Buddhists force Christians from village

Strong Hindu and Buddhist
 populations make persecution of
 Christians common in Nepal (Photo
 courtesy of VCM)

Nepal (MNN) ― A strong Buddhist population in Nepal recently rose against a group of Christians and drove them out of their village with their pastor.

According to the Voice of the Martyrs, Canada, the Nepali pastor was accused of bringing a foreign religion into the village and teaching ideals that were offensive to society.

Attackers also accused Christians of bribing and coercing other villagers into converting, an act frowned upon by society.

While the anti-conversion laws are not officially in effect in Nepal, anti-conversion law language has been used by the Nepali government in their ongoing process of drafting a constitution.

On top of forcing Christians out of their village, one member of the opposition reportedly sexually abused the six-year-old daughter of a Christian family.

A worker with the Voice of the Martyrs helped the believers resettle in another village and prayed with the family of the assaulted six-year-old girl.

Nepali Christians only make up 2.8% of the population. Over 75% of the population is Hindu which, up until 2006, was the official religion of the country.

While persecution is not as common as it used to be in the 1990s, it is still a major issue for believers there. Attacks against Christians are especially frequent when one converts from the Hindu or Buddhist faith.

Please pray that Christians may begin to gain religious freedom in Nepal. Pray for the healing of the girl who was sexually assaulted and for strength among the ousted believers.

Click here to get the full Persecution and Prayer Alert with Voice of the Martyrs, Canada.  

Covert attempt to convert Christian pre-schoolers?

Joseph Tawie

 | November 16, 2011

Christian parents in rural Sarawak are uncomfortable listening to the pre-school children reciting Islamic prayers at home.

KUCHING: Parents in Sarawak are concerned about the subtle attempts at imparting Islamic teachings and practices to children in pre-schools in the rural areas.

Debating the 2012 budget in the current Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting, Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian said there was a ‘very real problem’ because parents were complaining that their children come home from school reciting Islamic prayers.

“Many rural areas are predominantly Christian, and there is a very real problem of subtle attempts at imparting Islamic teachings and practices in pre-schools.

“There are reports from parents of school children that their children come home from school and recite the Islamic ways of praying at home.

“From my own constituency of Ba’Kelalan, I have personally received reports of such incidents that happened to children from two families,” said Bian, who is also Sarawak PKR chief.

According to news reports, the Kemas director-general Puhat Mat Nayan said that as at 2010, Kemas had established 539 new pre-school classes and will open another 2,000 new ones.

Last year, Kemas opened 150 kindergartens in the state and for this year, they have set up 300 more to increase the accessibility to early childhood education.

Ensure fair teachings

Bian said that the people are concerned that these pre-schools are staffed by teachers from outside the local community and worst if they come from Peninsular Malaysia, the majority of whom are Muslims.

“Added to this concern is the news that Kemas schools will be taking on the Permata syllabus, as announced in Sabah in July this year by National Permata programme patron Rosmah Mansor.

“I was informed that one of the subjects in the Permata curriculum is Islamic teachings in class.

“Can we be guaranteed that all non-Muslim children be exempted from these classes or lessons?

“What are the steps taken by the state government to ensure that teachers of different faiths do not impart or teach their beliefs to the children of different faiths or beliefs in these Tadika or Pra-Sekolah in the state?” asked Bian.

Bian said to ensure fair teachings in Kemas, teachers from the local communities should be recruited.

“I propose that local teachers from the local community be recruited to teach in these Tadika or pra-sekolah to avoid any conflict of religious beliefs.

“Secondly, I propose that allocations should be made to NGOs and religious organisations to start or support their own tadika or pre-schools to reflect our support of imparting knowledge to all notwithstanding their racial or religious backgrounds,” Bian said.

Re-direct Permata funds

On the teaching of mother tongue language, Bian asked the government to allocate an official budget every year for the teaching of languages of all the different races in Sarawak from pre-school to Primary Six level.

“The loss of our people’s mother tongue is a serious threat and the precursor to the loss of our culture and identity.

“The preservation of our languages must be given priority or our people will slowly lose their unique and distinct cultures.

“With the common incidences of inter-marriage between different races in Sarawak, this request needs immediate implementation, “said Bian.

He suggested that funds allocated to Kemas or Permata be used instead to train teachers to teach in their local languages or dialects.

[main photo from Kemas website]

Nepal's government makes promises for a new future in three months

Nepal (MNN) ― Nepal's government is working toward taking the peace process to its "logical end" and preparing a draft Constitution within the next three months.

The new Prime Minister says the government puts the peace process, publicizing the Constitution, and helping the poor at the top of their agenda. According to a recent press release,  the government  is working toward double-digit economic transformation and prosperity beginning next year.

Read more...

Pakistani Muslims attack Christians in attempt to force them to convert to Islam

By Jawad Mazhar
Special Correspondent for ANS, reporting from Pakistan


KARACHI, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Two Christian men were seriously injured by young Muslims in Karachi when they refused to convert to Islam, a family member told ANS.


Liaqat Munawar, a resident of Essa Nagri in Karachi, told ANS by telephone that his brother, Ishfaq Munawar, and another young Christian man, Naeem Masih, were returning home after an early morning prayer service at their church in Sohrab Goth on August 14, when ethnic Pakhtoon youths near Sea View harassed and later attacked them.

"Ishfaq and Naeem were riding a motorcycle when six Pakhtoon youths signaled them to stop," Liaqat Munawar said. "They asked the two boys to identify themselves. Ishfaq told them that they were Christians returning from their church after a special prayer service.

