Taiser Town Christians Attacked

Karachi 23 April 09

Six people were wounded by gunshots and an 11-year-old boy is now dead in Taiser Town, near Karachi. Residents have locked themselves in their homes after the April 22 attack by armed men. This followed pro-Taliban slogans paintd on the walls of a church, calling on Christians to convert to Islam. The attackers set ablaze six Christian houses and injured three Christians, including an 11-year-old.

Taiser Town, which is home to about 750 Christian families including 300 Catholic families, is part of the Parish of St Jude in the Archdiocese of Karachi. Two police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Qudoos Masih, one of the people injured in the incident, filed an initial report at the Sarjani Town police against unknown persons.The police confirmed that seven suspects were arrested with heavy weapons on them. Police is still conducting its investigation and does not know who is behind the violence.A policeman said that only three Christians were injured, including a minor who died due to the gunshot by the "Taliban" numbering about forty all armed with fire arms.

They have been asking for "Jazia" an Islam tax laved on non Muslims living in an Islamic country. They had previously wall chalked some of the Church buildings with "Taliban" slogans due to which the Christian community was fearful and protesting. People are scared and dare not go out, especially after police advised them to stay in-doors. Most of these people are living about or under the officially declared poverty line and do not afford to go with out working for every single day.

On the other hand the official spokesman for the "Swat Taliban", Haji Muslim Kan has said that they must host Usama Bin Ladan as he is a Muslim and it must be done. All this has been reported on the electronic and print media of Pakistan. After the incident many Christian leaders and Government officials visited the area where the attack took place. There, they saw graffiti on the walls of the area’s two churches, saying ‘Taliban zindabad’ (Live long Taliban), ‘Islam zindabad’ (Live long Islam), ‘Christians Islam qabol karo’ (Christians, convert to Islam).

They also visited the torched Christian houses and saw that everything was burnt, including the residents’ Bibles.