New Propaganda of Pakistani media against Christian NGOs and their Heads

New Propaganda of Pakistani media against Christian NGOs and their Heads
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST and ASSIST News Service
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS – March 22, 2105) – Following the attacks in the Pakistani city of Lahore, on Sunday, March 15, 2015, when two suicide bombers devastated the lives of two Church congregations of the Pakistani city, killing 17 worshippers and injuring 82, a leading Christian lawyer has claimed that the country’s media are conducting attacks against Christian NGS and their heads.
In the attacks, a man rigged with explosives blew himself up outside the main gate of St. John’s Catholic Church after being prevented from entering by a security guard, said Haider Ashraf, a senior police officer. A second blast went off minutes later in the compound of the Protestant Christ Church, about a half-mile away.
Following the attacks, Sardar Mushtaq Gill, Human Rights Defender and an Advocate in the High Courts of Pakistan, and head of Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD), issued a statement.
He said, “On the spot, two suspects [carrying pistols] were arrested by Police …The mob [were] enraged and snatched the two men from Police custody and beat them to death
then set [them] on fire.”
He then claimed that “biased Pakistani media started to propaganda against Christian NGOs and blamed that they [were] responsible.”
Gill cited one Urdu-language newspaper had claimed that one Christian NGO based in Youhanabad had instigated Christian youth to lynch the two men.
“The same kind of propaganda was aired on local TV. They wrote that NGO workers and heads [have] fled from Pakistan because they have already stamped visas,” he said.
The lawyer stated that the agenda behind this was to stop the “voice of the vulnerable Christian minority” and added that the {authorities] were “now planning to ban the NGOs and take action against them.”
The Advocate said that the Christians now feel that “militants” can attack us at any time.
He went on to say, “Our work as a Human Rights Defender is totally and fully non-violent and we condemn the elements who took the law in their hands.”
Gill then stated that he had just received a visit from a Christian man, Ilyas Masih, who told him that his two daughters were gang-raped, and if the attorney couldn’t provide him with free legal assistance, he would not even be able to register his complaints at the local police station.
“He shared, however, that he was very thankful for NGOs,” added Gill, who concluded by saying, “Please remember us in your prayers and stand with us in this bad time. Support us so that we can defend those who are being arrested by Police.”
Note: Sardar Mushtaq Gill, an Advocate in the High Courts, is the Chief Counsel of LEAD, a non-profit organization which focuses on discriminatory and constitutional law, and does not charge for its services. For more information, please go to http://www.leadfamily.blogspot.com/.
Photo captions: 1) Protestors after the church attacks. (Photo: Reuters, F. Aziz. 2) The shocking lynching. 3) Sardar Mushtaq Gill.
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