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| India-Pakistan |
| Civil society, political parties protest lynching of Christian couple |
| 2014-11-06 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Rights groups, civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties held protest demonstrations in front of the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday to condemn the lynching of a Christian couple in a Kasur District village allegedly over blasphemy. Yeah, yeah. Whoopdy doo. They always do that. Nothing ever happens. The Voice of Christians International (VOCI) held the main demonstration where protesters and family members carried the coffin containing remains of the burnt Christian couple Shehzad Masih and Shama, who were burnt alive by a mob allegedly for blasphemy on Tuesday. The protesters demanded of the government to immediately arrest the culprits and to prevent the persecution of religious minorities in the country. VOCI Director Samuel Payara led the demonstration while other representatives, including Sheraz Bhatti, Adil Raja, Samuel Rahat Gill, Shamoun Sohan, Shaukat Ashiq, Sadiq Wahab, Denial James, Shakeel Jahangir and Shafiq Sadiq, were also present there. Besides carrying placards and banners, the protesters carried the black coffin containing the remains, including bones and hair, of the parents of three children. They rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud, demanding repeal of the blasphemy laws that, according to them, were being "unfairly" used against religious minorities in the country. They also announced that they would not offer funeral of the victims and bury the casket until upcoming Sunday (November 9) when they would observe a "black day" and take out a rally from the Lahore Press Club to the Punjab Assembly chamber on The Mall to protest the brutal killing of the couple. They said that activists of political, religious and CSOs would attend the scheduled rally. The Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) held a separate demonstration led by its MPA Shunila Ruth in which Awami Workers Party (AWP) central leader Farooq Tariq and other leaders also participated to show their solidarity with the Christian community. The demonstrators said that the PML-N government had failed to protect minorities across the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |