In the wake of two or more deadly terrorist attacks against Christian institutions in Pakistan in early August, government security officials have advised local church leaders to arm themselves for possible assaults by Muslim extremists.
In a carefully planned set of assaults, armed Islamic militants shot six people dead on Aug. 5 at Murree Christian School for missionary children. Just four days later, another handful of extremists hurled grenades at the chapel of Taxila Christian Hospital, killing five more and wounding another 26. All the victims were Pakistani citizens.
The deadly raids were the most recent of four deliberate attacks on Christian targets in Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf swung his support behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001. Previous grenade blasts during worship services had taken the lives of 21 and left dozens more crippled in churches in Bahawalpur last October and Islamabad in March.
Concentrated in the Punjab province, Christians make up less than 5 percent of Pakistan’s 145 million people.
Local church leaders believe their congregations have been targeted over the past year by radical Islamic movements who associate Christians with the West both politically and militarily.
In LaHore, the superintendent of police said he could only delegate at the most three police guards to protect all the city’s 164 churches at their Sunday services.
(BP)
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