Two Christians were shot dead and two others seriously injured by gunfire after Muslim youths attacked them outside a church building in Hyderabad on March 21, according to witnesses. Residents of Hurr Camp, a colony of working class Christians in Hyderabad, Sindh province, were celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Salvation Army church building there when a group of Muslim youths gathered outside the building and started playing loud music on their cell phones.
According to reports, they also started harassing Christian women who were entering the party. Christian men Younis Masih, 47, Siddique Masih, 45, Jameel Masih, 22, and a 20-year-old named Waseem came out of the church building to get the Muslim youths to stop harassing the Christian women and respect the church as a holy place. A verbal clash ensued and the Muslim youths left, only to return armed with handguns.
Witnesses told Compass news agency over the phone that the Muslim youths opened fire on the Christians, killing Younis Masih and Jameel Masih instantly and seriously injuring Siddique Masih and Waseem. Younis Masih is survived by his wife and four children, while Jameel Masih was married just a month ago. His sudden death has shocked his family. "My son had gone to the church to represent our family by participating in the anniversary celebrations... a few hours later we were told that he had died," Surraya Bibi tearfully told Compass over the phone from Hyderabad. "I got him married only a month ago. The cold-blooded killers have destroyed my family, but my immediate concern is for Jameel's wife, who has gone completely mute since she received the news."
According to the Christians at the scene, the police did not take the matter very seriously. They were negligent and did not take a report until the Christians had demonstrated their displeasure by blocking a main road with the bodies of the two people killed. Subsequently, the police arrested some youths who had nothing to do with the case, while the perpetrators walk freely around the city. It is clear that the police are prejudiced against Christians. A local political party with a secular, but sometimes violent, agenda had suggested to the Christians that they should take revenge, but their leaders had told them that as Christians they would not take the law into their own hands.
Source: Compass Direct News Service / Danish European Mission
