Remembering the Martyrs’ of All Saint Church Peshawar

All Saints Church Peshawar Victims 9/22/13

Just a little more than a year ago two Islamic terrorists committed homicidal suicide at a Pakistani Church so old it was built during the old British Raj of India. Shamim Masih writes a remembrance article about the hundreds of Christians that were killed in the name of Islam.

JRH 9/28/14

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Remembering the Martyrs’ of All Saint Church Peshawar

By Shamim Masih

Sent: 9/26/2014 9:36 AM

ISLAMABAD: It was sunny morning when I reached in Lahore on 22^nd September, 2013; I received the phone call from my friend, he told that All Saints Church Peshawar is under the attack. As soon as I switched on the TV there was breaking news saying there was two suicide attackers struck at the end of the services at All Saints Church Peshawar. It was the deadliest attack that the Christian community had ever experienced in the history of the country. This attack had left the Christian community shocked and shattered which left 127 people dead and hundreds injured.

After one year Christian community around the country gathered there to offer special prayer and paid tributes to the victims of the twin suicide bombing who had lost their lives at All Saints Church Peshawar.  People are gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the horrible suicide bombings at All Saints Church, Peshawar.

Bishop Azad Marshall, Bishop of Iran and Gulf went to All Saints Church Peshawar to stand along with the survivors. According to Shahzad Gill the chaplain to Rt. Rev Dr. Azad Marshall, there were gathering of 4000 people who joined hands in sharing the body of Christ at All Saints Church, Peshawar. Talking to the gathering Bishop Azad Marshall said that after one year of the incident that pain and agony hangs on; souls have [been] scarred for life but we have hope in Christ. The attack was not on the Christians of the Peshawar but also an attack on humanity. We will continue our struggle for a just and equitable Pakistan, he added. He demanded the authorities to ensure the safety and protection of the religious minorities as enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan.

Observing the first anniversary of the Peshawar church attack; chairman PUCM Albert David said all political parties are united in the war against terrorism and supportive to promote peace building in the country. Speaking at the Remembrance service followed by the candlelight vigil he said we as PUCM stress for a collective effort to promote the soft image of Pakistan through a peaceful and harmonized co-existence at home. Expressing solidarity with families of the victims, he said that though wounds have healed however the scars remain and remind us of the tragic incident even.

                                                  

Muslim Christians Unity forum also arranged candle light vigil to pay tribute to the martyrs of the September 22, 2013 bomb blast at the All Saints Church Peshawar. Basharat Khokhar, a social activist said that federal and provincial government made many promises but nothing is being delivered so far. He targeted the Christian leadership and said political leadership is the representative of their political mother parties. They do not represent Christian minority but to their Muslim mother party.

      

The small and largely impoverished Christian community suffers discrimination intolerably [among the] Muslim majority [in] Pakistan. And nobody cares about it. 

Be Blessed,

Shamim Masih

_______________________

Edited by John R. Houk

All links by Editor – All text bracketed by Editor

© Shamim Masih

Special Correspondents

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Human Rights Activist

Snapshot of Human Rights Activism from 2011

Christian Rights Activist
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Secretary General of Information

Pakistan Christian Congress

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We Need Visionary Leaders

Albert David

Intro to ‘We Need Visionary Leaders’

Edited by John R. Houk

July 8, 2014

This is not the first time Shamim Masih has written about corruption and/or political inactivity of leaders who claim to represent the Christian minority in Pakistan. In this report Shamim contrasts the failed subservient leadership of Julius Salik with Pakistani Christian leader Albert David the Chairman of the Pakistan United Christian Movement (PUCM).

Most of what I discovered on Julius Salik is in a positive manner pertaining to Christian activism in Pakistan. Shamim’s can be summed up in this paragraph:

There was something ironic about 11 August this year. I saw the biggest joker of Christian rights in Pakistan Julius Salik join the election campaign of Advocate Ashraf Gujjar for NA 48. Yes he is the same Gujjar who garland Mumtaz Qadri and who feels he must be released. He is the same Mumtaz, who took law into his own hands and killed Salman Taseer before his blasphemous guilt could be proved. This is an ugly side of one of our leaders who is a self-proclaimed champion of human rights while he has done nothing practically for their rights. I found Basharat Khokhar better helping Christians in Islamabad then this leader. J Salik arranged commiseration for Qazi Husain Ahmad after his death but not spoken a single word for Shahbaz Bhatti. Qazi Husain Ahmad was the chief of Jammet e Islami – JI, a fundamentalist religious organization. (Bold Print Mine - Constitution Avenue Will Remain Quiet Until you Sleep; By Shamim Masih; Salem-News.com; 8/26/13)

Here are some glowing words about Albert David from a 2012 post:

…

Unfortunately many so called Christian leaders are still shaking their tails behind them, thus not knowingly they became the part of it. I have been writing for the need of unity among Christians of Pakistan. Years back I asked J. Salik (Ex. Federal Minister), Col. (R) S K Tressler (Ex. Federal Minister), and Prof. Mushataq Victor (late) (Ex. Federal Minister), to unite Pakistani Christians, but they have been playing their own cards for own sake.

