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“Islam has nothing to do with this. This is an act of terror,” a Muslim scholar said.
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By
Asif Farooqi, IOL
Pakistan
correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
September 25 (IslamOnline) – Seven Christians were killed Wednesday,
September 25, in an attack on a Christian non-governmental
organization in the violent port city of Karachi. Pakistani Muslim
scholars and leaders were quick to condemn the attack.
“Islam
has nothing to do with this. This is an act of terror,” Dr. Muhammad
Tufail Hashmi, former dean of the faculty of Arabic at the Allama
Iqbal Open University told IslamOnline.
He
said killing innocent people in the name of Islam is very popular with
the terrorists. “This is to malign our religion,” he said.
“Terrorists
have no religion,” he added.
Dr.
Shahid Hasan, a prominent economist and a religious scholar who lives
in Karachi, said Wednesday’s act had nothing to do with Islam.
“Our religion does not permit acts like these so it would be wrong
to blame the religious community for this”. He was also of the
opinion that it could only be a terrorist who planned and executed
such a heinous crime against humanity.
Maulana
Ehteram Ul Haq Thanvi said the anti-Pakistan and Islam elements were
trying to malign both Pakistan and Islam in the name of Jihad and the
attack on the Christian charity was part of the same campaign.
“Jihad
has a different meaning and essence. And whatever is happening in
Pakistan is far from Jihad or an Islamic act. This is only
condemnable” Maulana Thanvi said.
Professor
Umer Hayat Sial, associated with the Sheikh Zaid Islamic Center at
Karachi, was of the opinion that one can only condemn the attack on
Christians. “It has nothing to do with any religion. All this is
just terrorism,” he added.
A
prominent anti-blasphemy law activist and six others were killed in a
terrorist attack on a Christian non-governmental organization in the
violent port city of Karachi Wednesday morning, September 25.
The
office of the Christian charity organization Committee for Justice and
Peace was attacked this morning by two un-identified gunmen who
stormed into the 3rd floor office of the organization and sprayed it
with bullets, killing Aslam Martin and six of his Christian
colleagues, police sources said.
Aslam
Martin is a very well know anti-blasphemy activist who had a radical
opinion on this law. He was associated with those NGOs and human
rights groups who wanted this law to be repealed.
Martin
was project-coordinator of the Committee for Justice and Peace. He was
arrested in January 2001 for participating in a demonstration against
this law and was subsequently released on the intervention of World
Council of Churches.
According
to the police and eyewitness accounts, the two un-identified gunmen
entered the offices of the charity this morning and tied up its
workers at the gunpoint. They then shot all eleven of them. Six were
killed on the spot, one of the two critically injured succumbed to
injuries on his way to the hospital while four others are still in the
hospital for bullet wounds.
The
police was tight lipped on the motive and identification of killers
but a senior police officer told IslamOnline on the phone that they
have an eyewitness in the custody that might have identified the
attackers.
Qari
Hamid Mehmood Qadri, an editor of a weekly religious magazine,
Madinah, said the incident was politically motivated and the target
was the government and not the Christians.
“Muslims
and other minorities have lived in this country for decades but these
religious killings have come up in the last few months only. It shows
the actual reason is something different,” he said.
