Concern grows for 11/YO Pak-Christian child detained after latest Thai national asylum crackdown
Published: Thu, 12/08/22
As we all begin our Christmas preparations for 2022, we pray that you all are blessed throughout your celebrations and that your plans for the day are met in full. This year Ukrainians will be celebrating on the same day as countries in the west. A nationwide decision has been made to dissociate from Russia and to hold Christmas on 25th December not the traditional date of January 7th. Celebrating on the same day will hopefully bring to peoples knowledge the difficulties Christians
living in Ukraine are facing - we are sure news on the day will reflect this.
We have been supporting a Church in Odessa since the outbreak of war in February. They distribute food and run services three times a week to reaching out to a disheveled community. However, Russian forces have been attacking energy infrastructure and Christians there are facing extremely cold winters without food and the ability to heat themselves. Moreover, neighbours in Kherson have been reaching out to Pastor Vasilev and his team are recently being set free from occupation. We would
like to expand our work to help Christians in Kherson which too and to expand our service to provide warm clothing and more of donations permit. Please read more (here), you can donate (here).
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after
me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25:34-36
UK News:
We reported on the work on Willow Chowdhry who has been taking on many duties at our Meals for the Needy service in Ilford. She has undertaken a few more interviews of our homeless visitors, just after our service concluded. We have now been providing hot meals and a food bank to over 40 people three times a week for almost three years. With the help of over 15 partner groups and individuals, we have never failed to meet the needs of homeless,
economically-challenged and young families that attend. Counselling services are provided through Westminster Drug Project, the NHS provide Hepatolgy tests and we also share recycled clothes and gifts of other household essentials. We are now planning a sumptuous Christmas meal, with crackers and wrapped Christmas gifts so that some of the most lonely and needy people in Redbridge, feel Gods love this Christmas. Read more (here), you can donate towards this work (here).
We share with you details of a report that states that the Muslim v Hindu clashes in Leicester inflamed by Islamist social media influencers. The riots put a lot of burden on Leicester police and many officers were drafted back from London where they were meant to help with Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. The riots also spread to Birmingham and were to reach Brent in London. Read more (here)
Thailand News:
Royal Thai Police have begun the first national crackdown on illegal immigrants since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. During one raid Police arrested 6 Pak-Christian Asylum Seekers including a girl aged 11. Concerns grow for the child's safety should she be incarcerated in Thailand's brutal central jail with murderers and rapists or detained in the notorious Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok. The mother of the 11 year old has reached out to British Asian
Christian Association, to seek help with removal of her child from the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre. Read more (here), donate towards the release of all 6 Christians through a bail payment (here).
We have good news to share. A Pak-Christian man falsely accused of blasphemy, who spent nine years of his life in asylum limbo in Thailand despite UNHCR registration, has been granted refuge in Canada. Read more (here), please help us raise funds for his overstay fine and to buy warm clothes for his new country (click here).
Pakistan News:
We wanted to share news of the children of Shama and Shahzad (Brick kiln slave couple burned alive for falsely alleged blasphemy), to thank you for your support that has allowed us support them since the loss of their parents. We have by far the closest relationship to this family and recently celebrated Sonia's birthday. Read an update and view video (here), you can donate towards their care (here).
We also share good news that orphan Soojal can now read and write - he is no longer illiterate and is a fast learner. His mother died of grief a month after accepting a bribe to drop murder charges from the culprits who killed her eldest son. When his uncles were going to put him to work at just 10 years old, BACA intervened. Please read more (here) and donate towards his care (here).
British Asian Christian Association were approached by a Christian media group in France for an article they were working on. We wrote a response which we share with you, the post also includes the article by the French media group which translates into English and has more information. Please take your time to read the post titled '30% of extrajudicial-killings for blasphemy involve 1.27% Pak-Christian population.' Read post (here).
We include some of the articles from our previous newsletter as we still seek donations to support the work.
We still need to raise a further £3500 for the new solicitor appointed for Zafar Bhatti to finalise his invoice. If you are moved to help You can donate (here).
Help is also being sought from any 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 3488 5316.
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 locations within or around London. If you have items you'd like to donate please email juliet@britishasianchristians.org or call 020 3488 5316. You can alternatively post them
to British Asian Christian Association, Unit 74934, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US. We thank you for those of you who have already responded to this request.
Blessings
Hannah Chowdhry
We include a list of all the articles included in this weeks news letter, 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).
Pak-Christian finds refuge in Canada after nine years of asylum limbo in Thailand
After a grating 9 years waiting for asylum in Thailand a disabled Pak-Christian finally finds refuge in Canada.
