Category: News

A draft government plan would entrench discriminatory policies that deprive Rohingya Muslims in Burma of citizenship and lead to the forced resettlement of over 130,000 displaced Rohingya into closed camps, Human Rights Watch said today. Burma’s international donors, the United Nations, and other influential actors should press the government to substantively revise or rescind its Rakhine State Action Plan.

The plan follows the April 2013 recommendations of the Rakhine Investigative Commission, established by President Thein Sein after widespread killings and violence against Rohingya in 2012 in the state. The plan, a copy of which was obtained by Human Rights Watch, does not recognize the term Rohingya, referring throughout to “Bengalis,” an inaccurate and derogatory term commonly used by Burmese officials and nationalist Buddhists. Muslims are only mentioned in the plan with reference to religious schools.

“The long-awaited Rakhine State Action Plan both expands and solidifies the discriminatory and abusive Burmese government policies that underpin the decades-long persecution of the Rohingya,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “It is nothing less than a blueprint for permanent segregation and statelessness that appears designed to strip the Rohingya of hope and force them to flee the country.”

More

A UN report highlights a “staggering array” of gross human rights abuses and “acts of violence of an increasingly sectarian nature” were committed by the group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) over a period of nine weeks.

“This report is terrifying,” said Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov, calling on Iraqi leaders to “act in unity to restore control over areas that have been taken over by ISIL and implement inclusive social, political and economic reforms.”

The UN human rights officers describe serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross abuses of human rights that have been perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups, “with an apparent systematic and widespread character.”

These include “attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance, wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental freedoms,” according to the report.

“Members of Iraq’s diverse ethnic and religious communities, including Turkmen, Shabak, Christians, Yezidi, Sabaeans, Kaka’e, Faili Kurds, Arab Shi’a, and others have particularly been affected by the situation,” the report continues.

ISIL and associated armed groups “intentionally and systematically targeted these communities for gross human rights abuses, at times aimed at destroying, suppressing or cleansing them from areas under their control.”

More

Pakistan’s constitution was amended 40 years ago to declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Regarded by orthodox Muslims as heretical, Ahmadis are not allowed to refer to their places of worship as mosques or to publicly quote from the Koran – acts punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.

Critics of the anti-Ahmadi laws say they have encouraged violence against the community.

The BBC website article features residents of the all-Ahmadi town of Rabwah telling BBC Urdu’s Nosheen Abbas of their fears for the future.

Catholic Bishops in Nigeria have called on the government to protect the lives and property of its people, as militants intensify their killing spree across the country.

In a statement ‘‘While Nigeria bleeds and burns’’ the Bishops urged the authorities to carry out their ‘primary duty’ to protect the life of every Nigerian, irrespective of tribe, religion, social class or tradition.

“As Nigeria tragically bleeds and burns, we Bishops are really alarmed at the scale of human and material destruction, and the disruption of village and community life with increased levels of hatred and potentials for more conflicts in the nation. While Muslims are sometimes targets of these destructive attacks, Christians, Churches and non-Muslims in general are the principal targets for extermination, expropriation and expulsion by the Boko Haram insurgents, the perpetrators of all these destructions’’.

Twenty-five towns and villages are now under the control of Boko Haram, forcing huge numbers of people from their homes, reports the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri.

“Thousands are living in caves on the mountains, some in the forest,” Father Oliver Dashe Doeme, the Bishop of Maiduguri, has said. While a few have been able to stay with friends and relatives, most lack food, shelter, and medication. “We are faced with a huge humanitarian crisis; people are sleeping on the streets of Maiduguri.”

At least 15 people died at a teaching college in Kano when attackers opened fire in a lecture hall on 18 September, and the next day 36 people were killed when militants stormed a market in Mainok.

An attack in Kaduna state on the night of 16 September took the lives of 32 villagers in three mainly Christian communities. ”Our children, women, including pregnant women and the aged, our clergymen, churches… have been the sole and main targets of these attacks,” the Christian Association of Nigeria said.

