wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Pakistan: WCC calls for repeal of Blasphemy Law

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>World Council of Churches - News

WCC CALLS FOR REPEAL OF PAKISTAN BLASPHEMY LAW AFTER KILLINGS

>For immediate release: 23 July 2010

"Great dismay" at the shooting and killing of two young Christians  in
Faisalabad on 19 July was expressed by the World Council of Churches  (WCC)
general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in letters to Pakistan's
president and its prime minister.

Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid Emmanuel were shot  dead on
court premises by unidentified gunmen when they were taken there  by police
to face a charge of blasphemy against Islam.

In his letters, Tveit appealed to the Pakistani authorities "to  ensure
immediate and necessary actions to bring to justice those who are
responsible" for the murders.

He also reiterated the concern that the "misuse of the Blasphemy  Law in
Pakistan has led to physical violence, damage, destruction of properties
and loss of life", and called on the Pakistani leaders "to initiate
measures towards the repeal of the Blasphemy Laws and to secure  the rights
and dignity of all individuals in Pakistan society".

In a public statement on "The misuse of the Blasphemy Law and the  security
of religious minorities in Pakistan" (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=079b738c846eba8334bd ),  the WCC 
Central Committee
considered that the law had become “a major source of victimizati on and
persecution” of religious minorities who are living “in  a state of
fear and terror”, in September 2009.

"We do not know what to do. We are helpless," Victor Azariah, general
secretary of the National Council of Churches of Pakistan, which  groups
four Protestant churches, told Ecumenical News International (ENI
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d46dfb597ba01d4ca1c7  )) on 21 
July from his office in
Lahore.

Church groups say Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law, which  provides
for a mandatory death sentence or life imprisonment even for unintentiona l
blasphemy offences, is often misused against Christians and others  to
settle property and personal disputes.

Full text of the WCC general secretary's letters (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3b69d24b51f7d9391fc9 )

WCC member churches in Pakistan (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f68cc82b98b08e382c76 )

WCC press release of 1 September 2009: Pakistan: Blasphemy Law misused  to
harass religious minorities (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=283540761a5cbd10ed50
)

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

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