Iman Sheikh: Pakistan’s anti-Christian witch hunt

Rifta Masih is an 11-year-old Christian girl who lives near Islamabad, Pakistan. She reportedly suffers from Down’s Syndrome. Like many of the other Christians in her area — who comprise about 10% of the local population — the members of her family work menial jobs, and live in tiny properties rented from Muslim landlords.

On Thursday evening, Rifta was seen leaving the one-room dwelling she lives in with her sister and parents, carrying an earthenware dish filled with ash. Or, it may have been some refuse in a small shopping bag. Although Hammad Malik, a 23-year-old witness, is unclear on exactly what the girl was transporting, he is quite certain that the burnt remains had Arabic writing on them.

Rifta, he alleges, was burning pages from a Koran inside her house, and then trying to find a place to dispose of the remains. Although he did not see her do this, that did not stop him from assembling an angry group of men and reporting the incident to the local police, with the demand that the girl be apprehended in accordance with the country’s Blasphemy Law. The authorities at first did not act, but then moved swiftly to get the girl into custody when a mob of over 500 people gathered at the Masih home’s doorstep. Fearing for her safety, the authorities put her into a cell for a two-week detention.

Welcome to Pakistan: A nightmare society beyond pity or parody, where handicapped 11-year-old girls must be locked up to ensure their own safety.

According to the Blasphemy Law, anyone found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad or the Koran can be sentenced to death. With blind religious extremism on the upswing, there is no shortage of Hammad Malik types — self-appointed religious vigilantes on the lookout for any transgression, real or imagined.

The law has been enforced in regard to even the most dubious reports of “blasphemy,” and has led to the murder of two prominent politicians. In January 2011, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was shot by his own bodyguard after he expressed sympathy for Asia Noreen, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy. Scarcely two months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs and the only Christian in Pakistan’s Cabinet, was leaving his mother’s home in Islamabad when his car was sprayed with bullets. (The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the killing.)

The aforementioned Noreen, better known in the media as “Asia Bibi,” was a farmhand who fetched water for her coworkers. When some Muslims refused to drink the water on account of it being contaminated by an “unclean” Christian, heated work-site arguments allegedly ensued. Later, a cleric received complaints that Noreen made derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad. A mob arrived at her house, attacking her and her family before she was rescued by the police. This was in June 2009. She is still in jail.

The Blasphemy Law can be manipulated by cynical plaintiffs, as a tool to take personal retribution. In the case of Asia Bibi, there had been a pre-existing feud between Noreen and a Muslim neighbour over property damage. In Rifta’s case, relations between the Muslim and Christian communities had been tense for months after complaints were made about the noise coming from churches in the area during religious services.

In Pakistan, Christians traditionally have worked as cleaners and sweepers; many Muslims still consider them “unclean.” About 900 Christians living on the outskirts of Islamabad have been ordered to leave the neighbourhood and the homes they have inhabited for two decades. On Sunday, houses on the backstreets of Mehrabadi, an area 20 minutes drive from Islamabad’s western embassies and government ministries, were locked up and abandoned, their frightened occupants having relocated to already overcrowded Christian slums in and around the capital.

Pakistan is a country with many problems — from corruption to terrorism to regional secession movements. But none captures the primitive, bigoted spirit of the nation’s religious extremists more perfectly than the witch hunt for “blasphemers” that has been used to persecute the country’s tiny, beleaguered Christian community. If an 11-year-old handicapped girl is considered fair game for the fanatics, what chance does anyone else have?

David Cameron: I will change the law to allow crosses at work

During exchanges at Prime Minister's Question Time, Mr Cameron was asked about the case of Nadia Eweida, who has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights after being barred by British Airways from wearing a crucifix while working at Heathrow Airport.

David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, described the airline's refusal to allow Miss Eweida to wear her cross as a "disgraceful piece of political correctness" and asked the Prime Minister why the Government was opposing her appeal.

He told the Commons that Miss Eweida was appearing before the European Court in September to complain that there were no protections under United Kingdom law for workers who wore religious symbols.

Saying she wore the crucifix "as a mark of her Christianity," Mr Davis went on: "The behaviour of British Airways in this was a disgraceful piece of political correctness, so I was surprised to see the Government is resisting Miss Eweida's appeal.

"I cannot believe the Government is supporting the suppression of religious freedom in the workplace, so what are we going to do in this case?"

In response, Mr Cameron said he that he was fully supportive of employees' right to wear religious symbols at work, adding: "I think it is an absolutely vital freedom."

He went on: "What we will do is that if it turns out that the law has the intention [of banning the display of religious symbols in the workplace], as has come out in this case, then we will change the law and make clear that people can wear religious symbols at work."

The Prime Minister joked that while he did not always side with Mr Davis – his rival for the 2005 Tory leadership contest – he "wholeheartedly agreed" with him over the BA case.

Miss Eweida, 59, a Pentecostal Christian from Twickenham, south-west London, was sent home from her job at Heathrow in 2006 when she refused to remove her crucifix or accept a non-uniformed job.