Nigerian bishops have said that the government ‘must do more than it is currently doing to fight off and disarm these actual destroyers of Nigerians and Nigeria’. A national prayer rally is being held on 13-14 November in the capital Abuja to pray for the nation. Bishops have called on the church around the world to pray with them for Nigeria.

More

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, speaking at the UN General Assembly this week, said the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine demand a revitalized United Nations where member states put their responsibility to protect persecuted peoples above personal interests and thoroughly apply international law.

Cardinal Parolin said the blood of the many Christians and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria demands the international community assume its responsibility to protect populations under threat.

He said the world is in need of a UN capable of deploying the appropriate action and force.

“It is both licit and urgent to stop aggression through multilateral and a proportionate use of force. The Holy See hopes that the international community will assume a responsibility in considering the best means to stop all aggression and avoid the perpetration of new and even greater injustice.”

The Cardinal added it is disappointing, that up to now, “the international community has been characterized by contradictory voices and even by silence with regard to the conflicts in Syria, the Middle East and Ukraine. It is paramount that there be a unity of action for the common good, avoiding the cross-fire of vetoes”.

He reminded all those present of the “responsibility to protect” principle adopted almost 10 years ago at a UN World Summit, which calls to protect civilians when a country is unable or unwilling to do so:

“It asserts… the responsibility of the entire international community, in a spirit of solidarity, to confront heinous crimes such as genocide, ethnic cleansing and religiously motivated persecution”.

What is needed, concluded the Cardinal, is “a far-sighted political approach” and “a genuine willingness to apply” the law which if “expressed in new juridical formulations, will certainly bring fresh vitality to the United Nations”.

Read the full speech

Eleven members of the U.S. Congress have urged President Barack Obama to discuss the issue of freedom of religion or belief in India during his bilateral meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently visiting the United States.

India’s Financial Express reports that in the letter sent to the US President, the lawmakers urged the President to use the meetings as an “opportunity to discuss religious inclusion and the protection of religious minorities in India”. The letter, dated September 27, was released to the press by Coalition Against Genocide (CAG). The coalition said that “Prime Minister Modi can play a constructive role by criticising extremists and opening a dialogue in the country about violence aimed at religious minorities”. More

Subsequently World Watch Monitor reported that “the Sept. 30 meeting between Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama — the first summit involving the leader of one of the world’s oldest democracies, and the leader of the largest — did not produce any public mention of religious freedom of any sort.”

There is a detailed discussion of the US and UK responses to Modi from Slok Gyawali on Lapido Media.

Yesterday evening in Manchester Christians on the Left held a candlelit vigil for Christians and other minorities persecuted in Iraq and Syria. Prayers were also said for the wider Middle East, including Israel/Palestine. Christians on the Left has delegates attending the Labour Party Conference who are highlighting the plight of Christians and others in the Middle East.

Christians on the Left had a Contemporary Resolution approved for ballot at the Labour Party Conference. It reads:

Conference notes the rapid advances made over the summer by ISIL, also known as Islamic State or ISIS, in Iraq and Syria. This organisation is motivated by an extremist ideology that is contrary to mainstream religious faith. ISIL has systematically targeted minority Christian, Muslim, Yazidi and other communities. It has brutally slaughtered many, often via beheadings or crucifixions. It has kidnapped and abused women, and driven people from their homes. Thousands are now homeless, having been forced from homes where their families have lived and practised their faith for thousands of years. This continues a trend seen throughout the Middle East in recent years.

Conference condemns unreservedly the actions of ISIL and in particular the atrocities it is committing. Conference calls on the UK government and the international community to substantially increase the humanitarian aid effort to the region, via both airdrops and conventional means, and ensure targeted aid is sustained. We call on the government to play its part to protect minorities under attack or facing oppression, and to work alongside organisations in the area promoting religious tolerance. Conference calls on the government to allocate asylum places to some of the most in need, in line with our European partners. We stand together with oppressed and powerless minorities that have been targeted, and with all those working for peace, unity, and tolerance in the Middle East.

