March, 21 2005	Monday	10 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 20: The Citizens’ Peace Committee and an NGO on Sunday condemned Wednesday’s attack on a church in Miskeen Musharraf Colony, G-8/4, and asked the government to safeguard rights of the minorities. Speaking at a press conference, Coordinator of Pattan Development Organization Sarwar Bari said: “It is an open terrorist activity in which an Imam of a mosque along with his students attacked people as they were praying in a church.” If the Imam had some objection on the church he should have gone to the police. No one has the right to solve their problems through violence and terror. This practice should end as soon as possible, he added.

If the Christians were not safe in the federal capital then where else in the country can they remain in peace, he said.

Mr Bari said everyone has the right to freedom and the right to spend their lives according to their will and religion, he added. Giving details about the incident, Abida Shaikh of All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis said on March 16 Syed Rahat Shah Qadri, the Imam of Owais Qarni Mosque, along with his students attacked at least 65 Christian worshippers in a church soon after Asr prayers.

The cause of the dispute was the construction of a church near the mosque. The distance between the church and mosque is about 100 metres but the Imam was against the church’s construction, Ms Shaikh added.

She said according to a survey recently conducted by the All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis on the demand of Capital Development Authority (CDA), there were 75 houses, a mosque, church and school in the locality.

She said only eight families were Muslims out of 75 and they had no objection to the construction of the church. After the incident, the capital administration sealed the church. Chairman of All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis Bashir Buttar said: “When I reached the spot and protested against the incident, the police picked me up along with another person, Mian Qasim, and put us behind bars for one day.”

The next day the police took both persons to the office of Assistant Commissioner Farasat Ali Khan who granted eight days remand. “Now I am on bail,” he added.