‘We don’t feel safe’ Christian and Hindu women call for better protection in wake of Diya Bheel sex horror attack!
Published: Sat, 01/14/23
Dear all,
Firstly, let me wish you a prosperous new year.
At the start of the year it is always good to remember God's promise to us and for that purpose I share a verse from the book of 1 Peter:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,..." 1 Peter 1-3
May 2023 be a year of blessing for us all, a year of hope, of learning and of peace.
British Asian Christian Association, ended 2022 in our home town of Ilford in London, by sharing food and a birthday cake, form one of our volunteers, at our Meals for the Needy project. Our regular visitors at the Clementswood Community Centre were served throughout the holiday period, though many other centres had closed. Read more (here).
Though not involved this year, we also note that 2022, saw the successful reimplementation of two Nativity scenes, that we introduced to London and Essex, thus preserving a Christian tradition in both areas, while keeping local focus on Jesus. Read more (here).
We share an update on Christmas and New Year celebrations in Ukraine, despite Russia targeting energy infrastructure and leaving 1.5 million people without electricity on 11th December. Read more (here).
In December, we reported on the demolition of Christian slums that had left hundreds homeless, just before Christmas. On 27th December we held a Christmas service with beleaguered Christian families, providing a hearty meal and new clothes for all the children (click here). This week Islamabad's Capital Development Authority, demolished the remaining Christian slums. Read more (here).
The rape and murder of a mother of five in Pakistan, whose body was then skinned, mutilated and beheaded has shocked the world (click here). BACA has visited the family and helped them with the cost of the funeral. During our visit we have met with Police and discovered the attack was part of a occult ritual (click here). Local women have asked for our help with installing a clean water well, which would prevent long excessive journeys that put more women at risk (click here).
Aleeza Masih, who was 1.5 years old when she survived the Quetta Church Bomb Attack in 2017, despite losing her right leg and bowels, is seeking our help. The family would like assistance with a new prosthetic leg to replace the current one which is too small. The family have shared Aleeza's recent school results, for which she scored 99%, placing her in third place in her year group. Read more (here).
The 6 UN registered Pak-Christians arrested in Thailand for overstaying their travel visas will face an uncertain Christmas, while they are locked in the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) of Bangkok. Fortunately we were able to cover all the costs for court fines preventing them from being incarcerated in the brutal Central Jail with rapists and murderers. We hope to give gifts of food and toiletries to them and other detainees in the IDC, to help them cope in extremely difficult
conditions. We also aim to help these Christians gain freedom from the IDC through an asylum bail process, that we and a few other charities challenged the Royal Thai Government for almost a decade ago. Every attempt is also being made to release the 11 year old child and her mother as soon as possible. You can read more and donate towards this work (here).
We include some of the articles from our previous newsletter as we still seek donations to support the work.
In regards to Pak-Christians in Thailand, please note we have distributed further grants to 10 asylum seekers and food to detainees in the IDC, an update will be shared next week. We need to raise £1170 for every Pak-Christian asylum-seeker/refugee you wish for us to extricate from the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre.
We still need to raise a further £3350 for the new solicitor appointed for Zafar Bhatti, Pakistan's longest serving blasphemy convict. If you are moved to help you can donate (here).
You can donate to any of the appeals above by using this link (click 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).
Ukrainian people celebrate Christmas despite Russian attempts to plunge them into darkness
Pastor Vasilev held Christian worship on streets of Odessa throughout the holiday period.
The people of Odessa and other cities in Ukraine were plunged into darkness from 11th December, after a large scale Russian drone attack targeted energy infrastructure. This left 1.5 million people without electricity. Read more (here)
We informed you earlier of how Pastor Vasilev had been continuing his church services and outreach despite an earlier power deficit, using petrol generators, car batteries and inverters (click here).
The latest attacks seem to have little effect in stopping Ukrainians celebrating Christmas, even amidst the shelling of their cities.
A JCB digger begins to flatten makeshift homes belonging to anathema Christians.
Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority demolished 115 houses of Christian Slum dwellers, but left Muslim homes standing.
The demolition took place, despite Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan having previously refused applications to bulldoze homes in the area. Read more (here) and (here).
Hundreds of Christian families were left sheltering under makeshift homes made of cloth and bamboo, or tents.
BACA visited the victim families and arranged a Christmas service and provided gifts of clothing and blankets, to bring some cheer to beleaguered families. A hearty meal was also provided (click here).
