Is a ceasefire a reality with Nigeria's Boko Haram?

(Images courtesy Compass Direct News)

Nigeria (MNN) ― After three years of incessant attacks on places of worship and other public places, Nigeria's Boko Haram sect has called a truce.

The price of the ceasefire: freedom for the arrested members of the group and the rebuilding of the destroyed mosque of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

Too high a price to pay? For its part, the embattled Nigerian government said it would not make a formal pronouncement yet on the ceasefire until it had time to study the conditions. "It seems the government and the military are working on the assumption that this is a legitimate ceasefire offer. The military there has kind of taken a 30-day "wait and see,'" notes Voice of the Martyrs spokesman, Todd Nettleton.

"If there are no incidents, if there are no attacks, if there are no church bombings for the next 30 days, then we'll know they're serious and then we can move forward," adds Nettleton.

Boko Haram is loosely translated "Western education is sinful" in Hausa. The group had its origins in Borno state, and under the banner of fighting to impose Islamic law on Nigeria, spread to Adamawa, Abuja, Bauchi, Niger, Kano, Yobe, Kadun,a and throughout other parts of Nigeria's northeast.

However, since the ceasefire was announced 17 days ago, nine women taking part in a polio vaccination exercise in Kano city were murdered, and three Korean medical doctors were killed in Yobe state. These attacks bear the hallmarks of the extremist group, but security forces admit that the violence could also have been a criminal gang profiting from the growing lawlessness in Nigeria's northeast.

That raises doubts about how much effect a ceasefire would have on security. Nettleton agrees. He goes on to explain, "They want westerners out of northern Nigeria, and they want to push for Sharia law in northern Nigeria. It is hard to imagine, for me at least, a situation where they stop short of that and agree to some form of compromise. So this may just be a small period of them sort of regrouping, but again, it's just so early that we don't know how this is all going to play out."

As to the reason this story has flown under the radar? Past history and several broken accords litter this road paved with good intentions. Nobody knows who backed the idea or who will cooperate with the truce. "Is this widespread? Is this going to come down from the top to everybody? Is this one small group that wants to have some peace, and maybe there are others who don't?" Nettleton asks.

There is some cautious optimism. Nettleton says partners have been sending back reports. "In the city of Maiduguri, which is kind of the headquarters of Boko Haram, there are stories of businesses returning to somewhat normal business hours, people in the markets, people in the streets, more so than they have been."

Still, the instability has taken its toll. "One of the impacts of the violence is that a lot of Christians have left the area. They simply have said, ‘We don't have a future here,' so there's that. When you talk about outreach, it complicates things--even simply to have someone come visit your church."

People are jittery, especially those who gather on Sunday in church. "Any guests at a church right now in northern Nigeria are watched with some apprehension and even fear. I've heard of churches that are putting in metal detectors. I've heard of churches where the Christians literally are taking machetes with them to church in case there's a battle that breaks out during the service, in case they have to fight their way out of the building."

Please pray for God's protection, regardless of whether the cease-fire holds. Pray that Muslims there will be reached with the Gospel. What's interesting, says Nettleton, is that more and more, Muslims are disenchanted with the things they're hearing from the al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram. "The truth of Islam is coming out, and that can be a time of seed planting and even a time of revival."

Religious discrimination increases in Dashoguz, Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan (MNN) ― Multiple raids occurred recently in Turkmenistan's northern city of Dashoguz, noted Forum 18 News Service. The latest attack was particularly violent, leaving the hands of a 68-year-old woman beaten and bloodied. Her 77-year-old husband was literally dragged out of their home by his shirt collar, detained, and questioned by police.

"I am very sad that this lawless behavior took place without regard for the individual," one believer told Forum 18.

Begjan and Klara Shirmedov were gathered in their home with 15 members of the Path of Faith Church when police broke in, questioned congregation members, and seized religious literature. 

Officers seized Begjan Shirmedov, dragging him out of the house. 

Forum 18 said that when Klara Shirmedov spoke up, police beat her hands until they bled. Police then took church members to their station for questioning and threatened them with prosecution.

Ask God to heal Klara's wounds.

This attack comes on the heels of another raided home church meeting in the city. Forum 18 said three believers were fined in this incident, and one was banned from leaving the country. When Oleg Piyashev tried to board a plane last week, intending to return to his family in Russia, officials prevented him from leaving the country. Later, Piyashev was told that even though his documentation was correct, he was "temporarily banned from travelling."

Forum 18 said that a number of believers are currently on Turkmenistan's "exit black list," including a pastor who was imprisoned for two years. Another leader had been imprisoned from 1998 to 2002 to "punish him for his faith." His wife and nine children were barred from leaving the country in 2008. They tried with no avail to get an explanation from the government, Forum 18 noted.

"They replied most recently...to say we are still banned from travelling, but again gave no reasons," the believer complained to Forum 18.

Turkmenistan is #18 on the Open Doors USA World Watch List, a compilation of 50 nations with the worst Christian persecution. Police and other officials put Christian activities under strict surveillance, making it difficult for believers to spread the Gospel. Pray that doors would be opened in this restrictive society.

Pastor and family survive attack in Nigeria

Nigeria (MNN/VOM) ― A pastor and his family are safe, but recovering after an attack in Nigeria. The attack happened on August 10, but details are just coming out.

According to the Voice of the Martyrs, at least seven gunmen entered an Ekillisiyar Yan'Uwa Nigeria (EYN) church compound in Borno state, intending to kill the pastor, his wife and three children.

One gunman entered the room of the pastor's 24-year-old son, but "God gave him the courage and strength to push the man down," VOM contacts said. The young man was shot in the leg and fell to the ground as he fled his attacker.

The pastor ran from the family's house when he heard the gunshots, only to see his son lying on the ground and gunmen shooting at him. Although the pastor was not hit, he also fell to the ground when the gunmen fired at him. Thinking both men were either dead or injured, the gunmen entered the house to search for the church key.

After confronting the pastor's wife and two other children, the gunmen ordered them to lie face down on the floor. The family remained in the house as the attackers set fire to the house and church. The woman and her children eventually escaped the fire and hid in bushes near the church.