She lost an industrial tribunal, which ruled that she had not suffered religious discrimination. Mrs Eweida had argued that the airline was discriminating against her as a Christian because Sikh employees were permitted to wear turbans and Muslims could work in hijab head coverings.

But BA said that the wearing of a cross was not a "requirement" of her faith, unlike the turban and hijab. BA has since changed its policy to allow the wearing of crosses and other religious symbols.

Miss Eweida's has been joined in her legal battle by Shirley Chaplin, a nurse from from Exeter, who was told by her employer, The Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation NHS Trust, to remove a necklace on which she had hung a cross.

It is the first time that Mr Cameron has explicitly promised to change the law in the event that the two women lose their case.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary who is Miss Eweida's constituency MP, welcomed the Prime Minister's words. He had previously written to Theresa May, the Home Secretary, asking for a change in the law and was told this was impossible.

He said: "As her local MP, I've supported Nadia's right to wear a cross throughout her campaign. I wrote to the Home Secretary eighteen months ago urging her change the law.

"So I am delighted by the Prime Minister's announcement today that the law will be changed to allow people of all religious faiths to be able to wear symbols of their religion."

Mr Cameron's announcement means that Christians and other people of faith will be given formal legal protection to wear religious symbols at work regardless of the outcome of the European Court case.

If Miss Eweida and Mrs Chaplin are successful, then no changes to the law will be necessary because the case will form a legal precedent.

The loss of the case would mean that the Government would be expected to bring forth legislation providing protection for religious workers as soon as the parliamentary timetable allowed.

After NATO meeting, Turkey warns Syria on border

Buoyed by support from his country's NATO allies, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Syrian forces Tuesday to stay clear of their troubled border or face a Turkish military response to any perceived threat, following the disputed downing of a Turkish warplane.

The Turkish leader's bellicose tone came as ambassadors from the NATO alliance, seeking to avoid a wider conflict, held emergency talks in Brussels at Turkey's behest. After the meeting, the NATO secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the alliance considered Syria's actions in shooting down a Turkish warplane Friday "unacceptable."

In a unanimous statement, the NATO allies called the episode "another example of the Syrian authorities' disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life."

Turkey is a member of the alliance.

"I would certainly expect that such an incident won't happen again," Rasmussen said at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels. In Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey had revised its military rules of engagement toward Syria.

"Every military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria in a manner that constitutes a security risk or danger would be considered as a threat and would be treated as a military target," he said to lawmakers in a speech attended by Arab diplomats.

In calling for the meeting in Brussels, Turkey said it was invoking Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which provides for consultations by the allies when one of them is threatened.

Iraq still operating secret torture site

A clandestine jail and alleged torture site under the control of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki continues to operate more than a year after the government ordered it shut down, Human Rights Watch claims in a report being released Tuesday.

Massive roundups of suspected loyalists of late leader Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party were conducted in October and November, when government security agents went door to door in Baghdad, the capital, with lists of those targeted for secret detention, the rights group reported. Another sweep of suspected government opponents occurred in March, ahead of an Arab summit, it said.

“Iraqi security forces are grabbing people outside of the law, without trial or known charges, and hiding them away in incommunicado sites,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Iraqi government should immediately reveal the names and locations of all detainees, promptly free those not charged with crimes, and bring those facing charges before an independent judicial authority.”

The group also called for the Iraqi government to appoint an independent commission to investigate "continuing allegations of torture" and disappearances.

The continued operation of the Camp Honor detention site was disclosed by Los Angeles Times staff writer Ned Parker in July, four months after Maliki's government said the facility had been closed at the urging of Iraqi lawmakers and human rights advocates.

In March 2011, Iraqi legislators toured the prison in the Baghdad government enclave known as the Green Zone after they learned that the International Committee of the Red Cross sent a letter to Maliki's government expressing concern over reports it had received about secret detention and torture at Camp Honor. The Justice Ministry ordered it closed after the lawmakers' visit.

Two Justice Ministry officials told Human Rights Watch that dozens of prisoners have been taken to the clandestine detention site as recently as last month and have yet to be transferred to official custody, as required by Iraqi law, according to the rights group.

Human Rights Watch based its report on information conveyed in interviews over the last six months with 35 former prisoners, family members, lawyers, legislators and Iraqi government officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, Stork said.

A spokesman for the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, Raifet Ahmad, relayed a request from The Times for government confirmation or denial of the Human Rights Watch allegations but did not provide a reply from Baghdad authorities.

China denies South China Sea war preparations

China has denied it is increasing combat readiness in response to a tense territorial row with the Philippines in the South China

Sea which has dragged on for more than a month.

The stand-off erupted last month after Philippine authorities detected Chinese ships fishing near the Scarborough Shoal.

They tried to arrest the crew, but were blocked by Chinese surveillance vessels deployed to the tiny rocky outcrop in the South China Sea about 230 kilometres (140 miles) from the Philippines' main island of Luzon.

The two nations have stationed non-military vessels at the shoal since April 8 in an effort to assert their sovereignty over the area.

But China's defence ministry denied military units were getting ready for war, despite warnings in state media that China is prepared to fight to end the stand-off.

