Christian family murdered in Punjab / Prayer and Fasting in the hell of battle: the experience of a Catholic priest

ASIA/PAKISTAN-

Okara (Agenzia Fides) - An entire Christian family was brutally killed in Punjab. Four people were slaughtered in the Christian colony of Muhala Ahmad, in the city of Okara, in the south of Lahore, capital of Punjab. The victims are Shugufta Baber, Catholic, a teacher at the "Convent High School", Catholic school in Okara; her two sons, Zanib aged 12 and Zarish 15; her sister Samina Bibi, a nurse. The massacre took place during the night between 22 and 23 May, but only now the news has been released. The authors of the crime are unclear: according to preliminary reports, the responsible seems to be Dr. Baber Masih, a Christian Protestant and homeopathic physician, Shugufta's husband, who could have committed the crime in the throes of a depressive state. The man found injured, was rushed to hospital, first in Okara and then in Lahore, where he died yesterday. At first he accused himself, then he spoke of "a group of unknown men who carried out the massacre."
The "Legal Evangelical Association Development" (LEAD), an NGO that has collected the fears of many families in Punjab, who live in total insecurity, after a mission on the spot seems to be inclined towards the work of "radical Islamic groups who wanted to deliberately hit Christians," explaining that "abuses and killings often happen out of jealousy or envy towards Christians: these are alarming episodes," says to Fides Pastor Mushtaq Gill, of the LEAD.
According to the local police, in charge of investigating the crime, so far the most accepted theory is that of a crazy act carried out by Baber, who then attempted to commit suicide. Some Christians in Okara say, however, that this could be "an attempt of throwing of tack" and say they are ready to resort to the federal police to ask for justice to shed full light on the massacre.
According to Fides sources in the city of Okara the relations between Christians and Muslims are good, but there are radical Islamic groups that have caused accidents in the past. The local community also remembers the demolition of a Christian cemetery in 2009, transformed by the civil authorities in a park. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/5/2012)

ASIA/SYRIA -

Qusayr (Agenzia Fides) - In the midst of massacres, rape, shootings, kidnappings, vendettas, a small flame of faith and love is kindled in the city of Qusayr (near Homs), one of the places where the war rages more violently: as Fides learned from local sources, a Catholic priest, who now prefers to remain anonymous, has boldly established himself in the city, in a parish house, with the sole purpose of continuous prayer and fasting, to implore God for peace and reconciliation.
Just where "hell is unleashing", his presence, the priest explains, wants to be a "strong indication of non-violence, a testimony of faith and love for the Syrian people." His being a "sign of contradiction", will be an experience that the faithful of all religions may understand, since "the weapons of prayer and fasting are important in Christianity and Islam". It wants to be a way, he remarks, "to remind all men, who are fighting and killing, that the only source of hope is God: the God of life, the God of peace, the God of reconciliation, which makes us brothers and not enemies."
Fides sources do not rule out that while his experience is spread in the city, Christians and Muslims could join him, despite the dangers, and that in the city devastated by the conflict a new glimmer of hope for Syria could ignite, with men and women who refuse to choose hatred and non-violence in the name of their faith. Religion and faith - note the sources of Fides - are in fact an important component of life and identity of the Syrian people, and in these difficult hours of brutality, it is necessary to leverage the spiritual component, which gives man his true size, his true dignity. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/5/2012)

 

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