi, the night of Oct. 8, they were stunned to see the local mosque leader and about a dozen other furious Muslims waiting for them.
“We saw about 10-15 locals led by Khursheed Alam, the main complainant in the case, and Pesh Imam Qari Ghulam Qadir, prayer leader of the colony’s mosque, standing at our door – they were visibly angry,” said the latest Christian youth in Pakistan to be charged with blasphemy. “They told my father that some people in the residential-cum-office compound of SSGC [Sui Southern Gas Company] had received a blasphemous text message from my phone number. Their tone was very aggressive, and it seemed they were fully poised to kill me.”
Ryan said the men showed his father a text message allegedly sent from Ryan’s phone to the cell phone number of one of his neighbors.
His father, Bryan Patrus, told Morning Star News that the imam’s threats became increasingly harsh as the group built up pressure on the boy to admit to sending the text message.
“He told them that it was a big misunderstanding and someone had misused his phone, but they weren’t ready to listen,” Patrus said.
…
Patrus said that his son’s Muslim friends had framed him.
“On more than a dozen occasions, some of Ryan’s friends had asked him why he wouldn’t accept Islam, but Ryan used to ignore their nagging,” said Patrus, who has twice suffered strokes that have left his left side paralyzed. “On the night of Oct. 7, Ryan and his friends went to see a cricket match in our family car. The very next night, Ryan was being hounded [sought] around the city.”
At his home that night, the mob led by the imam, Qari Ghulam Qadir, was reportedly forcing their way through the door. Finding no one, they settled for looting and arson; media reported that several people were seen running away with valuables while others burned furniture on the street. (READ THE REST)
…
Islamabad Pakistan, Oct 14, (SHAMIM MASIH):
On Friday afternoon (October 12th), after Muslim Jumma prayer a 600 strong mob attacked and damaged a church in the old city area of Karachi. Earlier the same pillagers set fire to the belongings of Ryan Bryan a teenager now accused of blasphemy in the same town. .
The BPCA sent Shamim Maish to Karachi to investigate this new incident and he reached the same evening. He was shocked to see more destruction just days after the attack on the church in Mardan.
On Saturday a large number of civil society activists and members of the Christian community held a demonstration, urging the authorities to protect them from the extremists who attacked and damaged a church and threatened to kill an innocent teenager caught up in a swarm of hatred. Literally hundreds of Christians braved the animosity directed towards then to vent their frustrations against the injustice meted out upon them. The protesters chanted slogans and demanded security for the minority communities and their places of worship. They demanded that the attackers should be punished under the law. (READ THE REST)
Then he was not in contact and I remained busy in my routine work. A few days later, I called him but he didn’t reply yet left a massage on face-book (social media) for me that he is not in Pakistan and will contact me once he is back.
On his return to the country, he told me that his visit purpose was to secure the life of the accused of blasphemy case.
He said, sadly, violence against religious minorities remains prevalent in Pakistani society. They are treated as second class citizen status and their women are raped and abuses go unreported and society turns a largely blind eye. As a result, many victims not only suffer physically, but are also traumatized and with feelings of hopelessness, isolation and humiliation.
WVIP continues to help victims by helping them to report their abuse to the relevant authorities. WVIP also provides the victims of abuse with basic items to meet their practical needs, and provide counseling to help them move beyond their traumatic experiences. It includes legal assistance on handling the case against the perpetrator and how to cope with the physical impact of the abuse.
The legal team works with victims of religious intolerance, rape and sexual abuse, trafficking, illegal detention, torture, domestic violence and other forms of oppression, as well as people facing charges of blasphemy under Pakistan’s notorious Blasphemy law, he added.
He went on to say that WVIP has dealt with many cases and has been working on cases involving the Hadood Ordinance, a law brought into existence under former military dictator Gen Zia ul Haq that led to hundreds of women victims of rape being accused of zina (extramarital sex) and consequently imprisoned. The perpetrators, meanwhile, often go unpunished.
Sadly, destitute women and children account for a high proportion of victims of oppression. Poor people in Pakistan generally have little or no awareness of their basic legal and human rights and WVIP provides the women and children with accommodation, food, clothes, recreational facilities, medical assistance, education and counseling sessions.
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Intro to Shamim’s WVIP
John R. Houk
© February 22, 2013
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WVIP- shelter for victims of persecution
© Shamim Masih
Edited by John R. Houk
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