Apparently satisfied with the burning buildings and persuaded that the pastor and his family were dead or seriously injured, the gunmen fired their guns into the air while shouting, "Allahu Akbar." As the attackers left the scene, they unknowingly passed right by the pastor and his family hiding in the bushes.

The family remained in hiding through the night and took the oldest son to a hospital in Maiduguri the next morning. He has been released from the hospital, and the family is staying with another pastor in Maiduguri.

Pray for Christians in northern Nigeria. The radical group Boko Haram has taken aim at Christians and anything non-Muslim. They would like northern Nigeria to be an Islamic state.

Syrian Christian targeted in Syria

Jordan (MNN) ― Refugees who have fled to Jordan from Syria are telling mission leaders supported by Christian Aid Mission about deliberate, new persecution from the "Arab Spring" insurgents who are seeking to overthrow the brutal Assad regime in Damascus.

Nearly 100,000 Christians so far have fled from Homs and other cities being targeted by government forces, but it is no longer just to escape the crossfire. Now, more reports are revealing that a new wave of persecution is deliberate and growing. As a result, Virginia-based Christian Aid Mission is sending additional aid to help the growing numbers of refugees which have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

"It is over; we can't get back what we lost," said one discouraged Christian refugee here in Jordan. "It will never be the same anymore for me or my family. We've lost hope." He said he had to flee with his family at night, because anti-Christian persecution in Syria is becoming a steadily growing reality.

"I had my own business. I ran a supermarket, and we were financially stable. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore. Our dreams vanished when a group of terrorists threatened to kill my family, burn our house, and set fire to the supermarket if I didn't pay them $7,000.

"I paid the amount, hoping that they would leave us alone, but they did not. Instead, they kidnapped me for a whole week. They only let me go on one condition: that each month I would pay them the same amount.

"What do you think I could do? I fled. I packed our stuff, taking only the basics. I took my family and came to Jordan. My son, Omar, has one year left to finish his bachelor's degree, but now his dreams have vanished as well. I used to be a business owner...but now I am a laborer who can hardly provide the day-to-day basics for my family."

Meanwhile, indigenous missionaries supported by Christian Aid are standing in the gap to help by visiting Syrian refugees in northern Jordan, sometimes every day. Like the grocer, they also have left everything. Many have lost sons and other family members since the fighting began.

Another older woman told native missionaries how close death is for Syrian Christians, "I was talking with friends next to our building when suddenly, from every direction, we heard gun shots. At the same moment, I watched my friends fall dead in front of me. I lost my friends in one second. I was also hit by a bullet. It fragmented my knee, and now I can't walk normally."

"Only three weeks ago, two car bombs detonated in the middle of a Christian neighborhood in Syria, close to the Syrian Air Intelligence building. The explosions caused massive damage, turning walls to rubble. We know one family whose house walls were so damaged that they were practically living on the street; they were able to find shelter from the cold at a relative's home. Of course, they were not the only family that lost their home that day."

Many of these victims have come to Syrian refugee camps in the northwest towns of Jordan. Local believers have welcomed them warmly with an open heart, but it is a challenge for these churches and Christian communities to handle the economic and social demands of this crisis. The health care and education systems are both overloaded by the influx of new patients and students.

"Here at our mission," said a leader whose compassionate work is being helped by Christians in America, "we view this refugee crisis as an opportunity to share the love of Christ. It is God who opened the door for us to minster to these refugees, and we cannot abandon our brothers and sisters.

"We believe that if we are faithful, this may be a time of harvest among the Syrian refugees. God is sovereign, and He cares. We must care, too, for we are ambassadors for Christ and must reflect God's love."

Because Christians in the United States are sending aid, the Jordanian missionaries are visiting refugee families and listening to their stories, as well as distributing food packages, blankets, mattresses, and other aid.

"As we show compassion for their pain and grieve with them, we also try to show respect as well. After each visit, we distribute New Testaments and Christian tracts--particularly to those who have not begun to follow the Lord.

"After each visit we receive a positive blessing from the refugees' reactions. One family told us that they had been visited by other charity organizations, but they know that we are different because we respect them and make them feel loved and welcome."

The mission church has kept it's doors open 24 hours a day for the refugees since the crisis began. Native Christian volunteers frequently receive calls for help at midnight. The needs are huge. Many are unable to find jobs or ways to support themselves. Others are injured, struggling with broken bones, disabilities, and illness that need medication. The leaders are asking Christian Aid to help find more funds in the USA to help meet these physical needs.

Also, they are asking for help to provide targeted training for Christian youth. "We want to equip young Christians to be leaders and peacemakers during this humanitarian crisis. They need discipleship if they are going to be light in darkness and peace in the time of fear," explained the leader.

"Each member of the local churches must know how to boldly share his faith, or our witness will be diminished. Discipleship requires investments of time, resources, and courage, and we are asking the Lord to provide everything needed.

"We pray that God will use Christian Aid and friends in America to help us bring beauty from ashes. May you all be His hands and feet to share this work with us, and help us reach out to desperate and discouraged Syrian refugees.

The leader continued, "We know that only our God can truly meet their needs but God can use Americans as they go beyond sympathy and act in love now to help us reach Syrian refugees with the Gospel." 

Support Christian Aid Mission by clicking here.

Turkish Christians Subject to Discrimination, Attacks, Report Says

Textbooks, media vilify followers of Christ; intolerance an ‘urgent problem.’

ISTANBUL, February 14 (CDN) — Despite some promising developments, Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group.


In its annual “Report on Human Rights Violations,” released in January, the country’s Association of Protestant Churches notes mixed indicators of improvement but states that there is a “root of intolerance” in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths.


“The removal of this root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt with,” the report states.


“There is still a lot of room for improvement,” said Mine Yildirim, a member of the legal committee for the association. “These problems have not been solved in some time.”


The report documented 12 attacks against Christians in 2011, including incidents in which individuals were beaten in Istanbul for sharing their faith, church members were threatened and church buildings attacked. None of the attackers have been charged. In some of the attacks, the victims declined to bring charges against the assailants.


In some places in Turkey, some church leaders have to “live under some sort of police protection,” the report reads.


