Blood in vomit of Zafar Bhatti after taking medicine prescribed by prison medical staff causes alarm
Published: Sun, 05/29/22
As war rages on in Ukraine we call for prayer for the millions of people caught up in the ravages of war. We share a simple prayer for those who are seeking the right words in this troubling time:
Gracious God, we pray for everyone who is suffering from war.
We ask for you to transform the hearts and minds of all those who perpetuate violence and oppression, make them realise the impact of their malice.
May those suffering be held in your loving care and protection and give them the strength to endure their hardship.
Grant wisdom to world leaders, help them to advance efforts toward world peace; may they not be compromised by self-interest and detachment.
Let all people everywhere understand the futility of war and create a desire for peace amongst us all. Amen.
We continue to support a church in Ukraine and Moldova directly as they attempt to bring succour to people continuing to remain despite increased missile attacks in Odessa and refugees who have fled to Chisnau respectively. We are currently supporting churches with £500 a month but need your help if we are to continue this level of support throughout the length of the war. You can read more in our latest update (here). The update contains a review of the current war, more details about the increased attacks on Odessa and a very personal statement from Pastor Vasilev. We also advise on the current reports of war crimes and the first conviction from this war at the International Criminal Court at the Hague.
We focus on Pakistan this month as our operative in India is catching up after illness and a busy schedule and have had to suspend work in Pakistan for a while, as we await a Passport renewal for our officer in Thailand that is preventing transfers in funds. The next newsletter should contain details from both these regions.
UK:
We have now added Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer's back to our list of partners for our 3-day-a-week food bank as the numbers of visitors to our 'Meals for the Needy' project increases. Read more (here).
Spurgeon’s College launches campaign to record faith groups’ contributions to the COVID effort for future generations as BACA's work named. Read More (here)
Pakistan:
News of blood in the vomit of Zafar Bhatti Pakistan's longest serving blasphemy law convict has created alarm and concern about his health. The medical concern arose after after he took medication prescribed by prison medical staff, Read more (here)
Juliet and Hannah Chowdhry met with Saif Ul -Malook Pakistan's most preeminent blasphemy law solicitor. We have worked with him before when securing freedom for Asia Bibi (click here) and Shagfuta Kasuar and Shafquat Emmanuel (click here). Over the last 5 years he has proven to be the best lawyer for Christian blasphemy cases with huge success. He has said he would take on the case but his fees at £10,000 are prohibitive and we cannot initiate his help without your help.
Read more (here) or please donate (here).
We met with the children of Pakistan's most famous orphans whose parents were burned alive after a brutal attack from a mob of over 3000 Muslims, back in 2014. We shared an Easter cake with them and were advised of the dilapidated state of their property. We share a wonderful video in which the children describe how they use the computers we were able to gift them for Christmas (here). We hope to be able to raise £500 to repaint their home and provide two fans and some rope beds. If you would like to help please donate (here).
A Christian man was shot dead by a Muslim gang over a dispute over some money. The father would like us to help with the cost of a solicitor but we need to raise around £1500 to do so. Read more (here). If you would like to help us pay for this legal cover please donate (here).
We update you on Soojal the orphan whose mother died of grief after her 10 year old son was murdered and she was forced to accept a compromise deal. he has now successfully been admitted to school and is progressing well. Read more and watch video (here).
We are progressing well with the BACA funded stitching centre that empowers Christian women and extricates them from abusive employment. Read more (here)
During Easter we resumed our Gospel outreaches to rural areas of Pakistan. Most of the communities we reached were Christian enclaves within the brick kiln areas of Kasur, where people rarely hear sermons and those from visiting Pastors. We hope to build a church and school for these deprived and enslaved Christian communities. Read more (here).
We are still seeking more help from supporters who are willing to help us with writing articles. We need commitments from people that can spare the time to write and research and have passion for the work that we do. If you are interested please email juliet@britishasianchristians.org or call 020 8500 1192.
We have been offered a free stall at Big Church Day Out this year in view of the help we gave them connecting with the Asian Church pre-lockdown. This years event is their biggest ever and if all is well we will be confirming with them on Monday. So if you are visiting the event please do get in contact should our stall proceed.
We are seeking old computers and mobile phones that are no longer required to share with deprived communities in Pakistan and India. If you have items that you would like to donate please contact us as we are able to collect them from location within or around London. If you have items you'd like to doante please email juliet@britishasianchristians.org or call 020 8500 1192. You can alternatively post them to British Asian Christian Association, Unit
74934, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US.
Blessings
Hannah Chowdhry
We include a list of all the articles mentioned above in date order, feel free to read only those that interest you. If any of the links above and below do not work you can read all our international articles (here) and all our local UK community news (here).
BACA meet Pakistan’s most preeminent blasphemy law solicitor to seek help for Zafar Bhatti
Prospective Law student Hannah Chowdhry meets with Saif Ul Malook
Please sign and share widely our petition for Zafar Bhatti (here)
After we reported blood in the vomit of Pakistan’s longest serving blasphemy convict ever Zafar Bhatti (click here), Trustees of British Asian Christian Association agreed to find a solution to his ongoing incarceration.
Christian women from the Christian colony of Lakhoder which is situated near the biggest dumping site of Lahore are being put through vocational courses to upskill and gain financial strength.