On 8th January a CDA demolition team returned to the slums and destroyed the remaining houses, obliterating the makeshift homes and tent in the process.
Hapless families have taken refuge at the homes of nearby relatives.
IMAGE: New year revelers -homeless community enjoy New years eve at our Meals for the Needy Project
Homeless people that gather in Ilford for our hot meal and foodbank distribution were served a chocolatey treat, after one of our volunteers Naomi Chowdhry, turned up with a birthday cake for them.
Naomi turned 15 on New Years Day and gave up an opportunity to meet with her friends and travel to London, so that she could share her cake with our regular visitors. Attendees at our Meals for the Needy Project include, homeless people, asylum seekers, refugees and others struggling with the current economic climate.
For the third year running All Saints Church, Chigwell Row have adorned their building with Christmas lights and a Nativity.
In 2015 after an absence of a public nativity scene in Ilford BACA began a programme of building one with local children and partner churches in our shop window. The project was a real success with good attention from local media. With our shop then conveniently placed before a zebra crossing and near 3 primary and 3 secondary schools the nativity was seen by a large number of local residents who would often take pictures, inspired by the return of Jesus to
Ilford. Read more (here).
IMAGE: BACA volunteer Pastor Danyal Masih meets the family of Diya Bheel and prays for them.
Four Occultists have been charged for the ritual killing of Diya Bheel, a mother of five who was gang-raped, skinned and beheaded on Boxing Day 2022, in Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan.
Amongst those charged with the crime is her own brother Diya Ram.
All four suspects have been remanded into a five-day-custody by the anti-terrorism court in Nawabshah, Sindh.
Police have revealed that one suspect has already confessed his involvement in the murder of Diya Bheel, this was a major breakthrough in the investigation.
Women from the same village are terrified that they will be attacked next fearing that black magic is rife within the rural Hindu community surrounding them.
The women from Diya Bheel's village call for more policing and a clean water well
Hindu and Christian women in Nazam Rajput Village, Sanghar call for protection after Diya Bheel sex horror crime.
Diya Bheel was raped, killed, skinned alive, had
her breasts severed off and was beheaded, in a savage attack on Boxing Day (27 December 2022). Read more (here). Now Hindu and Christian women have told BACA they
no longer feel safe in their community. Abduction and rape is a common occurrence they say, but the savage mutilation and murder has exacerbated existing anxiety.
News that Diya’s own brother was involved in
the murder and that 4 local men conducted the ritual slaying as part of an occult practice, has destroyed community trust. Read more (here).
BACA has asked local police to increase patrols in
the area to help women overcome fears for their safety.
Local women have informed us that they feel unsafe while travelling half a mile through crop fields, to obtain water for drinking and washing. BACA will be installing a local water pump and washroom facility if enough funds are raised. You can donate towards the project (here)
.
Aleeza Masih(6 yrs) was 1.5 years when she survived the brutal terrorist attack on a church in Quetta on 17th December 2017 (click
here).
The attack on Bethel Memorial Methodist Church during a nativity service, killed 9 people. The attack would have been more devastating had it not been for the bravery of volunteer Christian security officers
(click
here).
Aleeza Masih lost her left leg (from knee downwards) and bowels after a large piece of shrapnel embedded itself into her limb. She was initially treated at a public hospital where medical staff failed to clean the wound properly and life-threatening gangrene set in.
A widow of 42, with five young children was gang-raped by five men before they killed her, skinned her alive, chopped of her breasts and beheaded her for good measure.
The horrific sexual violence took place in Sindh Pakistan, where here mutilated body was then dumped in a wheat field.
Later the body was found with the skull and many areas of her ribs exposed , after being sliced of by a sharp sickle.
In late October, only a month and a half before Christmas, Christians living in the slums of Islamabad were forced to watch as a provincial Government agency destroyed their homes. Read more (here).
Christian homes were destroyed because they were ugly, whereas Muslim homes made of similar construction were left standing, in an action that was highly discriminatory.
The demolition took place despite Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan having previously refused applications to bulldoze homes in the area. Read more (here) and (here).
It is not known if any court has sanctioned the demolition, however, the bulldozing of homes, without first providing alternative housing, is in contravention to a Federal Housing Policy that was ratified in 2001 (click here). This has left human rights activists in Pakistan extremely bewildered.
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.
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.
Pakistan’s best blasphemy lawyer is confident that Zafar Bhatti will be set free!
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.
By
Editor
