August 11, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: A minority MNA belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has said Christians in Peshawar are living in great fear after receiving anonymous letters threatening suicide attacks on their localities if they did not convert to Islam.

Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, MNA Pervez Masih disclosed that the Christians living in various localities in Peshawar had received handwritten letters in which they had been asked to quit their religion.

Giving details, he said the title of the letter was ‘Maut Ki Dastak (final call). He said slogans like Islam Zindabad, Jihad Zindabad, Kufar Murdabad and America Murdabad were written on the top of the letter.

The MNA then read out the contents of the letter which were as under:

“All of you are being invited to quit Christianity and become Muslim to save a place in the heaven. Otherwise, by the next Friday your colony will be destroyed and you will be responsible for the loss of life and property. Be ready as it is not only a mere threat. Our suicide bombers will exterminate you. Consider it a final call.”

Mr Pervez said it seemed that some agencies or foreign hands were behind this letter which wanted to create a chaos in the country. He said the government should take a serious note of the incident as it had created a sense of insecurity among the Christians living in Peshawar.

The speaker took the matter very lightly and asked the member to remind him about it in the presence of the interior minister. Similarly, no other MMA member bothered to speak in support of the MNA. Pervez Masih did not disclose whether he had taken up the issue with his senior party leadership as the incident had happened in the province where his own party was in power.

Despite repeated attempts, parliamentary leader of the MMA in the National Assembly Liaquat Baloch could not be contacted for his comments.