“There are at least five church leaders who have bodyguards, and at least two have a direct phone line to a police protection unit,” the report states. “Several churches have police protection during worship services.”


Yildirim said attacks have increased since the previous year, and that much of the problem lies in the fact that the Turkish government won’t admit there is a problem. The state routinely characterizes attacks on Christians as isolated acts of violence rather than the result of intolerance within elements across Turkish society.


“I think it has to be identified as a problem by the state, initially,” Yildirim said. “It is a problem that nothing is being done about at all.”


There are an estimated 120,000 Christians in Turkey, of which 3,000 are Protestants. Sunni Muslims make up close to 99 percent of the country’s 75 million people, according to United Nations’ population figures.


Attacks against Christians come from those who, at a minimum, question the “Turkishness” of Christian nationals or who, at the extreme, view Christians as spies out to destroy the country from within. Many of the more horrific attacks, such as the 2007 torture and killing of three Christians in Malatya, have been linked to members of nationalist movements. The criminal case into the murders continues without a court ruling thus far.


Along with attacks, Christians in Turkey continue to have problems establishing places of worship. The worst incident in that regard last year was on Dec. 23, when the local government of Istanbul’s Sancaktepe district sealed the entrance to the floor of a building rented by the Istanbul Family Life Association, allegedly because of licensing issues.


“When individuals went to the municipality to inquire about the situation, they were told there would not be any activity by the association allowed in that area and that the seal would not be removed,” the report states. “In the same building there are bars and cafes that continue their work along with other businesses. It is only the church association activities that are being banned; they are targets of hate speech and open favoritism of others.”


The report also identifies state policies that single out Christian children for harassment or vilification. A civics book, “The History of the Turkish Republic’s Reforms and ‘Ataturkism,’” taught to eighth-grade students, continues to characterize “missionary activities” as a national threat. The Ministry of Education ignored the association’s efforts to change the language, according to the association’s report.


“This example vividly shows that prejudice and intolerance has been built up by the Ministry of Education and has been worked into the thinking of others,” the report states.


Along with the government, the association points a finger squarely at Turkish news media for perceived bigotry toward Turkish Christians.


“The increase in the slanderous and misinformation-filled and subjective reporting with regard to Christians in 2011 is a worrisome development,” the report states.


Being a Christian is often characterized in the news media as a negative thing, according to the study, and many legal activities of church bodies were portrayed as if they were illegal or a liability to society. Some church groups were falsely linked to at least one terrorist group.


Despite all the problems, Christian Turkish nationals are still faring better than their regional counterparts in countries such as Iran, Iraq and Egypt. The report notes some positive developments in Turkey over the past year, including school administrators being more responsive to the rights of non-Muslim students to opt out of state-mandated Islamic education.


In addition, due to a court order, Turkish citizens are allowed to leave the religious affiliation space blank on their state-issued identification cards. The association noted that some government agencies have been more responsive to concerns about the rights of the Christian minority.


Yildirim declined to speculate on the future of Christians in Turkey but concluded, “Change can happen in Turkey; it just needs to be a priority.”


END

The Killings continue in Nigeria even during Christmas season

Massacres Provoke Worldwide Condemnation

By Danielle Miskell
Special to ASSIST News Service

NIGERIA (ANS) -- Attacks on Nigerian Christians by Islamists are continuing unabated in this West African nation, even during the Christmas season.

CARNAGE: A car burns outside St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, after one of the country’s coordinated Christmas Day bombings (Photo: Reuters)

Targeted Christians residing in the Ungwan Rami village of Kaura Local Government Area suffered 5 fatalities on Monday, December 19th, which happened to be the second violent occurrence in the Kaduna area only 9 days after the first in Kukum Gida.

Motivated by religious extremist agendas, the Muslim assailants have pillaged various Christian communities by way of firearms, machetes, stones, and sneak attacks throughout the night.

Their attacks are that of typical jihadist fundamentalists, and according to Compass Direct News (CDN) --www.compassdirect.org -- Christian leaders suspect these Islamic extremists are strategically planning and encouraging ongoing slaughters on villages and other Christian communities.

Islamist and Muslim Fulani herdsman attacks on Christians are still at large, and out of them, the Boko Haram sect is believed to be primarily responsible for the recent numerous attacks.

The ratio of Christians to Muslims in the 160 million populated nation, is evenly split, and they, for the most part, co-exist in peace.

But according to an interview that Reuters had with one of the militants of the Boko Haram sect, they are trying to ignite a sectarian civil war and impose Sharia (Islamic) Law across Africa.

Already having killed dozens and displaced hundreds of Christians in recent months, the assaults did not cease even during the holidays.

Members of Boko Haram

On Christmas day, the same Boko Haram sect admitted to being responsible for three church bombings that killed more than two dozen Christians. Among those churches was St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, where officials confirmed 32 dead after a deadly attack where the church was bombed. This last Christmas Sunday has been reflected as “Nigeria’s blackest Christmas ever.”

Waves of attacks continued only hours after the bombing at St. Theresa’s and other reported attacks occurred at Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in Jos; a church in Gadaka located in the northern state of Yobe; and a suicidal bombing that killed four officials at the State Security Service near the town of Damaturu.

These premeditated and coordinated series of attacks have elicited an outrage across Nigeria that has challenged the government’s competency in the matter. Former military ruler and presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, has voiced his disappointment in the government over their “slow response and indifference to the bombings.” In a statement he made to a Nigerian news publication, Buhari said, “This is clearly a failure of leadership at a time the government needs to assure the people of the capacity to guarantee the safety of lives and property.”

Outraged Nigerians have put pressure at an executive level where President Goodluck Jonathan has been confronted about doing more to intervene in order to prevent growing security threats which risk derailing economic gains in the OPEC.

Coming from Vatican City, Benedict XVI as of Monday, condemned the bomb attacks on Christmas day by Islamist militants. The Pope said that news of the bombings in Nigeria brought him “profound sadness,” according to Reuters, and that he felt the attacks were an “absurd gesture” and prayed that “the hands of the violent be stopped.”