Traditionally, men and women form the local area would survive by sorting rubbish on the dumping site or by working as domestic cleaners for wealthy Muslims. For extremely hard and long days of employment they would earn around 1500 rupees (£70) per month.
Women in such families are disenfranchised and their position exposes them to exploitation including sexual harassment, forceful conversion, violence and paying less than agreed or not at all.
For over two years British Asian Christian Association have been providing free meals for homeless people, the economically deprived and refugees and asylum-seekers. Our work began after Trustees became acutely aware of the growing homeless community in Ilford during a series of outreach events in Ilford Town Centre (click
here).
You can read a full review of our ‘Meals for the Homeless’ project and watch videos (here). It includes an account of how we grew the service by meeting the homeless on the streets were they took shelter.
Two weeks ago we resumed collections from Marks and Spencer and have also signed up for collections from Sainsbury’s. We do not intend to grow back to the levels during the pandemic, but have seen a growing number of visitors in recent weeks and wanted to meet better their needs for food.
Spurgeon’s College, a leading theological institution, has launched its #FaithInCommunity campaign to reflect
on and record the contributions of the faith community during the COVID-19 crisis. The campaign seeks to
collate these contributions which will be submitted to the British Library as an official record – creating a piece
of history for future generations.
Read full article including quote from BACA (here)
Pastor remains to shepherd people though attacks on Odessa increase
Two of the women your donations are supporting with food through the Ukraine/Russia conflict
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The war between Ukraine and Russia has now almost completed its third month. Few of us would have believed the war would have carried on for this long when it started (24th Feb) and most of us were surprised that it began (click here).
Now however the war seems like it could go on for some time. The devastation caused by this war has been phenomenal. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at the United Nations (UN) has stated that close to 3838 civilians have been killed and just over 4351 civilians have been injured (19th May 2022) during this conflict (click here).
Worse still, many reports of serious human rights violations have emerged throughout this war including forced deportation to Russia (click here), rape (click here), torture and discovery of mass graves (click here) which has drawn international condemnation. This includes allegations of sodomy of young boys of 10 and 11 years of age, some of whom died from injuries related to the sex offence (click here)
.
Nawab Bibi in a BACA funded home preparing monthly supplies for Zafar.
Please sign and share widely our petition for Zafar Bhatti (here)
Fears that Zafar Bhatti (55 yrs), Pakistan’s longest serving blasphemy convict could be the first ever to be lynched heightened after a judge increased his sentence from life imprisonment to death on 3rd January 2022 (click here)
Judge Sahibzada Naqeeb Shehzad, of Sessions Court Rawalpindi made this ruling despite clear physical and electronic evidence of the innocence of Zafar Bhatti.
Soojal looks immaculate in his new school uniform. We are so proud of this young man...
Badil Masih was sodomised and murdered by his employer Mr Mohammed Ikram and a cohort, in July 2019, for daring to seek full payment for work he had carried out at a scrapyard (click here).
British Asian Christian Association stepped in to pay for legal costs, and support the family financially as they challenged for justice. Despite clear evidence of a crime courts offered pre-arrest bail to the murderers who began to threaten the Christian family and key witnesses (click here).
Though Badil’s mother Shareefa remained stoic throughout the court process. The witnesses were nobbled by the murderers and their cohorts. They refused to testify and threatened to alter their statement if Shareefa continued to pursue justice. It is not known whether they succumbed to bribes, threats or both (click
here).
In tandem with the ignominy of losing witnesses Shareefa suffered intensified threats of the murder of her remaining son. Unbeknown to British Asian Christian Association or our solicitor, Shareefa met in private with the opponent solicitor and agreed compensation terms for the murder of her son (click
here).
Image: Salmoon Masih (brother), BACA officer and Munir Masih (father) discuss murder of Sajid Masih.
A Christian man was shot dead in a public street by a Muslim gang in Sheikhupura, on Wednesday 27th April 2022.
The father of the deceased has confirmed this was a gang related killing based on a debt owed by his son to one of the Muslim men.
The mafia style execution occurred on a public road, while the slain man’s father and a brother were held back by other gunmen and watched from a distance.
An Easter cake and prayers were the perfect way to celebrate Easter with the orphans of Shama and Shahzad.
Every Easter/Resurrection Day British Asian Christian Association’s team visit the children of Shama and Shahzad to share some prayers, chocolate presents and an Easter cake with them and their grandfather Mukhtar Masih.
Shama and Shahzad for those of you who are new to us, were a Christian couple enslaved in the brick kilns of Pakistan, burned alive after the accountant of their owner accused them of a blasphemy (click here) . His allegations were made to prevent Shama from
filing rape charges against him. Through the blasphemy allegations and the couples extrajudicial killing he was able to escape the justice system. Though over 100 radicalised Muslim men were originally arrested for murdering the Christian couple, they also escaped justice (click here).
Christians in the remote villages of Kasur around brick kilns were given a special treat this year during our annual Easter outreach mission. Christians living in the area suffer extreme hardship under some of the most difficult and dangerous working conditions this earth has to offer. Families are usually indentured slaves who have signed their lives away for a small loan of around £50. This is usually to pay for medical treatment for a wife going through
pregnancy as the government of Pakistan offers little or no help.
Trustees and the management of British Asian Christian Association, wanted to resume our previous outreach programme which had somewhat stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. With this in mind we began a programme of visits to several communities where churches do not exist, The church here survives through local missionaries who share the Gospel with these remote Christian communities during occasional visits.
