EXPOSED - SALE OF PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN CHILDREN AS SLAVES IS
FUNDING ISLAMIC MILITANTS
A leading member of a militant Islamic organisation based in
Pakistan is said to be funding its activities through the sale of Christian
children into slavery. According to The Barabus Fund, a Christian organisation, the children, aged between 6 and 12, are
abducted from their homes in remote Christian villages in the Punjab
and incarcerated in appalling conditions, until being sold for
approximately $1,700 each into the sex trade or a life of domestic
servitude. While they are held they are beaten savagely, only fed once
a day and ordered not to talk, play or pray.
The trade was exposed by two Christian missionaries (one Pakistani, the
other American), who had seen photographs of boys for sale on the black market in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.
The missionaries constructed an elaborate and hazardous rescue plan, with the Pakistani posing as a Lahore businessman who wanted to buy boys to beg for him. Not only did they manage to buy back twenty boys and return them to their homes, but also they secretly filmed Khan
accepting money for seventeen boys.
TERRORIST LINKS
The man they accuse iss a senior member of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD), an organisation linked to Al-Qaeda. The US State Department has declared JUD to be a front for a terrorist group Lashkar-i-Toiba which is banned in both Pakistan and the UK. Yet JUD is popular in Pakistan for providing free medical care and education for the poor. After last year's earthquake in Kashmir it was quick to give tents, blankets and food. At its base near Lahore JUD claims to have created a "pure Islamic environment" that is superior to western "depravity". The base was funded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.
JUD and Al-Qaeda jointly attempted to assassinate the Pakistani
President, Pervez Musharraf, in 2003. JUD's leader, Hafez Muhamed
Sayeed, was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan earlier this year in
response to the publication of the Danish cartoons of the Islamic
prophet Muhammed.
Although the evidence of child stealing is overwhelming the police have
indicated that the power of groups such as JUD is too great for them to
tackle. So far no investigation has taken place.
THE CONTEXT OF SUCH HORRORS
"The revelation of this horrifying trade in Christian boys to fund
Islamic terrorism is an extreme manifestation of the discrimination and
oppression of Christians in Pakistan," said Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, the
International Director of Barnabas Fund.
"The classical teachings of
Islam on the second class status of non-Muslims (called dhimmi) create
an attitude of contempt towards Pakistan's Christian minority which is
seen in a whole raft of daily discrimination, injustice and
humiliation. The situation is exacerbated by issues of caste and
poverty. It is in this context that such horrors can take place. I am
encouraged that the police did make some efforts in this case, but, as
so often happens, they appear now to be intimidated themselves by the weight of the whole Islamist movement in Pakistan. I pray that the
exposure of this slave trade to the international community will help
bring an end to it."
Dr Sookhdeo is the author of a historical study entitled "A People
Betrayed: The Impact of Islamization on the Christian Community in
Pakistan". For details of how to purchase this book, please contact
sales@barnabasbooks.org or telephone +44 1672 565037. (From within the
UK telephone 01672 565037.)
PRAYER ITEMS
* Pray that the slavers will be stopped and brought to justice and in
the words of one of the missionaries "Pray that a public outcry will
arise in Pakistan and around the world that will put an end to their
vile business."
* Pray for the twenty Christian boys who have been reunited with their
families after such severe suffering and trauma. Pray for emotional
and, where necessary, physical healing for them.
* Pray for other Christian boys who may have been sold already and for
whom freedom might never again be a reality. Pray that the Lord Jesus
will comfort them by His presence and that somehow justice would be
done and they would be given their liberty.
* Pray for the Pakistani police and judiciary and for President
Musharraf that they will be able to control and contain the Islamic
extremists and enforce full law and order to Pakistan.
From: BARNABAS FUND E-MAIL NEWS SERVICE
Barnabas Fund's e-mail news service provides the media and our supporters with urgent news briefs concerning suffering Christians around the world.
If you would like to receive news briefs from the Barnabas Fund please
contact us with your name, postal and e-mail addresses.
Barnabas Fund works to support Christian communities around the world where
they are facing poverty and persecution.
Barnabas Fund, The Old Rectory, River Street, PEWSEY, Wiltshire, SN9 5DB, UK.
Tel: +44(0)1672 564938, Fax: +44(0)1672 565030, E-mail: info@barnabasfund.org
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