He addressed the Nigerian Christian Community and said he was close to them, and then implored all the sectors within the Nigerian society to work together in rediscovering security and tranquility.

State Governor Jonah Jang has also condemned the killings.

The northern branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has declared a warning of potential religious war in Africa. Secretary General for the CAN, Saidu Dogo, has already initiated defenses against any further attacks, “We shall henceforth in the midst of these provocation and wanton destruction of innocent lives and property be compelled to make our own efforts and arrangements to protect the lives of innocent Christians and peace-loving citizens of this country.”

Reuters has reported that the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States have joined in the condemnation against the bombings and have labeled them as terrorist attacks. They have united in a campaign and pledged to help Nigerian authorities fight against this conflict with extremists.

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Danielle Miskell, 24, is a 2009 graduate of Vanguard University of Southern California. With her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication and Journalism, she is currently residing in Los Angeles and works as a free-lance journalist. Aside from currently writing for ANS, her journalistic ventures have recently consisted of interning at KABC7-TV, Los Angeles, volunteering for the production team with the Silver Lake Jubilee Music Festival, and doing online webisode interviews for online music hub, LA Beet. Regarding anything to do with ANS or other writing opportunities, Danielle can be contacted by e-mail at: danielle.miskell@gmail.com

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Christian Civilians in Burma Face Deadly Attacks

Army burns homes, kills villagers during Clinton visit.

By Vishal Arora

 

Elderly Kachin woman searches
 for shelter after fleeing her village.
(Photo courtesy Compass News Direct)

NEW DELHI, December 5 (Compass Direct News) – As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Burma’s capital, Naypyidaw, last week in a show of support for authorities’ ostensible reforms to discuss minority rights, government troops killed civilians and burned houses in a Christian-majority state about 450 miles away.

 

On Wednesday (Nov. 30), the day Clinton arrived, Burmese soldiers killed a woman and injured six other villagers as they fired four rounds of mortar shells at civilians in the Tarlawgyi area of Kachin state’s Waingmaw Township, Kachin News Group reported.

 

Another battalion burned down 10 homes in Nam Wai village and five more in neighboring Hpa Ke villa e, both in Dawhpumyang sub-township in Bhamo district, the Thailand-based news agency added. The killing and arson followed two explosions that killed a student and injured another the previous night (Nov. 29) in the state’s capital, Myitkyina. Local residents suspected government agents planted the bombs, a Kachin journalist told Compass by phone on condition of anonymity.

 

The twin blasts rocked the state capital days after a powerful explosion killed seven children and three internally displaced Kachin people and injured 16 other children at an orphanage on Nov. 13 in Myitkyina’s Thida Ward. Two sons and a grandson of a Christian couple who run the orphanage in their home were among those killed, but police arrested the family, alleging they had detonated it, the news agency reported.

 

Kachin people fleeing violence in their villages.
(Photo courtesy Compass News Direct)

The attacks left civilians in Kachin, where an estimated 90 percent of the 1.2 million people are Christians, “terrified,” the journalist said. About 90 percent of the roughly 56 million people in Burma (also known as Myanmar) are Buddhist, mostly from the Burman ethnic group.

 

Ethnic Kachins and six other ethnic minorities in Burma have armed and unarmed groups that are fighting for independence or autonomy from the country’s successive military-led regimes for decades.

 

“But the residents of Kachin are not afraid of the Kachin Independence Army [KIA, an insurgent group],” the source said. “It is the Burma Army they fear.”

 

During Clinton’s visit, which ended on Friday (Dec. 2), her agenda included talking to the military-led government of Burma about the long-time violent repression of ethnic minority groups that make up roughly 40 percent of the country’s population. But Clinton’s visit – first by a U.S. secretary of state since 1955 – was also seen as endorsement of measures the regime touts as reforms.

 

From last year’s general election to the release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the Burmese government has showcased several reforms in order to end economic sanctions imposed on the country for over two decades. But the regime’s hostilities toward ethnic minority groups have worsened in recent months, and tens of thousands of exiled pro-democracy activists have not been able to return home.

 

Kachin civilians have faced numerous attacks by the Burma Army since June, when the government ended a 17-year long cease-fire agreement with the KIA, the journalist said. The bomb explosions, he added, were an attempt to brand the insurgents as a terrorist group in the wake of Clinton’s visit. Local residents suspected “government agents” exploded the bombs, as “the KIA never attacks civilians,” he said.

 

Before the Nov. 13 blast, some residents saw two men riding a motorcycle throwing a parcel into the orphanage compound, New Delhi-based Mizzima News reported. The government-backed Myanmar Ahlin daily suggested, however, that orphanage owner Dayawng Tang Gun, who is also a martial arts and music teacher, was making a bomb in his house that accidentally exploded and held him responsible also for previous bombings in the city.

 

Authorities also arrested Gun’s wife, Ja Dim, and their son-in-law, Maung Maung. Police interrogated some of the orphanage’s children and jailed the Christian family. For a few days they were not allowed contact with anyone, but now people can give food to them, the source said.

 

Five of the 16 children who were injured were still in hospital at press time. The 10 deceased were given a funeral by a local friend of the Christian couple, the source added.

 

The blast took place at about 8:30 p.m., soon after the orphanage’s residents held their evening prayer. Gun was away on a work-related trip.

 

The body of an infant was thrown to the back of the house, and some people saw the hands and legs of children on the street, the source said of the scene at the orphanage. Gun’s wife couldn’t find her way out because the house had caught fire, so she climbed upstairs and jumped down, injuring her legs. After their discharge from the hospital, the children were moved to another nearby Christian orphanage.

 

The two bombs on Nov. 29 exploded in a span of five minutes in front of the Kachin National Makau Park in Shatapru Quarter. The first explosion killed Abraham, a Class IX student. The second blast injured a girl who was admitted to Myitkyina Public Hospital.

 

“Local people from households near the blast site were arrested by Burmese authorities,” Kachin News Group reported. Authorities claim that almost all local residents are directly or indirectly part of the KIA.

 

“Kachin people realize that the majority Burman-led government is not only fighting the KIA but also Kachin people now,” the news agency reported.

