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| India-Pakistan |
| Zardari takes notice of Faisalabad court shooting |
| 2010-07-21 |
| [Dawn] President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday asked the authorities in Punjab to investigate the murder of two Christian brothers in Faisalabad and a controversy over demolition of a historic Hindu temple in Rawalpindi. At the same time, president's media adviser and MNA Farahnaz Ispahani submitted an adjournment motion to the National Assembly's Secretariat seeking a debate "on the subject of rising persecution of minority communities of Pakistan." Taking note of media reports about the murder of two brothers outside a court in Faisalabad on Monday, the president called for immediate steps to arrest the culprits. Mr Zardari condemned the incident and said it had brought a bad name to the country. He said that life of every person was sacred and no-one could be allowed to take law into his own hands. He expressed sympathies with the families of Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and Sajjad Emmanuel and asked the provincial government to pay suitable compensation. The brothers, accused of having distributed blasphemous material, were gunned down on the premises of a sessions court in Faisalabad on Monday. Police had produced Rashid and his brother in the court to obtain their remand. The brothers were about to leave the place when they were gunned down. The killing sparked violence in the slain brothers' native area of Daoodnagar where protesters pelted passing vehicles and shops with stones. At least 10 people were injured. Later, the authorities imposed Section 144, banning protests and rallies in the district. At around 10pm, announcements made from mosques in Daoodnagar asked local people to come out to 'fight rampaging' Christians. An exchange of fire was reported to have taken place between two groups of people in the area. The president also took notice of a report about demolition of a temple in Rawalpindi and asked Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti to investigate the matter and report the factual position. Hundreds of people belonging to the Hindu community took to the streets on Monday against the lessee of the ancient temple who had pulled down half of its structure for commercial purposes. Muslims of the locality joined the protesters to express solidarity with them and blocked the road for about an hour. The protesters dispersed peacefully when police assured them that the demolition work would be stopped. MNA Farahnaz, in her adjournment motion, a copy of which was made available to Dawn, termed the murder of two Christian brothers a "horrific incident" and stated that international polls had shown "a trend of increasing violence and brutality" towards minority communities in Pakistan. "This is very disturbing and needs to be urgently addressed on the floor of the house," the motion says. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 international polls had shown "a trend of increasing violence and brutality" towards minority communities in Pakistan. Especially those harboring terrorists. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-07-21 16:11 |
| #1 stated that international polls had shown "a trend of increasing violence and brutality" towards minority communities in Pakistan. They have to have outsiders to tell them something is wrong before they do anything. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Anguting2786 2010-07-21 15:05 |