In 2014, the family fled to Thailand to escape persecution, after Javaid Sadiq (40 yrs) and Pervais Sadiq (43 yrs) two brothers, were accused of blasphemy.
Both men had been working in a stitching factory in Karachi and identified that a Muslim supervisor was stealing garments from their employer.
When one brother approached the supervisor and asked him to stop stealing the brothers found themselves accused of insulting Muhammed.
Both brothers faced beatings, avoided arrest, while being shunted between the houses of relatives in different cities, before finally catching a plane to Thailand.
Now finally, after an agonizing year wait asylum has been offered to the brothers and their families.
Image: Two car batteries and a 12v – 220v inverter that power lights and sound equipment in Pastor Vasilev’s Church at Odessa, Ukraine.
British Asian Christian Association has been providing a regular gift to a church in Ukraine since the outbreak of war with Russia on 24th February 2022 (click here).
We also sponsored work with Ukrainian asylum seekers in Moldova (click here).
In July we shared details of how Pastor Vasilevwas running daily services to reach souls, during unceasing war in Ukraine (click here)
We wrote last month explaining our desire to increase our effort in Ukraine to help with the needs for clothes, heating and other support (click here).
Russian forces are intent on making life as uncomfortable as possible for citizens who have survived the war and are targeting of energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
Pastor Vasilev who leads our partner group has been reaching out to people in Kherson who are feeling the worst of Russian attacks. We would like to support his efforts as we reach shattered families in desperate need of help.
Last week we looked back at nearly 3 years of our Meals for the Needy Project that provides hot meals and a food bank for visitors to Clementswood Community Centre, in Ilford. You can read our report (here)
Young Willow Chowdhry (12 yrs), has taken over from her sister Hannah (18 yrs) as one of the coordinators of our Meals for the Needy Project.
Every week, she sets up food tables, helps to organise the queue outside the community centre we are able to use for free, and she has recently been interviewing some of the visitors, to gauge how successful our services have been.
Read more and watch a video of Willow interviewing some of our regular visitors (here)
Concern grows for 11/YO Pak-Christian child detained after latest Thai national asylum crackdown
Image: The family of Danish Masih – please help us bail out this young family and others before Christmas.
Royal Thai Police have begun the first national crackdown on illegal immigrants since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (click here).
During one raid Police arrested 6 Pak-Christian Asylum Seekers including a girl aged 11.
The mother of the 11 year old has reached out to British Asian Christian Association, to seek help with removal of her child from the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre.
Frightened asylum seekers cease black-market work and isolate themselves in grubby undersized condos, suffering even harder economic poverty as they avoid detection by authorities.
The mother of the 11 year old has reached out to British Asian Christian Association, to seek help with removal of her child from the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre.
BACA celebrated the birthday of Sonia (12 yrs) one of the orphaned children of Shama and Shahzad, slaves who wereburned alive in a brick kiln in 2014. Read more (here).
The enslaved couple were accused of blasphemy by the accountant of their master who had raped Shama and wanted to escape conviction.
The accountant persuaded local mosques to foment a mob to kill them, resulting in over 5000 people beating them, breaking bones, raping Shama in front of her husband, before dragging the naked couple behind a tractor and throwing them in a brick kiln alive.
BACA has provided a live-in-nanny from the first month after the Christian parents were brutally murdered. Ensuring they had a continuing mother-like figure to care for them.
Our officers meet the family monthly and are with the family at all special days, a commitment we will continue until they reach adulthood.
By Hannah Chowdhry and Juliet Chowdhry Here are our responses to a French Magazine concerned about the treatment of Christians in Pakistan: Christians are persecuted in Pakistan, like Hindus or Ahmadis… But are they
proportionally more persecuted than other communities? There is no simple answer to this question unfortunately. Figures from the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) recorded that 537 persons were accused under blasphemy laws during 1986-2015, 633 (47%) were Muslims, 494 were Ahmadi
(37%), 187 were Christian (14%) and 21 were Hindu (2%). Christians at the time made up 1.6% of Pakistan’s and Ahmadi’s around 0.2%. The report did not distinguish between Shi’a and Sunni sects of Islam (click here). It should be noted however that the Ahmadi community have been boycotting the census since 1974, to avoid persecution through identification. The UNHCR estimates that their are 4 Million Ahmadi in Pakistan a figure that would make them
a larger minority than Christians (click here). At this point both minorities were facing great tribulation that was disproportionate to their demographic population. It can also bee seen that over 50% of blasphemy allegations were being laid against
minorities.
30% of extrajudicial-killings for blasphemy involve 1.27% Pak-Christian population
Here are our responses to a French Magazine concerned about the treatment of Christians in Pakistan:
Christians are persecuted in Pakistan, like Hindus or Ahmadis… But are they
proportionally more persecuted than other communities?