 

U.S.-based group Partners World recently released a report entitled, “Crimes in Northern Burma: Results from a Fact-Finding Mission to Kachin State,” after collecting information through its local coordinators and eyewitness interviews of at least 200 people affected by the conflict in Kachin State. The report documented torture, extra-judicial killing, civilian casualties, human shielding, unlawful arrest, forced labor, forced relocation, displacement, property theft and destruction allegedly by Burmese soldiers.

 

Palai Nan Naw, an 8-year-old elementary school student and member of a Baptist church from the Nam Lim Pa area, was killed outside of his house on Oct. 8 when soldiers from battalions 74 and 276 opened fire among the civilian population, according to one of the case studies in the report. Pausa Naw Din, 19, a farmer who attended a Catholic church, was also killed the same day in that village. He was running to the street outside of his house to flee from fighting on Oct. 8 when the Burma Army fired at him.

 

The report says the incidents show how the Burma Army “is in contravention of its legal obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.”

 

“Considering the nature and scale of these acts in combination with documented abuses in the broader civil war in Kachin state, the actions of the Burma government and the Burma Army may also amount to other serious violations, including crimes against humanity,” it concludes.

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

*** Photos of Kachin villagers fleeing the fighting are attached for subscribers, to be used with credit to Compass Direct News. High resolution photos are also available; contact Compass for transmittal.

 

**********

Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News

 

Christians in Nepal Attacked as Constitutional Deadline Nears

Bomb goes off in front of charity office; preachers assaulted, church building razed.

By Sudeshna Sarkar

KATHMANDU, November 25 (Compass Direct News) – Two years after an explosion shook one of the biggest Catholic churches in Nepal and killed three people, the underground group that orchestrated the attack claimed responsibility for another bomb blast this week.

A crude bomb went off Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 22) in front of a leading Christian charitable organization’s office in this capital city, sowing fresh fear and insecurity among Christians ahead of a critical constitutional deadline. On the same day in the northeastern district of Sindhupalchowk, local residents of the predominantly Buddhist village of Danchhe assaulted two brothers for leading worship services at their home, leaving one unconscious.

 

Police said they were investigating the explosion in front of the office of the United Mission to Nepal (UMN). While the crude bomb claimed no casualties or damage to the UMN office, it shocked area Christians. The UMN, a Christian international non-governmental organization founded in 1954 by Christian groups from almost 60 countries, has built hospitals, schools, hydropower plants and industrial development and training institutions in Nepal.

At the site police found leaflets signed by someone calling himself a senior member of the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), a militant armed group that has terrorized Christians and Muslims, demanding that they leave Nepal. The leaflets asserted that the majority population in Nepal was Hindu and that therefore it should be a Hindu state. The leaflets also accused the UMN of converting Hindus to Christianity.

  
Though there was no immediate reaction from the UMN, Nepal’s Christian community expressed shock.

“It is ironic that the blast occurred on the eve of the International Day against Impunity,” said Chirendra Satyal, spokesman of the Assumption Church, where a bomb placed by the NDA in 2009 killed two women and a schoolgirl. “The government of Nepal is treating the lives of Nepalis as expendable by planning to grant amnesty to leaders of the NDA.”

The mastermind of the church attack, NDA chief Ram Prasad Mainali, was arrested within four months and put behind bars, but he retained his criminal links. Earlier this year, police said they arrested six people who admitted they were under Mainali’s instructions to set off fresh explosions in public places.

Despite the revelation, Nepal’s new government has begun negotiations with the NDA, offering amnesty for Mainali and other jailed leaders of the group if it agrees to lay down arms.

“With Christmas coming closer, we are afraid of further attacks,” said Satyal. “There will be larger prayer and festive gatherings, and our churches don’t have the resources to ensure their security.”

The National Christian Federation of Nepal, an umbrella of Protestant organizations, has met Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, urging him to ensure security for religious minorities and form a special team to investigate the blast.

 

“This is a highly sensitive issue,” said C.B. Gahatraj, general secretary of the federation. “There are growing attacks on religious minorities.”

In its memorandum to the prime minister, the federation detailed other recent attacks on Christians. On Tuesday (Nov. 22), two brothers who are Christian preachers came under assault in their village. Panchman Tamang, a 45-year-old school teacher in Sindhupalchowk, a district in the northeast, and his elder brother Buddhiman, a farmer in his 50s, were attacked by local residents of their predominantly Buddhist Danchhe village for leading worship services at their home.

Gahatraj said the mob attacked the brothers’ house armed with daggers and wooden batons. When the pair tried to flee, they were pelted with stones. Though Panchman managed to escape, Buddhiman was knocked unconscious. As he was bleeding profusely, the attackers left him for dead.

Later that night, Panchman came back and managed to take his brother to another town for medical care, Gahatraj said. Suffering from a serious head injury, Buddhiman was referred to hospitals in Kathmandu.

Gahatraj said the brothers had taken refuge in another town, unable to return to their village for fear of further attacks.

 

Sindhupalhowk is one of the poorest districts in Nepal, and the primarily Buddhist, ethnic Tamang community residents have a low literacy level.

 
“Though Nepal was declared secular five year ago, there is growing persecution of Christians today,” said Chandra Shrestha, pastor at the Nepali Evangelical Church in Bhaktapur, a temple town close to Kathmandu.

A building of a branch of Shrestha’s church in central Nepal’s Kavre district was demolished by villagers last month, and neither police nor the district administration came to the aid of the Christian community, the pastor said.

In October, when Nepal celebrated its biggest Hindu festival (Dashain), during which the country shuts down for almost a month, local Hindus tore down the little one-storey church building constructed by the Christians four years ago because the Christians declined to participate in Hindu celebrations, preferring instead to hold a two-day fellowship event.

The attackers also beat six worshippers, including women and the preacher, who was recovering from a serious operation.

“It’s a poor village that has no hospital or even health post, and people fall sick regularly,” Shrestha said. “There is also a high incidence of drinking.”

Several people became Christians when they were cured through prayers and gave up drinking, Shrestha said.

“There was a perceptible change,” the pastor said. “But it was not liked by the liquor mafia, so the attack could have been instigated by them. Both the government and the administration remain oblivious to Christians’ plight. This neglect has been encouraging the attackers. The government has been treating us like second-class citizens.”