…

I along with many other social and political activists have been desperately looking for someone who could conscientiously lead the Christian nation with conviction, determination and above all love and care. Albert apparently ticks all these boxes but will have to convince and prove through his actions only then he would be able to muster support for the new political initiative “PAKISTAN UNITED CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT (PUCM)” [SlantRight Editor: PUCM on Facebook] that he and his team have announced to launch.

… READ ENTIRETY (Shamim Masih Emails; email - Chosen Vessel of Christ: Albert David; By Shamim Masih; SlantRight 2.0; posted 11/19/12 – email 10/25/12)

JRH 7/8/14

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We Need Visionary Leaders

We Need Wise Leaders and Wise Followers

By Shamim Masih

Sent: 7/7/2014 1:31 PM

ISLAMABAD: Let us not talk of an ideal condition but there should be a balance and fair situation. We fool ourselves if we think we can hide behind masks and maintain a double personality. All insincerities will kick back.  They will come back to haunt us and make our true intentions plain for the entire world to see. Since my school life, I have been following former federal minister Julius Salik, then he was elected member of the parliament for the first time. I ran his election campaign, seeing him as a revolutionary leader but once he became a legislator, he neither brought reforms nor took solid steps to strengthen the community, so I stopped following him.

Currently there is a battery of Christian social and political leaders on the horizon currently, some have been there for decades but with a blank list of achievements, some from the most recent past have a tainted record with vested interests, and some are emerging as fresh blood, energetic, clear vision and not only aware of the socio-political issues of non-Muslims in the country but also an intellect approach towards their solution. Healthy self-esteem is important because some of us think too little of ourselves; on the other hand, some of us overestimate ourselves. However the key is an honest and accurate evaluation. When our leaders at any level are accused, discredited, denounce and charged with failure the word “impeach” begins to emerge. If a leader unable to do what he was placed in office to do by election or appointment, he becomes worthless and useless, this is a situation when public impeachment should be considered.

I could be wrong, but what I have seen during the last decade, a majority of Pakistani Christian leadership political, social or religious is self-centered. Reforming or leading a nation is not a game for armatures, it needs solid commitment, professional attitude combined with a national and international exposure and ability to represent the masses at all levels. When I look around there are a very few personalities that fit into the above criteria and one example I would like to share is Albert David MBE, Chairman of Pakistan United Christian Movement (PUCM). Albert has a proven and accomplished professional background, national and international exposure and experience of dealing with human rights issues, a strong grip over and awareness of socio-political issues whether related to the religious minorities or the country's national issues and above all a vision and road map for non-Muslim Pakistanis to integrate into the national main stream, political and social. Albert strongly believes in social harmony and cohesion and advocates nationalism. I had a chance of going through his profile and would like to share a few of his achievements:

o   He is the first Pakistani Christian to be conferred MBE (Honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition for outstanding services and contribution on issue of forced marriages.

o   He was invited by the White House as representative of Pakistani Christians for breakfast with President Barak Obama, an annual event to promote interfaith harmony between different religions in Feb, 2014.

o   A speaker and panelist at News Week’s conference “Women in World”, New York 2012, where he shared the stage with Foreign Secretary, Hillary Clinton and Angelina Jolie.

o   He was also the speaker and panelist on a debate jointly organized by BBC World service trust and BBC Urdu on the issue of forced marriages, honor killings and Gender Equality.

Locally he has served as the Member of the Provincial Minority Advisory Council, actively involved in the campaign against torture, a vibrant role in the promotion of child rights and leading on the advocacy campaign for Pakistan to accede to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Child Abductions. Another of Albert's achievements was his role in signing of a Protocol between Judiciaries of Pakistan and UK on the issue of Child Abductions.

Along with the above mentioned and a very clear political agenda of prosperity coupled with intellectual thinking and prolific speaking skills in a number of languages, In my opinion he is emerging as one the more capable non-Muslim political leaders in Pakistan.

America and the West have a policy of ignoring the persecution of the Christians claiming it to be an internal affair but for some reason focus on individuals, however these individuals do not present a true picture here. Some local Christian politicians, civil rights activists and religious leaders have been making money on the pretext of safeguarding minority rights but these financial resources are being used in getting positions in other political parties and for their vest interests instead of spending those funds for achieving Christian prosperity.

