Displaying items by tag: Asia

Five Christian families in eastern India were at a service in October when they received a phone call telling them to return to their homes immediately. They rushed back, but found that the villagers had been incited by a tribal group (themselves influenced by Hindu extremists) to destroy one of their houses. The villagers were also told that they must drive out all the families. Threatened with expulsion from the village and with seizure of their farmland, three of the five families converted back to the tribal religion. This is just a sample of persecution in Hindu strongholds in India. Police appear to do little or nothing when Christians make a report.

Pakistani Christian mother Aasia Bibi has finally been freed from prison after spending over eight years on death row for allegedly committing ‘blasphemy’ against Islam, but she is not yet free. Government officials confirmed on 8 November that she had been flown to Islamabad under tight security due to radical Muslim death threats against her and her family following the news of her acquittal. While some reports stated that she had left the country, a foreign ministry spokesman said that this was not true. It is unclear what might happen to her, given that Imran Khan’s government has seemingly given way to the huge protests caused by her acquittal on 31 October, and made a deal with the party responsible for organising them. According to that agreement, Aasia would be re-tried by a new supreme court, not including the original three judges.

An eye surgeon from the Diocese of Peshawar, Khushbakht Peters, celebrates the work of the Christian hospital at Tank in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She writes: ‘Tank is a city in the south of our province. The war against terrorism has been going on for a long time here; many people, both soldiers and civilians, have lost their lives. Yet even when things were at their worst, the dedicated staff at the Christian Hospital persisted in providing healthcare services. A few years ago, even the Taliban refused to attack the hospital, as this is where all their women and children go for treatment. For the past 150 years the hospital has been following the footsteps of the Good Samaritan, providing a healing touch for those in need. They have been helping the poorest of the poor, the underprivileged of society, giving them their only chance to better health. Following the living example of the hospital, let us be obedient to our calling to the Lord, and become a blessing for many.’

Members of a Saudi Arabian team sent to help Turkish authorities investigate the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi worked instead to remove evidence. A Turkish government spokesman said that two members of the team ‘came for the sole purpose of covering up evidence’ before Turkish police were allowed to search the Saudi consulate, where Khashoggi was killed on 2 October. The fact that a clean-up team was dispatched suggests that his killing ‘was within the knowledge of top Saudi officials’. The information was the latest in a series of leaks from Turkish officials apparently aimed at keeping up the pressure on Saudi Arabia and ensuring that the killing is not covered up. Khashoggi, who lived in exile in the United States, was strangled immediately after he entered the consulate, and his body was dismembered before being removed.

A UN investigation has found more than 200 mass graves in areas of Iraq once controlled by the Islamic State (IS) group. IS seized parts of Iraq in 2014 and imposed brutal rule, commonly killing anyone of whom it disapproved. The sites contain critical evidence that will not only identify the victims but also help prosecutors build cases for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide. Investigators estimate that between six and twelve thousand victims are buried at the sites, including women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, foreign workers, and members of the Iraqi security forces. Ján Kubiš, the UN special representative for Iraq, said, ‘The mass grave sites are a testament to harrowing human loss, profound suffering and shocking cruelty. (Analysing the evidence) will be an important step in the mourning process for families and their journey to secure their rights to truth and justice.’

Western nations including the USA, France, and Germany have called on China to close down detention camps in the western region of Xinjiang which activists claim hold as many as one million Uyghurs and other Muslims. China, however, has described these criticisms as ‘seriously far away from facts’. Its vice minister of foreign affairs, Le Yucheng, told UNHCR in Geneva that his country protects the freedoms of its 55 ethnic minorities. China has said Xinjiang faces a threat from Islamist militants and separatists, and rejects all accusations of mistreatment and denies mass internment, although it states that some citizens guilty of minor offences are being sent to vocational centres to work. Mr Le, referring to Xinjiang, said: ‘Stability is most important, prevention should be put first. Setting up the training centres is a preventative measure to combat terrorism.’

Prime minister Narendra Modi says the first successful voyage by India’s home-built nuclear submarine is a ‘warning for the country's enemies’. The INS Arihant recently completed a month-long ‘deterrence patrol’, meaning India now has the capability to fire nuclear weapons from land, air and sea. Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist, tweeted it was a ‘fitting response to those who indulge in nuclear blackmail’. In a speech televised nationwide, he told the submarine’s crew, ‘Amid an increase in the number of nuclear weapons in our surroundings, a credible nuclear deterrence is extremely important for our country's security’. His words are a thinly-veiled reference to India's neighbours, China to its north and its traditional enemy, Pakistan, to the west. The often volatile relationship with Pakistan has cooled even more noticeably since Mr Modi took office in 2017 and adopted a more assertive strategy towards its arch-rival.

Pentagon chief James Mattis said the US had been watching the conflict ‘for long enough’, and believes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are ready for talks. The comments came as the military coalition deployed over 10,000 new troops towards a vital rebel-held port city in the run-up to a new assault. Mattis said, ‘We have got to move toward a peace effort here, and we can't say we are going to do it sometime in the future. We need to be doing this in the next thirty days.’ His comments came at the US Institute of Peace, whose president, Kevin Martin, said that the Yemen needs peace right now, and even thirty days to halt fighting is too long. He added, ‘I think the Trump administration is trying to get out ahead of a stampede. Congress, public opinion and the media have all turned very much against this war.’ See also the UK article ‘Boris Johnson and the Saudis’.

Indonesia has ordered inspections on all its commercial Boeing 737-Max 8 planes, after one crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta, with 189 people on board, on 29 October. There are no known survivors. Searchers have recovered debris, bodies and personal items. The flight recorder (‘black box’) has now been located, which may shed light on the mystery of why it crashed, considering that it was almost brand-new. It seems that the pilot asked to return to Jakarta airport before losing contact with air traffic control. A log obtained by the BBC showed the plane had experienced technical problems on the previous day. Indonesia, a vast archipelago, is heavily reliant on air travel but many of its airlines have a poor safety record.

Asia Bibi, a young mother of five who has spent 8 years behind bars unjustly accused of blasphemy against Muhammad by Muslim neighbors, has now been finally acquitted by Pakistan's Supreme Court of the charges against her. Friends who monitor the situation there now write:

"This is indeed good news, but now Asia Bibi, her whole family and the whole Christian community need much prayer cover, indeed anyone involved in this case, the judges, the lawyers, also the government.  Several groups have already sworn to take revenge on the Christian community. One of our team members in Lahore was visiting family across the city because of a death in her family.  She is caught there and cannot return as there are threats of riots and people have been told to stay inside their houses." 

Another ministry leader who has spent his life working in that region wrote: "This is an important time to pray for Pakistan for different reasons. Now the Christian community is in danger of getting attacked and the extremists want to see revenge, but we should also pray that the government would back up the decision of the Supreme Court. This was a very encouraging and courageous ruling. There are many others still in prison for the same wrong charges."

1. Please pray that the police and authorities will be able to keep control of this situation and stop any rioting by the Islamic extremists of which there are many who will be very angry about this ruling.
2. Pray that this court decision will not result in bloodshed which is always possible in this spiritual dark, majority Muslim country.
3. Pray that the blasphemy law which enables such false accusations, often attended by terrible violence against the Christians, will be rescinded and others who have been imprisoned unjustly will be acquitted and released.
4. Pray for His peace to settle over this land, for the protection and empowering of the Christian community, and that the oppressive spiritual bondage will be broken over Pakistan so that many of the majority will come to Christ.

More info:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46040515