There is no simple answer to this question unfortunately. Figures from the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) recorded that 537 persons were accused under blasphemy laws during 1986-2015, 633 (47%) were Muslims, 494 were Ahmadi
(37%), 187 were Christian (14%) and 21 were Hindu (2%). Christians at the time made up 1.6% of Pakistan’s and Ahmadi’s around 0.2%. The report did not distinguish between Shi’a and Sunni sects of Islam (click here).
It should be noted however that the Ahmadi community have been boycotting the census since 1974, to avoid persecution through identification. The UNHCR estimates that their are 4 Million Ahmadi in Pakistan a figure that would make them
a larger minority than Christians (click here). At this point both minorities were facing great tribulation that was disproportionate to their demographic population. It can also bee seen that over 50% of blasphemy allegations were being laid against
minorities.
Badil Masih was killed at 10 years of age after being sodomized by his Muslim employers, his mother fought for justice but eventually caved in to threats and ceased a murder trial (click here).
Months later Sahrifah Bibi died and left behind her son Soojal who was 8 years old, extremely distraught and confused (click here).
It took months to locate him but BACA did not give up and found him being passed around between uncles, and made to work for his upkeep (click here).
BACA struggled with them and gained permission to admit soojal to a primary school near his home. Read more (here).
Soojal (10 yrs) was illiterate and had to start 3 grades below his expected achievement levels for his age (click here).
We catch up with Soojal as he strives to fulfil his mothers desire that he becomes a police officer to help other Pakistani Christians facing intolerable persecution and abuse.
Leicester Police regularly updated the people of Leicester about the investigation into the riots.
An independent report on the clashes between Muslim and Hindu Youth in Leicester during August 2022, states that misinformation has stirred up anti-Hindu sentiment and placed Hindu Communities under threat.
The report castigates mainstream media for reliance on two of the Muslim influencers who have spewed the false information about widescale Hindutva (Hindu fascism) amongst Leicester’s youth, ‘perpetuating the threat against the Hindu community’
The report also debunks accusations that Hindu youth had links to hardline political group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) despite numerous social media inputs by Muslims who wanted to fan the flames of hate.
The author suggests that one of the Muslim influencers has been convicted on terrorism charges, one has praised the suspected mastermind of the Bombay bombings and one has offered prayers to the Taliban and was reported to have offered prayers to the brothers of an ISIL fighter.
An inquiry into the violence in East Leicester has been halted after Dr Allen resigned. Opposition to his selection to lead the investigation was based on his earlier comments that their was no evidence that Islamic extremism influenced the riots.
A Christian college student from Pakpattan, Pakistan was filmed being forcefully raped, and was then blackmailed into undergoing further rapes by 8 Muslim sexual predators in the area.
Despite evidence to the contrary local police have declared 7 of the rapists innocent in an investigation report.
The family of the victim are the only Christian family in the area and are receiving daily threats from influential people demanding they drop the case.
Frail Nawab Bibi was taken to hospital for treatment
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.
No forensic evidence exists for any blasphemy by Zafar Bhatti, in fact every piece of physical and electronic evidence suggests he is innocent. Zafar Bhatti however was convicted based on an unsubstantiated report declaring his guilt, made by police in the early stages of their investigation. During that investigation Zafar Bhatti states he was coerced into a false investigation under a brutal police interrogation. Read time line (here)
Zafar Bhatti could still be killed any day under the terms of his blasphemy conviction under Section 295C of the Blasphemy law of Pakistan. Read more (here).
We wrote recently about our success in appointing Pakistan’s most successful blasphemy Law solicitor for Zafar Bhatti (click here).
Saif-ul- Malook has filed an application for bail for Zafar Bhatti.
Record breaking floods wreaked havoc across Pakistan killing over 1300 people and destroying the homes of 3 million people in from June to September 2022.
BACA reached out and provided help with tents, food and Mosquito nets to 13 Christian villages (click here) and (here).
We have also installed two clean water pumps (click here) and (here) while a third is to be installed.
We have now began a series of medical camps to curb the waterborne infections that have brought these communities to their knees.
Almost 16 Christian families near starvation have become the 11th community served food by British Asian Christian Association, since the terrible record-breaking floods of 2022.
The community resided in a tiny hamlet named Dariya Khan Chandio and were finally visited by our group on 27th September 2022.
Until BACA arrived the community had not been met by any aid agency and were near starvation. No Government or other rescue agency offered any support to these Christians.
BACA have now provided food, mosquito nets and installed a new water pump to help this suffering community.