Once the only Hindu kingdom in the world, Nepal became secular in 2006 and a federal republic after an election in 2008.

The electorate was promised that parliament would draft a new constitution within two years to uphold the secular nature of the nascent republic, but a succession of governments has failed to meet the challenge.

As the fourth deadline to put forth a constitution dawns on Wednesday (Nov. 30), a document is still far from ready. Instead, yesterday (Nov. 24), the government once again began the process of extending the deadline, asking for six months more.

The delay and the mounting lawlessness during the transition have left Christians increasingly frustrated.

“We Christians had been praying devoutly that the new constitution be ready in time,” Shrestha said. “So it’s natural that we will feel frustrated by the delay. We are not certain, though, that the new constitution will give us what we want.”

A draft of the document says that though people would have the freedom to follow whichever religion they want, conversions would be prohibited.

“With conversions still deemed a crime in the suggested constitution, we feel that the draft retains the bias towards Christians,” Shrestha said. “This is a direct violation of our fundamental right to practice whatever religion we want.”

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

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Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News

House Church Leaders Attacked near Hanoi, Vietnam

Pastor Nguyen Duy Duong (Compass Direct News)

Gang presumably doing bidding of authorities seriously injures men, women, children.

Special to Compass Direct News

 

HANOI, Vietnam, November 16 (Compass Direct News) – A gang of men attacked leaders of a Baptist house church network near Hanoi on Sunday (Nov. 13), leaving one pastor unconscious and seriously injuring several others, including women and teenage children.

 

Leaders of the Agape Baptist Church were participating in a spiritual renewal meeting at the home of pastor Nguyen Danh Chau in Lai Tao village, Bot Xuyen commune, My Duc district, when the gang intruded at 9:30 a.m., sources said. Beating people and smashing property, the gang seriously injured more than a dozen participants and warned Nguyen Danh Chau that they would kill him if he continued gathering Christians, the sources in Vietnam said.

 

With the attack underway, the sources said, some gang members ran outside and announced to the neighborhood, “Oh heavens, the Christian pastors are savagely beating up people!” This attracted a large crowd, which the gang hoped would prevent any Christians from escaping.

 

The seriously injured Christians included five male pastors, four female pastors and other church leaders, and several of the leaders’ teenage children. The worst wounded, Nguyen Danh Chau, lay unconscious for many hours, and as of midnight Tuesday (Nov. 15), he was still suffering severe chest, stomach and head pain.

 

One pastor’s wife, Nguyen Thi Lan, was still unable to walk and function normally at press time after she was struck in the stomach and groin. Others remained weak from loss of blood. The Christians were punched in the mouth and face, the chest and the back. Some were savagely kicked as they lay on the floor.

 

The denomination’s top leader, Nguyen Cong Thanh, who rushed up from the south to visit the beleaguered leaders, reported that he planned to take the injured to a nearby hospital today; he feared, however, that he would encounter resistance. When doctors in Vietnam learn that religious motives play a role in violence, commonly they do not dare to treat or even examine the victims of persecution.

 

Attacking on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, observed worldwide by thousands of churches affiliated with the World Evangelical Alliance, the gang smashed a dozen plastic chairs, overturned a pulpit and tore a cross from the wall and threw it into a nearby pond, leaving no doubt as to their motivation. They also stole valuable parts from four motorcycles belonging to the pastors before smashing the remainder of the vehicles. Valued at more than US$1,000 each, the motorbikes represent a huge loss for the church leaders.

 

Before leaving, the gang stopped long enough to destroy the family’s kitchen garden and fruit trees, sources said.

 

The Agape Baptist Church is an unregistered house church organization of some 2,200 members who worship regularly in 38 congregations. It was established in 2007. Many of the congregations are located in or near Hanoi and nearby provinces.

 

Agape Baptist Church head Nguyen Cong Thanh said in a statement Tuesday morning (Nov. 15) that he had met with the injured.

 

“All they could do was weep, and I also could not prevent my tears from flowing,” he said. “Why do they gratuitously beat servants of the Lord like this – what crime have they committed, what enemies have they made? All we want to do is gather people to worship and serve God and our fellowman. And not only that – the gang destroyed four motorcycles and stole safety helmets, shoes and rain coats from people with very modest means. God have mercy!” 

 

In the past few years, official policy toward religion in Vietnam is ostensibly more tolerant than it was previously, so it has become a pattern for police and higher authorities to employ gangs for such anti-Christian attacks, according to Christian leaders in Vietnam. The gang members are rarely identified and never prosecuted.  

 

Vietnam’s ranking among countries with persecution of Christians slipped slightly on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2011 World Watch List. With No. 1 being the worst, Vietnam’s place on the list deteriorated from No. 21 to number No. 18 last year. 

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

*** A photo of one of the injured pastors, Pastor Nguyen Duy Duong, is attached for subscribers, to be used with credit to Compass Direct News. A high resolution photo is also available; contact Compass for transmittal.

 

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Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News

 

Sudan's Islamist/Arabist Regime Renewing Attacks on Refugees, South

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Armed forces of Sudan's Islamist regime have crossed international borders and dropped bombs on two states in the new nation of South Sudan for two consecutive days, including a camp of northern Sudanese refugees from the Nuba Mountains.

Today, Russian-built Sudanese Antonov bombers attacked South Sudan's Unity State's Yida refugee camp, run by the Christian aid organization Samaritan's Purse, reportedly killing 12 people and wounding 20. These refugees from the Nuba include both Muslims and Christians persecuted by Sudan's Arabist regime. The day before, the Sudanese bombed Upper Nile State, also in South Sudan, killing 7 people. At least 15,000 people had sought refuge at Yida, just over the border from Sudan.

Attacks by the Islamist regime began in June on the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan and on Blue Nile State in September. South Sudan President Salva Kiir warns that Sudan may be preparing to invade South Sudan soon. John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, said the regime in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, is attempting to provoke South Sudan into restarting a war.

McDonnell announced that IRD's Church Alliance for a New Sudan was now working with dozens of other advocates to strengthen U.S. policy to stop Khartoum's genocidal war in a new alliance, "Act for Sudan."

