Christian human rights workers executed during attack in Pakistan

September 25 2002

Gunmen have shot dead seven Christians in an attack on a human rights office in Karachi, Pakistan.

They entered the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) at mid-morning local time and executed their victims after tying them up.

The offices of the charity, which has been at work for 27 years in Pakistan, are in the heart of the southern port city of Karachi. The IPJ works for human rights and social action in the city.

Cecil Chaudry, Executive Secretary of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance and Senior Vice Chairman of the Minorities Advisory Council, knew all of the victims through working in the same field.

He said: “These extremists just want to keep targeting our places of worship and institutions. This was a very good organisation which has done a lot of good for the neighbourhood and in sanitary work.

“There is a great deal of fear and Christians are asking when is it going to stop. I sometimes wonder whether they’re trying to drive us to take up arms against them, but we are not going to do that.

Former Group Captain Chaudry, who is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Pakistan, said: “We have always been a peaceful group, but we fear for our lives. It’s in the terrorists’ interests to have more militancy in Pakistan, but we will not give in to them.”

There have been anti-Western attacks in Karachi earlier this year, including the bombing of the US consulate in June which left six dead and 45 injured.

When the police arrested 21 members of the Islamic militant group, Harakat ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi, earlier this month in connection with the US consulate attack, they found maps and plans of Christian institutions and places of worship in Karachi area.

While this is the first attack on Christians in Karachi, there have been numerous other attacks further north in Pakistan.

In August this year, six Christians were killed during an attack on a missionary school in Murree and four were killed at a Christian hospital in Taxila. Five people were killed in an attack on a church in Islamabad in March and 15 were killed in an attack on a church in Bahawalpur in October last year.

Stuart Windsor, National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of all who have lost their lives in this attack.

“The Christian community has been attacked again and these people who dedicated their lives to working for the good of others have paid the ultimate price for that dedication.

“Christians in Pakistan must be properly protected by security forces and be reassured that everything possible is being done to clamp down on armed extremists who seem determined to stir up interreligious conflict.”

For more information, or to get the contact number for Cecil Chaudry in Pakistan, contact Richard Chilvers at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8949 0587 or 020 8942 8810, email richard.chilvers@csw.org.uk or go to www.csw.org.uk