"The Pakhtoons then started questioning them about their faith and later tried to force them to recite the Kalma [Islamic conversion creed] and become Muslims, telling them that this was the only way they could live peacefully in the city," Liaqat Munawar said.

"They also offered monetary incentives and 'protection' to Ishfaq and Naeem, but the two refused to renounce Christianity."

After cajoling the two Christians for some time, the Pakhtoons sat in a white car parked nearby and eventually drove away. Ishfaq Munawar and Masih got back onto their motorcycle and were about to start it, Liaqat Munawar said, when suddenly the young Muslims reversed their car and rammed it into the Christians.

"The pathan Muslims got out of the car armed with iron rods and attacked Ishfaq and Naeem, shouting that they should either recite the Kalma or they would be murdered," Liaqat Munawar said.

Munawar said the Pakhtoons severely beat the two Christians, fracturing Ishfaq Munawar's jaw and breaking five teeth, and seriously injuring Masih. He added that the two Christians fell unconscious, and the young Muslim men left assuming they had killed them.

Liaqat Munawar said his brother underwent jaw surgery at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and is now recovering. He said the family had not registered a case with police, fearing reprisal by the Muslims, but were now considering filing a formal complaint.

Elvis Steven, a Christian human rights defender in Karachi, told ANS that he was in contact with the Munawar family, and that although he had yet to speak with the victims directly, he would attempt all possible means to have the assailants arrested.

"The situation is not that bad for Christians living in areas controlled by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement [MQM], but those living in areas dominated by the Pakhtoons are under constant threat," Steven said.

"The Pakhtoons are extremist in their beliefs. They have a militant mindset, and there have been several incidents of religious violence involving the Pakhtoons (Pathan clan) in Karachi."

This latest incident seems to give evidence beyond any doubt that this was a religiously based attack and the young Christian men were attacked and injured merely because of their faith.

Political bodies involved appear to be trying to score points by claiming that the attacked youths were from their groups and thus triggering a blame game against other political parties.

---

Jawad Mazhar is a Pakistani journalist specializing in writing about Christian persecution. He was born on November 28, 1976 at Sargodha's village Chak and raised in Sargodha, a city in Pakistan's Punjab province. He earned his Bachelors Degree from Allama Iqbal Open University majoring in computer sciences and has taught at various educational institutes in his country. He is also involved with "Rays of Development," an organization working for minority rights in Pakistan. He says, "My aim is to help eradicate Christian persecution through my writing as I bring the plight of these brave people under the spotlight of the whole world."

---

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Nepal Church Workers Unfazed by Anti-Conversion Bill

Nepali partners, radio station
 (Photos courtesy HCJB Global)

Nepal (MNN) ― In about a month and a half, Nepal is supposed to have a new constitution ready to go.

Faced with an August 31 deadline, there's a high risk of a collapsed peace process should the draft not be completed by that time.

The new deadline is the extension of another deadline at the end of May which was missed. The May target came about as the result of a 2008 election that eventually brought about an accord between the Maoist rebels and the government. However, the peace was hinged on meeting a two-year mandate for a new constitution.

The political chaos that could result from another miss could permanently derail what's been accomplished since the civil war ended in 2006.

With such dire warnings ringing in their ears, lawmakers set about working on something they could finish quickly: the penal codes. According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a committee established by the government to review those submitted a proposal that would ban all religious propagation.

The concern is that this revision mirrors similar anti-conversion laws throughout India and pushes even further away from religious freedom. Christians have been sounding the alarm over the proposed changes, but Ty Stakes, Regional Director for HCJB Global Asia Pacific, says their partners are much more steady in their response. "They've experienced persecution before. Almost everybody I know that is a Christian has experienced some sort of persecution from their families."

Stakes points out that 25-30 years ago, there were hardly any Christians in Nepal. He estimates that today, there are probably over 700,000 Christians. They were the trailblazers, so hardship and oppression isn't seen by them as a new thing. "Many of the leaders I know that are older, who lived through the times before the mid 80s and earlier (and were Christians), have been in jail, and they have been prosecuted previously by the government for their faith."

However, because the Church is growing, there are many new believers who haven't experienced persecution yet, and there are questions about the "chilling effect" rumors of trouble might have on evangelists. The answer is simple, Stakes notes. "My friends in Nepal see the political instability as evidence of a continued open door for them to reach out to their communities, to their people for the Gospel."

History brings a great deal of strength and confidence to the foundation laid by the Gospel. "The advantage they have is a generation of people who are right there, right now, that can say to the many, many people who have come to Christ in the last decade or so, 'This is going to be okay. We've lived through this before. Get ready.' They can prepare for it and speak to it from their experience."

HCJB Global equips these evangelists for evangelism and church planting, says Stakes. "These are the guys that God has brought to us who want to see a greater evangelism blanket put out there with local radio, so we help them do local radio." Many have also established small Bible training schools, as well as leadership training schools, working on the principle of grassroots. "The leadership development process is always behind, so they just keep struggling ahead and teaching people to teach other people."

With the indigenous church structure setting deep roots, are there concerns that an anti-conversion law will undo years of work? Stakes notes, "This isn't a done deal yet. The legislation is not in place, and it's not being enforced on any level. The situation for Christians to reach out to their communities hasn't changed as of today."

A new draft constitution is supposed to be presented August 31. There's time to pray. "Pray that God will keep the door open, and that He will create momentum in the political process so that as He's working out His will in governments and leadership all around the world, He'll do that in Nepal and will continue to allow the opportunity for the Nepali Church to grow."