IRD Director of the Church Alliance for a New Sudan Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:

"Khartoum is engaged in a war of extermination in both of these regions. The racist regime has sent militias door to door with instructions to 'cleanse the area,' and 'sweep out the trash,' meaning to kill the black, African Nuba people.

"This is the same pattern of human rights atrocities and genocidal warfare we see in Darfur and, of course, saw in the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, and South Sudan during the decades of war.

"For Nuba Mountain and Blue Nile refugees, this is the return of a horrific nightmare from which they thought they had awakened. How can we who have said, 'never again,' now have to say 'never again,' again?

"Mass graves exist. Aerial bombardment continues. The threats of this ICC-indicted criminal, terrorist regime to neighboring South Sudan's security, as well as to that of the region and the global community are blatant. Sudan's marginalized people want freedom, peace, and true secular democracy."

 
www.TheIRD.org

Burma Army Attacks Church in Burma, Shooting and Torturing Worshipers

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

SURREY, ENGLAND (ANS) -- A Christian human rights agency has received a report from sources inside Kachin State, Burma alleging that soldiers from the Burma Army shot at worshipers in a church in Wai Maw Township two days ago.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported in a news release that Soldiers from the Burma Army's 88th Light Infantry Division attacked the Assemblies of God church in Muk Chyik village, Wai Maw Township on Nov. 6, injuring several people. The congregation was forced to leave the church, and soldiers reportedly looted church donation boxes.

CSW said the house of one church member, Jumphpawk Hawng Lum, was burned down. At least 50 church members were taken to work as forced porters for the Burma Army.

The pastor of the church, Yajawng Hkawng, was “severely tortured,” and is now in hospital. One of the church deacons, Hpalawng Lum Hkawng, who is the youth music team leader, was injured in his leg.

CSW's East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers said in a news release, “The military in Burma has unleashed yet another wave of terror against civilians in the ethnic states, at a time when the regime is speaking about reform. The regime is perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity. These attacks in Kachin State, involving rape, forced labor, torture, the killings of civilians, and religious persecution are grave violations of international law and must be stopped.”

Rogers continued, “Attacking churches where civilians are gathering to pray peacefully is a serious violation of religious freedom. The international community must take immediate action to provide humanitarian assistance to those internally displaced in Kachin State, and to end the culture of impunity which has prevailed in Burma for too long.”

Christian Solidarity Worldwide works for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

For further information, go to www.csw.org.uk.

 

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Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available athttp://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net.

Police-Sponsored Thugs Attack Church in Central Vietnam

In this YouTube image, Christians attend to an unidentified
 relative of Pastor Thien An’s house church, which was
 attacked in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam Province.

Pastor’s father, other relatives seriously injured after authorities disrupt Sunday service.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, November 3 (CDN) —Thugs said to be doing the bidding of local authorities attacked a pastor and his family with iron bars and wooden clubs in central Vietnam on Oct. 23, seriously injuring the heads and arms of the church leader’s father and other relatives, sources said.

Twice on the same Sunday that local authorities disrupted a house church service in Phu Quy village near Tam Ky, Quang Nam Province, a gang of about 20 men attacked the father, brother and other family members of pastor Thien An, who was locked in a secure room as his family believed the gang sought to kill him, sources said.

Police had visited his home the week prior to “investigate” the house church, whose application for registration authorities have twice denied, according to the pastor. Church members echoed the sentiment of one Christian that “even a child” could figure out the connection between the gang and the public security police who disrupted their service that morning.

Pastor Thien told the officers he would meet with them after the service, but they barged into the meeting and pulled the plug on the sound system, according to a letter distributed on the Internet from Pastor Thien addressed to “all in the world with a conscience.” When church members protested, one officer yelled and threatened to hit the pastor’s father, according to his report.

After some time, the “angry police officers, full of threats, left our house of prayer,” according to the pastor.

The report said that at 1 p.m. the same day, some 20 gang members, many of them large and sporting tattoos, came to the house church when only the pastor and his extended family were home. Believing the gang had come to murder the pastor, his family urged him to retreat into a secure, locked interior room.

As the gang members struck his father, brother and others trying to defend the pastor and his family, which included a 1-week-old infant boy, the family prayed hard even as they vigorously resisted. Finally the gang left on their motorcycles threatening to return to “bring this house of God to the ground, and kill all of you,” the pastor reported.

During the attack, Pastor Thien called four levels of police and security officials, but, strangely, no one answered. After the gang left, he called the chief of the provincial police department and secured a promise to investigate.

Alerted by cell phone, church members rushed to the house to support the pastor and his family and prayed with them. Assuming things had settled down, they left in the early evening. But at 8:30 p.m., as the family was locked into their home, they were alarmed at the sound of shouting and breaking glass.

Pastor Thien was anxious to defend his family, but they restrained him from going out to confront the gang, saying he was their main target. As the gang wielding iron bars and wooden clubs viciously attacked Pastor Thien’s father and several others outside the secure room in which the pastor and his family were locked, gang members stationed outside prevented anyone from coming to help.

The gang managed to smash the glass of the door to the secure room, but Pastor Thien’s father, younger brother and an uncle miraculously managed to fend off the attackers, who finally retreated with their weapons, according to the report. Calls to various police offices during this attack also went unanswered, the pastor added.

Photos taken after this attack and posted on YouTube show head wounds on the defenders, blood on the floor and smashed windows. They also record the loud, anguished prayers for justice. Pastor Thien’s younger brother collapsed when the gang retreated and announced he was about to die, but the pastor prayed for him, and some five minutes later he was revived.

The house church, part of the Vietnam Baptist Church (VBC), is the larger of two legally registered denominations related to the U.S. Southern Baptist Church. Though the denomination is fully and nationally registered, local officials apparently consider the well-established congregation in Phu Quy village to be illegal.

The pastor, who reported that local authorities had refused two attempts to register his church, stated that police have summoned some of his members, especially young women, and strongly pressured them to stop worshipping there; some succumbed to serious threats and signed documents pledging to do so.

