LAHORE, Pakistan — Suspected Islamic extremists fired bullets into the car of a Christian evangelist with impunity in June, while in another Punjab province town, stray gunfire led to two Christians being falsely accused of murder.
Following a youth revival in Essa Nagri, near Faisalabad, Pastor Kamran Pervaiz was in the passenger seat of a Toyota Corolla returning to Faisalabad with his team June 25 when 12 armed men tried to stop their car, Pervaiz said. The rear window suddenly broke to pieces as bullets pierced the car. The driver turned into a field and turned off the engine and the assailants sped past.
Pervaiz said they were targeted because of their involvement in the Christian revival meeting; Muslim groups had warned the Christians to abort the meeting after banners and posters were displayed across Essa Nagri.
At Ghulam Muhammad Abad police station in Faisalabad, acting Superintendent Shabir Muhammad declined to register a First Information Report on the attack because of pressure from local Muslim groups, he said.
In Gujrat, by contrast, police quickly arrested two young Christian men after shots fired into the air by a drunken man killed a neighbor. Saleem Masih, 22, and John Masih, 23, were falsely accused of robbery as well as murder, a later police investigation found, and they were released. Their employer, Chaudhry Ashraf Gondal, had become inebriated along with friend Chaudhry Farhan on June 18, and Farhan fired gunshots into the air for fun, killing Malik Sajid, said senior superintendent of police operations officer Raon Irfan.
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