Christian-Muslim News Digest Issue 3 2010

Introduction

Welcome to the third issue of the Digest for 2010. This issue’s first report is on Pakistan, with responses to the floods as well as the on-going problems of the blasphemy laws. It also reports on Nigeria, where the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) have both recently held meetings addressed by Muslims and Christians. Reactions to the recent ban on Zakir Naik by the new British Home Secretary are examined and, five years after the 7th July 2005 terrorist attacks in London, Murtaza Shibli has edited a book entitled7/7: Muslim Perspectives which is reviewed here.

The final article is one of our occasional in-depth country studies, where the author writes about a country from their own experience. We received a reflective piece on the Holy Land (Israel/Palestine), written by Yazeed Said, an Arab Christian, who is an Anglican Priest who grew up in Galilee and worked at St. George’s Church in Jerusalem. He has recently completed his doctorate at Cambridge University and is currently based in Canada on a post-doctoral Fellowship. The views and opinions expressed in the article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIFCON or any of its members.

 

Pakistan: Floods and the Blasphemy Laws

An article by Peter Riddell ‘The other tragedy in Pakistan’, in the Church Times 3rd September 2010, highlights the transitory nature of media coverage on events, with the floods dominating and other news, such as the abuse of the Blasphemy Laws being sidelined. This transitoriness is seen in the way that allegations against the Pakistan cricket team supplanted coverage of the on-going flood crisis.

 

Floods

The torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan which have led to flooding along the length of the river Indus, loss of life and millions of people being displaced has been covered extensively in the media. The destruction of the infrastructure of roads and bridges has hampered rescue and relief work. The scale of the disaster is shown in ‘Pakistan 2010 Images of the Flood’ which graphically illustrates the plight of the people.

The relief efforts have led to examples of Muslims and Christians working together in order to assist all the community. Christian Aid in their ‘Pakistan Floods Appeal’ explain that:

Christian Aid has sent £750,000 to help Act Alliance partners respond to the devastating floods that have killed more than 1,600 people.

ACT Alliance partners will provide food, shelter and medical assistance to around 230,000 people in Balochistan, Khyber Paktunkwa, Punjab and Sindh provinces.

The Church of Pakistan working together with the Catholic Church is reported in ‘Pakistan bishops deliver aid to flood victims’, saying that ‘Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan and Anglican Bishop Alexander John Malik of Lahore led a convoy containing food items and bottled water on Aug. 26 to the southern Punjab where five districts lie submerged under flood waters. Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti also joined the convoy with an additional six trucks of relief items.’

The Post reported on 2nd September 2010 that Bishop Malik of the Diocese of Lahore led an Interfaith Walk ‘to motivate public to help flood affected people’, a video of the walk, shows the large numbers involved in the event which started at the Cathedral and walked to the Punjab Assembly.

The Diocese of Peshawar reports that it is distributing relief in ‘The deadly Monsoon’, this relief is particularly focussed at helping the Hindu and Christian minorities.

Sadly it has also been reported that in some areas relief has not been given to non-Muslims. The Daily Telegraph reported on 27th August 2010 ‘Pakistan relief organisations “discriminating against Christian flood victims”’, quoting Father Mario Rodrigues, the Lahore-based director of Catholic Mission, “They often receive little assistance or are excluded altogether”. The article also said that ‘Aid is being delivered by “government officials sympathetic to Islamic fundamentalism or by Muslim relief organizations”. It went on to explain that there were ‘about 200,000 Christians in Punjab province and about 600,000 Christians and Hindus in Sindh province [who] have been affected by weeks of monsoon rain’.

 

Additional info can be found here.