Protestant clergyman and driver killed, bodies mutilated
Peshawar (AsiaNews) A Protestant clergyman and his driver were killed in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province province.
The bodies of Shamoun Babar, 37, and his aide Daniel Emmanuel, were discovered last Thursday two days after they went missing, presumably abducted.
The police report indicates the two men were first knifed and then killed off by gun shots. Then their bodies were mutilated.
Some reports said one of the victims' hands had been cut off; others, that ears and noses had also been severed.
The investigation so far has led to the arrest of a man and woman, both accused of double homicide.
Reverend Babar, 37, belonged to the Jesus Pan Gospel Church in Yousafabad, near Peshawar.
He was in charge of Ilam Dost Welfare Trust, a charitable NHO involved with the poor, especially Afghan refugees living along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Reverend Babar was threatened because he had allegedly converted some Muslims to Christianity; another aide, Amin Bhatti, said instead that "he was only doing charity work".
According to Babar's brother Adil Suleman, "he appears to have been killed by some religious extremists, but the police want to give a different angle to the crime" attributing the crime on a personal quarrel.
Some 200 Christians in Peshawar took to the streets a few days ago to protest against the murder of the Protestant clergyman, calling on the authorities to arrest, try and sentenced his assassins.
Demonstrators blocked the city's thoroughfare for two hours protesting against the government's inaction in terms of minority protection.
Reverend Babar's death is in fact not an isolated incident. On the evening of Easter Sunday, a group of Muslim extremists opened fire against a church in a village near Lahore, killing one person and wounding seven others.
Christian leaders have harshly condemned Babar's murder. Kamal Chughtai, chairman of Khadman-e-Saleeb (a Catholic NGO), Manzoor Waseem Batti, president of Teach awareness through skill and knowledge and Ejaz Ghauri, chairman of the Christian Progressive Movement released a joint statement expressing their concern over the alarming rise in intolerance towards minorities.
They called on the government to be more resolute against the extremists and not ignore incidents like Babar's murder.
"We demand that the individuals involved in such heinous acts of religious terrorism should be brought to justice within no time and should be given exemplary punishments," the statement read. "Christians are equal citizens of the Pakistan but they are living with a sense of fear and insecurity" because of Muslim extremists.
Shahbaz Batti, chairman of the All-Pakistan Minorities Alliance, condemned Babar's murder as an act "of violence [that has] terrorized minorities who always struggle for the development, prosperity and integrity of the country".
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