The NGO Movement for Solidarity and Peace (MSP) has called for action having published a report finding that between 100 and 700 Christian women ‘are abducted, converted to Islam, and married to the abductor or third party’ every year in Pakistan. The investigative report, entitled ‘Forced Marriages & Forced Conversions in the Christian Community of Pakistan’ was first published in April.

The report focuses on the experiences of the Christian community of Punjab, arguing that “forced marriages by themselves constitute an abuse of women’s rights: they are performed “under duress without the full and informed consent of both parties.” Forced conversions are violations of the fundamental rights enumerated in the Constitution of Pakistan, and in this case — since victims are converted from Christianity or Hinduism to Islam — target designated religious minorities. Victimized minority women therefore, are placed in “double jeopardy” since they face discrimination, marginalization, and exploitation on the grounds of (a) being members of religious minorities and (b) women.”

The report categorizes the concurrent incidence of forced conversions and forced marriages as a distinct crime specific to minority Christian women in Punjab.

The report concludes with detailed recommendations at various levels— national, provincial, and local — for key stakeholders.

MSP is mobilizing an inclusive coalition to raise awareness on this issue. MSP will host outreach events in the coming weeks in Pakistan (in collaboration with the National Commission of Justice and Peace in Pakistan) and around the world.

 

A liberal Muslim scholar, accused of blasphemy for a speech he gave during a visit to the United States, was shot and killed in Karachi on Thursday. The scholar, Muhammad Shakil Auj, was the dean of Islamic studies at the University of Karachi. Dr. Auj was shot in the head and neck and died immediately, officials said.

Dr. Auj, 54, had earlier complained to the police about death threats he began receiving after delivering a speech in the United States in 2012, his colleagues and the police said.

Nasir Lodhi, a senior police official, said that Dr. Auj told the police that four professors at the University of Karachi had accused him of blasphemy for comments he made during that speech. Mr. Lodhi said he could not say where the speech was made, or the nature of the offending comments.

Dr. Auj lodged a criminal complaint against the four professors, who were later arrested by the police. One of them, Dr. Abdul Rasheed, had previously held Dr. Auj’s position as dean of Islamic studies at the university. The four men face trial but are currently free on bail, the police said.

Around the same time, a religious seminary in Karachi issued a fatwa against Dr. Auj, accusing him of blasphemy and calling for his death.

The New York Times reported that a week earlier, a visiting religious scholar at the same Islamic studies department, Maulana Masood Baig, was also shot dead by unknown attackers.

Despite the promise of greater protections for religious minorities, there have been over 600 attacks on Muslim and Christian groups during the first 100 days of the new Indian government’s rule, reports Christian Today.

In response to the increase in violence, Christians and activists are planning a public protest in New Delhi on October 4, two days after a convention on minority rights is to be held.

Meeting on September 2, a central committee of over 50 Christian leaders, lawyers and social activists branded the increased persecution a “conspiracy”.

Fears had been raised following the landslide victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the BJP Party, in May that persecution against religious minorities would increase. Modi has strong connections with Hindu groups that promote ‘Hindutva’ – which equates being Indian with having a Hindu faith, and five states in India have anti-conversion laws which state that those who wish to convert to another religion must first gain official permission; religious leaders are also required by law to report conversions or risk a three-year jail sentence themselves.

During the September 2 meeting, Indian Christian leader John Dayal warned that violent incidents of religious persecution “are not isolated”.

“There is a clear strategy and plan behind it. Such instances are only spreading,” he said.

Founding director of Act Now for Harmony and Democracy, Shabnam Hashmi, lamented the lack of religious freedom in India, and urged minorities to stand up for their rights. “It is time for all to join hands and protest,” she said.