The joint demonstration by Christian and Hindus in Hyderabad to support JUD was not organized by any high profiled Christian or Hindu organization nor it attracted large number of protestor but still it left a question mark that Why minorities have been used in this issue?
The Pakistani Christian minority is under attack of terrorists since 2001, when St. Dominic Church worshipers were attacked and 21 Christians were martyred in Bahawalpur.
The series of terror attacks sponsored by Muslim fundamental religious groups on churches, missionary hospitals, schools, charity organizations and clergy in villages and cities of Pakistan have martyred hundreds of Christians creating fear and concern of safety of life and property.
The government sponsored terrorism by discriminatory laws, prohibition ordinance and Blasphemy laws have been victimizing Christian minority since 1989. The large number of Christian have been arrested and pushed behind bars. The Christian women have been abducted, raped and forcible converted to Islam.
The Hindu minority in Pakistan is based in Sindh province in large numbers comparing to other provinces where it can be counted on fingers. The Hindu minority never faced social, religious and political problem since 1947, independence of Pakistan due to historical cultural relationship with Sindhi Muslim majority. The Hindu Minority in Pakistan was also morally supported by Indian regimes to secure their basic rights. The Sindhi Hindus were among feudal lords class and Muslim feudal lords always supported them on most issues.
But in 2004, lower class Hindus were also under target of Muslims when incidents of abduction, rape and forcible conversions of Hindu minor girls firstly appeared in national media. The voice of such incidents was being heard in National assembly of Pakistan in 2005, when Hindu parliamentarians protested in house on forcible conversion and oppression.
In such a situation of minorities, the joint demonstration of Hindus and Christians in favor of Muslim fundamental organization Jamaat-ud-Daawa was serious to be noted.
Now, it is reported by Sunday Times that a senior member of an Islamic organization linked to Al-Qaeda is funding his activities through the kidnapping of Christian children who are sold into slavery in Pakistan. The Sunday Times has established that Gul Khan, a wealthy militant who uses the base of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD) near Lahore, is behind a cruel trade in boys aged six to 12.
The Sunday Time adds that Christian boys are abducted from remote Christian villages in the Punjab and fetch nearly £1,000 each from buyers who consign them to a life of misery in domestic servitude or in the sex trade.
Khan was exposed in a sting organized by American and Pakistani missionaries who decided to save 20 such boys and return them to their homes. Using a secret camera, they filmed him accepting $28,500 (£15,000) from a Pakistani missionary posing as a businessman who said he wanted to set up an operation in which the boys would beg for cash on the streets.
Khan was observed driving from the meeting with a knapsack full of cash to the JUD headquarters at Muridke, near Lahore. The base was funded by Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, in the late 1990s and the JUD`s assets were frozen last month by the US Treasury after it was designated a terrorist organization
Khan, who regularly stays at the JUD`s base, broke his promise to hand
Over the 20 boys on receipt of the cash and took the Pakistani missionary`s assistant hostage while he checked that the dollars were genuine. The boys were eventually freed in a disheveled and malnourished state after being locked in a room for five months during which they suffered frequent beatings.
The Christian and Hindu leaders have greater responsibility in present situation to act freely to promote peace and liberty in Pakistan and to avoid support to any terror organization under any pressure. It is fact that Christian-Hindu rally in Hyderabad to support Jamaat-ud-Daawa was on instigation of some hidden hands, which may be hand of government secret agencies or fundamental Muslim militant organizations for survival of terror in Pakistan.
By;
Dr. Nazir S Bhatti