December 27, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 22, 1423

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LAHORE, Dec 26: The attacks on Christians reflect a failure of law-enforcement agencies rather than any shortcoming on the part of government.

Rev Francis James Chanan, coordinator of United Regional Initiative in Asia, made this statement while talking to Dawn here on Thursday.

While the government had been doing its best to protect the minorities, the law-enforcement agents assigned this duty lacked competence, he maintained.

“The Christian community is feeling insecure due to incidents like that in Daska,” Mr James said.

According to a police source, 35 people have been killed in attacks on Christian places of worships and organizations in Pakistan in the last three years. The source believed that a lack of coordination among different law-enforcement agencies was the basic reason for the security lapse.

Rev James said he held a meeting with Governor Khalid Maqbool on Thursday and conveyed to him the concern of the Christian community. “The governor has assured that he will use full force to take the culprits to task and provide security to minorities,” he said.

Iris Aslam, whose husband Aslam Pervaiz got injured in the latest Church attack and was likely to loose one of his eyes, said at Mayo Hospital: “I only request the authorities to compensate the families of those killed and injured in the grenade attack.” All of them all belong to poor families, she said.

Gujranwala police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told this reporter that action would be taken against those responsible for the security lapse.

Bishop of Lahore Dr Alexander John Malik in a statement condemned the terrorist attack. He said it was deplorable that people sharing joy on Christmas had been targeted. Praying for the bereaved families, the Bishop demanded of the government to arrest the culprits immediately.

Following is a chronology of the attacks on places of worship and other Christian organisations this year:

1) Five people, including two foreigners, were killed in an attack on a Protestant Church in Islamabad on March 17.

2) An attack on a Christian school in Murree left six people dead on Aug 5.

3) Four persons were killed when grenades were thrown on a Church on the premises of an hospital in Taxila on Aug 9.

4) Seven employees of a Christian organisation were found dead, each of them shot in the head, in Karachi on Sept 25.