Fifteen Christian worshippers, including six children,...
Fifteen Christian worshippers, including six children, and a Muslim guard were massacred when gunmen opened fire on a Protestant church service in southern Pakistan in an attack being blamed on Islamic extremists
Fifteen Christian worshippers, including six children, and a Muslim guard were massacred when gunmen opened fire on a Protestant church service in southern Pakistan in an attack being blamed on Islamic extremists.
The murders came after several weeks of demonstrations across Pakistan by extremist [Islamic] religious parties protesting at the country's support for the American bombing of Afghanistan.
Rev Dr Michael James Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, said the massacre had come as no surprise to him.
It was urgent for Pakistan to get rid of the new clause in its Penal Code 295 that made it mandatory for courts to pass the death sentence on anyone convicted of blasphemy against Islam or the Prophet Mohammed, he added.
"In his early days, [President] Musharraf did try to get rid of the new clause in the blasphemy law but there was so much opposition that he gave up."
The murders came after several weeks of demonstrations across Pakistan by extremist [Islamic] religious parties protesting at the country's support for the American bombing of Afghanistan.
Rev Dr Michael James Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, said the massacre had come as no surprise to him.
It was urgent for Pakistan to get rid of the new clause in its Penal Code 295 that made it mandatory for courts to pass the death sentence on anyone convicted of blasphemy against Islam or the Prophet Mohammed, he added.
"In his early days, [President] Musharraf did try to get rid of the new clause in the blasphemy law but there was so much opposition that he gave up."
— SOURCES
- (Sources: Daily Telegraph, 29/10/2001)