Police also recently summoned the pastor and warned that if he continued convening worship, they would not take responsibility if someone attacked it, he reported.

The Quang Nam provincial leader of the VBC contacted by Compass did not visit the affected church until the following Sunday (Oct. 30). He confirmed the incident had taken place and said the church met without incident that day.

Pastor Thien’s superior said he would try again to help the church to register with local authorities.

Several days after the attack, top officials of the VBC in Ho Chi Minh City reported that they had not received Pastor Thien’s appeal and seemed oddly reluctant to publicly support their beleaguered congregation in Tam Ky. Reliable sources told Compass that the leaders’ reluctance stemmed from fear of confronting authorities and putting at risk what they consider a good relationship with the government.

The pastor’s appeal and the subsequent YouTube clips, however, were widely distributed by other church leaders in Vietnam who were incensed and sickened by the blatant attack on fellow Christian worshippers.

“Even if there were irregularities on the church side in the registration process, it could in no way justify such a brutal attack in which government authorities are complicit,” one house church leader in Vietnam told Compass. “But this is still our country’s version of rule-of-law.”

END

Sixty-three people killed in Nigeria Boko Haram attack

By Michael Ireland
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
DAMATURU, NIGERIA (ANS) -- The Red Cross says a series of bomb and gun attacks in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Damaturu has killed at least 63 people.

Regional map of Nigeria showing location of Damaturu (Graphic via BBC website).

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website reports witnesses said the bombs hit several targets, including churches and the headquarters of the Yobe state police.
The BBC said many people are reported to have fled the town after a night of violence.
It stated the Islamist militant group Boko Haram told a newspaper it was behind the attack and that it planned to hit further government targets.
According to the BBC, a spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan said he was "greatly disturbed" by the attack, and that his government was working hard to bring those "determined to derail peace and stability in the country to book."
A series of attacks on security forces in the nearby city of Maiduguri recently have also been blamed on Boko Haram.
Nigerian Red Cross official Ibrahim Bulama, in Damaturu, told the BBC at least 63 people had been killed there.
He said two other people had been killed in attacks elsewhere. News agencies said the nearby town of Potiskum had also been attacked.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, says this attack appears to be Boko Haram's bloodiest strike to date.
People visiting morgues have reported seeing 92 bodies, the BBC correspondent said.
The BBC also reported that an unnamed local government official in Damaturu was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that hundreds of wounded people were being treated in hospital.
Witnesses said the attacks began on Friday at about 6:30 p.m. local timeand lasted for about 90 minutes. Gunmen then engaged in running battles with security forces, the BBC said.
The BBC said a Roman Catholic parish priest told its correspondent his church had been burnt down and eight other churches also attacked. He described gangs of young men roaming the streets throwing improvised bombs into the churches.
The attacks followed a triple suicide bomb attack on a military headquarters in Maiduguri, in neighboring Borno state. Military officials said the three attackers had died.
The BBC explained that Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden," has launched frequent attacks on the police and government officials.
A known spokesman for the group contacted called Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper to claim responsibility for the attacks on Maiduguri and Damaturu, the BBC reported.
"We will continue attacking federal government formations until security forces stop their excesses on our members and vulnerable civilians," the spokesman said.
In analysis of the situation, Jonah Fisher, BBC News correspondent in Lagos, says the attack on Damaturu directly contradicts the government's oft-repeated line that they are about to "solve" Nigeria's Boko Haram problem.
Fisher says that far from disappearing, Nigeria's Islamic militants appear to be evolving and gaining strength.
He stated the attack on the United Nations building in Abuja in August shocked many because it showed Boko Haram no longer regarded their enemy as being just the Nigerian security forces.
He added the attacks on Damaturu are Boko Haram's bloodiest strike to date. The main target was once again the police but the scope and power of the assault certainly does not suggest a problem that's about to go away.
Boko Haram: Timeline of terror
2002: Founded
2009: Hundreds killed when Maiduguri police stations stormed
2009: Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf captured by army, handed to police, later found dead
Sep 2010: Freed hundreds of prisoners from Maiduguri jail
Dec 2010: Bombed Jos, killing 80 people and blamed for New Year's Eve attack on Abuja barracks
2010-2011: Dozens killed in Maiduguri shootings
May 2011: Bombed several states after president's inauguration
Jun 2011: Police HQ bombed in Abuja
Aug 2011: UN HQ bombed in Abuja

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** Michael Ireland is Senior Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior Reporter

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Churches still gone in parts of Orissa, India

Mission Network News: "India (MNN) ― While it's been nearly four years since Christians were attacked by non-Christian extremists in Orissa, India, rebuilding what was lost has been slow. BCM International has been working in India for years, helping establish the church through Children's Ministries, Church Development, and Leader and Teacher Training."

Read more...

Prayer Sought for Students, Missionary Attacked while Sharing the Gospel

Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release

These three Bible college students and their leader, Kamik Sandbahor (far right), were severely beaten by a gang of more than two dozen anti-Christian radicals. Today GFA leaders are asking that believers around the world pray for their recovery.

SOUTH ASIA (ANS) -- Gospel for Asia leaders in both Asia and America are asking for prayer for three Bible college students and a GFA-supported missionary leader who were severely beaten.


Kamik Sandbahor, who serves on the staff of the GFA state office, was leading a team of students from a local Bible college as they visited villagers in a rural community. Kamik, Jatrinda, Ajmal and Sanjavin were handing out Christian literature when they were attacked by a gang of about 25 young men wielding iron rods and sticks.

"Yesterday, these faithful servants were receiving medical treatment in a hospital for the injuries inflicted by these anti-Christian radicals," said GFA President K.P. Yohannan.

 "Today, they are a bit discouraged that their expressions of love and concern for the people were returned with violence and injury.

"I ask that Christians around the world pray for these young men, that God will strengthen and heal them, and fill their spirits with His encouragement.

"Pray also for their persecutors, that their hearts will be softened by the example of love shown by these students and their courageous leaders."

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• Read how other student-and the Bible college itself-were attacked and one victim's surprising reaction to his injuries.

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Gospel for Asia is an evangelical mission organization based in Carrollton, Texas, involved in sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia.