An injured Christian woman is taken to the ambulance after the bomb attack on a church in Peshawar that left 85 dead, and scores injured. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 23 2013 (IPS)

Like most Christians in Pakistan, Johar Maseeh did a little cleaning job. He was a sweeper in a factory in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan.

He was among the many killed in a bomb attack on the All Saints Church in Peshawar last month. He was also among the hundreds of thousands of Christians in Pakistan considered filthy by large numbers of the majority Muslims for doing such a cleaning job.

“Nobody is ready to shake hands with Christians,” local tailor Rafiq Maseeh told IPS. “Literally, they are treated as an untouchable community.” He said he had many Muslim customers but the majority were unwilling to talk to him.

“The majority of the Christian population is concentrated in Peshawar because they are afraid to live in rural areas due to reprisals by the local population.”“Nobody is ready to shake hands with Christians. They are treated as an untouchable community.”

Vast numbers of Christians live in utter poverty in slums where they lack water, sanitation and health facilities. “We live in a two-room mud and brick house which has too little space to accommodate our 10-member family,” Javid Pyara a sweeper at the University of Peshawar, told IPS.

Such as they are, they are often considered agents of the West.

“Whenever incidents of blasphemy take place anywhere in the world, the Christians in Pakistan bear the brunt,” advocate Shamshad Khan told IPS. Last year, a church was burnt in nearby Mardan when riots erupted following the production of a blasphemous film by a U.S. filmmaker.

“People see Christians as non-Muslim and don’t like them,” he said.

The constitution of Pakistan bars Christians from the positions of president or prime minister. “They have been allotted one percent seats in the provincial and national assemblies but that doesn’t mean that they are part of the country’s politics,” Shamshad Khan said.

“Many of the people don’t want a handshake with the Christians,” he said. “None in Pakistan would like to share food with them.”

The only hope for many is to see their young lead a better life. “There is now a trend among young Christians to get education and get well-paid jobs. They are unwilling to take up cleaning jobs,” 60-year-old Bhuta Maseeh, a sweeper in a government office, told IPS.

“I have graduated from a local college and now I am a cashier in a bank,” his son Akram Maseeh told IPS. “About a dozen of my friends have also found good and lucrative jobs because they had got university education.”

Many young Christians do see a better future than their parents have known. “We have Muslim friends. We sit together, eat together and discuss politics and other matters together. We respect one another,” Mukhtiar Maseeh, a sweeper’s son and a student of Islamia College in Peshawar, told IPS.

“Most Christian girls join nursing because the local girls don’t,” said local resident Jalal Maseeh. “They also get jobs as teachers in private and also government-run schools.”

Now that move towards better living is shaken. The devastating suicide attack at the All Saints Church in militancy-stricken Peshawar has led to renewed fear among the poor Christian community. The bombing left 85 dead and 140 injured.

About 100,000 Christians living in Peshawar now struggle with terrorist threats after the fight to find acceptance and a decent living.

“We have no protection at all. The terrorists have diverted their guns towards us. We need tight security measures,” Jamil Maseeh, 29, who was injured in the Sep. 22 attack, told IPS.

Muhammad Karim, a Peshawar-based religious scholar, said the attack aimed to create a rift between Muslims and Christians. “We should be thankful to the Christians because they are cleaning our hospitals, offices and markets. We must not harm them as they serve our people. Our religion Islam also advocates living in peace with non-Muslims.”

“It is extremely shocking and shameful that we are unable to protect minorities,” Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of the Ulema Council, told IPS. “According to the holy prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it is the duty of the state to protect the places of worship of non-Muslims.”

But friction with orthodox Muslims is a constant danger. “Relations between churches and mosques are not as cordial as they should be,” Maulana Zafar Gul, a Muslim scholar, told IPS. He said the majority of Muslim clerics oppose churches but keep silent due to government and international pressure.

“We already lead miserable lives in Pakistan,” chairman of the Pakistan Minority Movement Saleem Grabble told IPS. “Our people have been doing cleaning jobs on meagre wages. Now terror attacks are trying to eliminate us physically.”

The latest attack against Christians was aimed at drawing international attention at a time when the government is determined to hold a dialogue with the Taliban, said Sawar Shah, a Lahore-based political science teacher. “Terrorists have been targeting mosques, the Shia community, funeral ceremonies, schools, marketplaces and government buildings to express their anger over Pakistan’s role in war against terrorism.”

A policeman hurt in a fight with militants. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 20 2013 (IPS)

The new round of a terror campaign by Taliban militants against liberal politicians and health workers has led to fresh alarm within government and civil society. Many see this as a ploy to postpone elections due mid-2013.

“A majority of these attacks are happening in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province,” says KP information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

The KP province is ruled by the Awami National Party, a staunch opponent of the Taliban. This has led to the Taliban focusing most of its activities in this province, says Hussain.

Following the killing of nine polio vaccinators in Peshawar and Karachi Dec.17 and 18, seven persons including six female workers and a male doctor from an NGO were killed in Swabi, one of the 25 KP districts on Jan. 5.

Seven aid workers were shot dead in nearby Charsadda district Jan. 3.

What has left some people surprised is that militants attacked a vehicle of the Al Khidmat Foundation (AKF), killing Dr Zakir Hussain, head of its education wing. The AKF is run by the Jamaat Islami (JI) party which is regarded as close to Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Its former chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed survived a suicide attack in Mohmand Agency Nov. 29 last year. But JI has refrained from blaming the TTP.

The pattern of shootings has left many confused. TTP has accepted responsibility for most bomb and suicide attacks targeting the army, police and public places. The latest attacks have gone unclaimed.

“The Taliban are employing different strategies to sabotage the general election because they don’t want the election to take place peacefully,” Kamran Ali, a political science teacher at the University of Peshawar tells IPS.

The Awami National Party (ANP), which rules the KP, one of the four provinces in Pakistan, has borne the brunt of Taliban attacks. The party has lost 600 of its workers and leaders in terrorism-related attacks, Ali says.

“The TTP is opposed to all democratic and liberal forces. It fears strict action if such parties win the election and form government, he says. The TTP doesn’t want the ANP to win the election again because it has been running a campaign against militants during the past four-and-a-half years of its rule in KP, Ali says.

A major operation was carried out in 2009 that evicted Taliban from Swat, which the TTP had ruled from 2007 to 2009.

“The TTP would like to see JI and other smaller religious parties in power in order to implement their agenda,” Ali says. “A coalition government of these two parties in KP had shut its eyes to the Taliban’s activities in Swat during their rule, and soon after the election won by ANP, the Swat Taliban started killing police and others.

“Had the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) – an alliance of Islamic parties – not shut its eyes to the Taliban’s activities in Swat, and had taken action, Swat would never have fallen to TTP,” he says. The Taliban therefore want to keep the ANP away from the election and support religious parties to get a free run, he says.

“A liberal democratic government will take action against the Taliban,” KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain tells IPS. “Therefore they (TTP) try their level best to block their entry to corridor of power.”

The killing of political leaders is a Taliban tactic to force opponents out of the election process and get people of their choice elected, Hussain says. “The only agenda of Taliban is to sow political chaos ahead of elections.”

The killing of an ANP leader in a suicide attack Dec. 19 shows how TTP deals with rivals, Hussain says. “Bashir Bilour aggressively campaigned against the Taliban. He turned up at the site of every bomb attack in the province and condemned them.”

Hussain’s only son Mian Rashid Hussain was shot dead by militants in April 2010.

“The recent strategy by the TTP to hit the political leaders and scare people away from public meetings is a ploy to force liberal politicians out of the elections,” he says. “The TTP would never want the ANP to get elected. The TTP knows that the ANP would create problems for it.”

The ANP leadership is prepared for talks nevertheless, he says. “We know that the militants are behind all sorts of terrorism, but even then we are ready to go to the negotiating table provided they end violence for the sake of the country.”

Farewell to soldiers killed in a Taliban attack. Such attacks have killed many policemen, and demoralised others. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec 7 2012 (IPS)

The Taliban’s ruthless campaign against security forces has demoralised the forces, who are unable to put up a strong resistance to Islamic militants.

“Taliban militants have established a world record of savagery. They have slaughtered soldiers and common people with knives and displayed their heads in public places to send a message across the forces that they must not chase them at the behest of government,” says a police inspector in Qissakhwani bazaar in the old city area of Peshawar in northern Pakistan.

Militants have carried out 1,962 acts of terrorism since 2008 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province adjacent to the Afghan border. These have killed 6,200 persons and injured more than 9,000 others, according to a report by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the north of Pakistan.

These included 146 suicide attacks that have killed 826 policemen, 222 Frontier Constabulary personnel and 300 army soldiers, the local government said.

“The police are less equipped than militants, who have rocket launchers, bombs and hand-grenades,” police inspector Jawad Ali tells IPS. He says that the militants’ ferocity against security forces have demoralised the forces to the extent that most police stations and checkpoints are locked up during nights.

Some personnel seek medical leave to stay away from duty, prompting the government to issue a notification banning vacation except in unavoidable circumstances. “Genuinely ill personnel get required leave whereas those enjoying good health should stay alert to threats,” Jawad Ali says.

“We have received about 450 applications from policemen seeking leave on health grounds,” says Dr Wasan Khan at the Police Services Hospital. “Only 15 had illnesses for which they were advised rest. Others had arrived only to get a doctor’s prescription that they were ill and couldn’t perform duty.”

About 1,400 security men from the Frontier Constabulary (a 50,000 strong paramilitary force) were sacked two years ago when they refused to take part in an anti-Taliban operation on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The government has launched a campaign to scale up morale among the security forces. “Dying while fighting the enemy is martyrdom and they shouldn’t surrender in any circumstances to the militants. They did in many instances,” police inspector Jawad Ali says. “This would only further embolden the attackers.”

He says 17 soldiers who were beheaded in Kunar province of Afghanistan in June this year after being kidnapped from checkpoints in Dir, one of the 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had first surrendered. After this they were blindfolded, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were taken away to Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

Militants had beheaded seven soldiers in the same area only a week earlier.

In other recent attacks, militants attacked the Mattani checkpost near Peshawar Oct. 12 and killed six policemen including superintendent of police Khursheed Khan. The militants slaughtered Khan and took his head away. The head was found hanging in a local market the next day.

On Nov. 12 seven policemen including superintendent of police Hilal Khan were killed in a suicide attack in Qissakhwani bazaar.

“All these attacks are meant to terrify the police and security forces so they stay away from defending the people. Beheading them is a strategy to spread fear in the forces,” police officer Abdullah Shah tells IPS.

Terrorists have also damaged or destroyed 300 Internet cafes and CD shops, 325 schools and 100 electricity grid stations.

The past five years have seen more than 600 attacks on police stations and police vans, according to the local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The bomb disposal squad has defused 644 bombs and explosive devices in this period.

The government has allocated 23.35 billion rupees (240 million dollars) for the police in the total 300 billion rupee (3.1 billion dollars) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget to equip the police with new weapons and facilities.

“We have now 90,000 policemen in the province compared to only 35,000 when we took power in 2008,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information Mian Iftikhar Hussain says. “We are also giving plots of land and cash amount of five million rupees to the families of policemen who die at the hand of militants.”

The United States has provided vehicles, communications and other equipment worth 17 million dollars to help the police deal with the Taliban, Hussain says.