“Reports that the Guangzhou military region, the South China Sea fleet and other units have entered a state of war preparedness are untrue,” the ministry said in a brief statement on its website late Friday.

The Guangzhou military region in southern China has responsibility for the area.

It gave no source for the reports, but rumours on Chinese microblogs say China has ordered some military units up to level two of its four-level scale of war preparedness, one notch from the top which indicates full readiness.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, which is believed to sit atop huge oil and gas reserves, as its historical territory, even waters close to the coasts of other Asian countries.

The Philippines says the shoal is part of its territory because it falls within its exclusive economic zone.

On Friday, around 300 protestors demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy in the Philippines to denounce “bullying” by Beijing.

Chinese citizens responded by holding far smaller protests outside the Philippine embassy in Beijing on Friday and Saturday, but police have not allowed sustained demonstrations.

China worries protests could spark wider social unrest.

On Saturday, police hustled away a group of five people attempting to unfurl a banner outside the embassy, who were put in a van and then driven away, an AFP photographer witnessed.

One briefly held up a sign reading: “Philippine servants, get away from Huangyan Island” using the Chinese name for the Scarborough Shoal.

A Chinese state-backed newspaper on Saturday accused the Philippines of whipping up nationalism, but it added military conflict in the South China Sea was possible.

“Nationalism seems to echo just as strongly wherever you go around the South China Sea. The Philippines is showing prominent such behaviour,” the Global Times said in an editorial.

“It remains possible that military conflicts will ensue in the South China Sea, and when that happens China will certainly take firm action,” it added.

Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia also claim parts of the sea. The rival claims have for decades made the waters one of Asia's potential military flashpoints.

The official Xinhua news agency late Friday urged the Philippines to negotiate a diplomatic solution to the dispute.

“The Philippine government is urged to use its vision and wisdom to handle the... dispute by peaceful diplomatic means to prevent harming bilateral relations in the long run,” it said.

Chinese authorities have ordered tour operators to suspend trips to the Philippines, and a Philippine official said Saturday that Chinese customs had impounded fruit imported from the Philippines, alleging pests, amid the dispute.

Sudan threatens to wage war against South Sudan

 KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir threatened on Wednesday to overthrow the "insect" government of South Sudan, amid global efforts to pull the rivals from the brink of all-out war after the South seized a key oilfield.

"Our main target from today is to liberate South Sudan's citizens from the SPLM ( Sudan People's Liberation Movement), and this is our responsibility before our brothers in South Sudan," Bashir said, adding that the southern government cannot be called a "movement".

"We call it an insect ... trying to destroy Sudan, and our main target from today is to eliminate this insect completely.

He spoke at a youth rally in support of troops who hope to reclaim Sudan's most important oil field, Heglig, from South Sudanese troops who seized it eight days ago.

"There are two choices: Either we end up in Juba or they end up in Khartoum. The old borders cannot take us both," Bashir said, predicting that the victory will be swift.

"In a few hours you are going to listen to good news from your brothers in Heglig," he told about 3,000 young people, some of them dressed in military gear.

"Heglig will not be the end. The end will be in Juba," the South's capital, said Bashir, whose audience sang songs about jihad, or holy war.

While Bashir forecast a swift victory, a foreign ministry official said Sudan is pursuing both military and diplomatic measures to get South Sudan out of the area.

"Military steps are underway ... and they are calculated measures," Omar Dahab, head of the ministry's crisis team, told a news conference.

"At the same time, they are taking into consideration the diplomatic and good offices efforts regarding the ending of the occupation.

"We have to end the occupation by hook or crook, by either way."

Sudan's military has released virtually no information about the situation on the ground but South Sudan has vowed to hold its positions in Heglig, despite air strikes.

Clashes broke out last month in the Heglig area and escalated last week with waves of aerial bombardment hitting the South and Juba's seizure of the oil centre on April 10.

The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have criticised the South's occupation of the north's most important oil field, equally denouncing Sudanese air strikes against the South.

ASEAN to adopt human rights declaration in November

PHNOM PENH - The Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed to adopt a human rights declaration at the conclusion of an annual summit here, as the leaders of the 10-nation bloc formally called on the West to lift sanctions against Myanmar.

Regional leaders said yesterday that they intend to adopt the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, which is being drafted, when they meet in Cambodia in November.

Philippine diplomat Rosario Manalo said that the declaration will be patterned after the 1948 United Nations declaration. Although non-binding, it is the latest effort by the bloc to promote human rights in a region with a long history of violations, principally in Myanmar.

Yesterday, ASEAN leaders called on Western countries, including the European Union, to lift punitive sanctions imposed on Myanmar now that the once-pariah nation has embraced democratic reforms.

Myanmar was represented by President Thein Sein, who received praise for the recent reforms in his poor nation, most recently Sunday's by-elections won by pro-democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi and her party.

"We called for the lifting of all sanctions on Myanmar immediately in order to contribute positively to the democratic process and economic development in that country," the heads of state said in a statement, promising to help when Myanmar assumes ASEAN's rotating chairmanship in 2014. AP