Be Blessed,

Shamim Masih

__________________________________

Edited by John R. Houk

© Shamim Masih

Special Correspondents

Daily Khabrian (PakBiz.com description) & Channel - 5

Human Rights Activist

Snapshot of Human Rights Activism from 2011

Christian Rights Activist
Freelance Journalist 

Secretary General of Information

Pakistan Christian Congress

Shamim Masih’s Donate/Support info:

Editor: For Americans especially, I have discovered the best way to donate to Shamim Masih is via Western Union sending to a Western Union agent in Islamabad.

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Electoral Injustice- Minorities Waiting for Reformation

Shamim Masih writes about the unjust representation of non-Muslims in Pakistan. Pakistan’s electoral system is set-up to favor the Islamic Supremacism of Sharia Law to the detriment of the political rights of Pakistani Non-Muslims and/or Pakistani Non-Sunni Muslims. The existence of this unjust political representation undoubtedly contributes to the Sunni Muslim majority to persecute Christians with impunity.

JRH 10/20/13

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Electoral Injustice- Minorities Waiting for Reformation

By Shamim Masih

Sent: 10/18/2013 2:34 PM

ISLAMABAD: Check out the biggest leftist hypocrisy in Pakistan, remarkably highlighted by Albert David Chairman Pakistan United Christian Movement [PUCM See Here].

  

In political terms the local governments are known as the nursery of politics where new entrants to politics get trained, gain experience and take bigger strides to play their role at the National level. However it appears that by introducing two different electoral systems for Non-Muslims in the upcoming local government elections they are being made victims of yet another political injustice.

All Four provinces have announced their own preferred local bodies systems and apparently it looks like they have opted for a joint electoral system where as non-Muslims will be given representation on reserved seats through indirect elections.

Let’s look at the Punjab Local Government Bill 2013.  The composition of a Union Council will include elected Chairman and Vice Chairman, five other directly elected members on the basis of adult franchise followed by three indirectly elected members, including one each representing the Non-Muslims, women and labor/peasants on reserved seats. The will be elected by the directly elected seven members. A similar prototype is to be followed for representation of Non-Muslims at the District Council and Urban local government levels.

Another concerning issue in the Bill that affects Non-Muslims is that only those Union Councils will have a Non-Muslim member where the number of registered Non-Muslim voters is 500 or more. This could lead into a situation where approx. 50% of Union Councils will have no Non-Muslim representation.

Though joint electoral system was introduced to bring Non-Muslims into the main stream of politics however we must admit that socially we are still in an evolution phase where it is acceptable to get the votes from Non-Muslims however voting for a Non-Muslim candidate will take years of political, social and cultural change or in other words development.

The electoral system imposed by dictator General Parvaiz Musharaf for Non-Muslims at the National and Provincial level is already keeping Non-Muslim politicians away from the race as the existing ones have the tools, contacts and resources to secure the confidence of their masters and secure access to the legislative institutions. It does not matter if they have any commitment or ever wish to access the masses they represent. These so called representatives never feel accountable to the ones they represent as they are not elected by them.

The proposed provincial LG electoral system is another step, the final nail in the coffin; politically the Non-Muslims are out, end of game, in Wimbledon term, game, set and match. Once again the same story will be repeated, people with resources and more importantly contacts with their masters will select their own people as the representatives at the grass root levels too. I see this as an attempt to make the Non-Muslims politically infertile.

        

However the interesting factor is that the elections in the 43 Cantonment Boards have been proposed on the “Separate” electorate system, where Non-Muslims voters will vote for Non-Muslim candidates as members/councilors. Isn’t this a political mockery, the provincial governments opting for a Joint electoral system and Federal Government (Cantonment Boards are governed by Federal Government) preferring a “Separate Electoral System”. But maintaining a Joint Electoral system at the national and provincial level.

The demand to elect their own representatives has been gaining momentum over the recent years and if the Provincial or Federal governments ever made an effort to explore the preferred electoral system, I am confident the majority of the minority (Non-Muslim Pakistanis) will opt for the separate electoral system. Separate elections is a popular demand among Non-Muslims however not sure if a priority for the law makers to look into this.

Whatever the conclusion may be Pakistan United Christian Movement rejects the proposed electoral system for the Non-Muslims in upcoming the local government elections and demands that Non-Muslim voters should be given the right to elect their own representatives by their own votes. I wish that the Federal Government goes ahead with the proposed separate electoral system for Cantonment boards

Be Blessed,

Shamim Masih

______________________

© Shamim Masih

Edited by John R. Houk

Snapshot of Human Rights Activism from 2011

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REAP

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