THE traffic on Quetta’s Zarghoon Road flows as usual past the official residences of the governor, chief minister, chief secretary, inspector general of police, ministers and other high-ups of the Balo­chistan government. Nearly one-and-a-half kilometre away stands the Bethal Memorial Methodist Church, which came under a terrorist attack a few days ago. Two police vans are stationed at the church gates, and as two men approach the gates on motorcycles, the gatekeeper asks them to identify themselves before letting them in.

A few years ago, the priest of this church was kind enough to share with me some details of the history of the Christian community in Quetta. He said that they prayed daily early in the morning, not only for their own community members, but also for the people of the province and country. He stressed that Christians were sons of the soil. They were not brought to this region from the United States or by the East India Company.

The Christians of Quetta are said to be among its oldest dwellers. They settled in Quetta during the time of British rule. Back then, Quetta used to be a small village with a military cantonment. Because the cantonment, at that time, required workers for all kinds of labour, they (Christians) had come to Quetta to fill those positions, he added.

Christmas in Quetta is a joyful affair each year and the community pulls out all stops to celebrate their holy day. This year, however, the community will grieve as all Christmas programmes have been cancelled.

“Instead of holding Christmas programmes at the 41 churches of Quetta, we will mourn the loss of our nine brethren,” says Samuel Payara, a member of Quetta’s Christian community. “If we had been provided proper security, which we requested time and again, by the provincial government, the incident would not have occurred.”

On Dec 17, a Christmas programme for children was under way at the Methodist Church. Around 400 faithful from different districts across the province were gathered for the event. Surveillance footage shows that the gatekeeper shut the gates when the attackers tried to barge in. Rahul Javed, a member of the church, told Dawn: “Finally, when attackers got into the church, they closed the doors and children hid under the desks. Due to explosion, fatalities occurred.”

The provincial government has pledged to provide foolproof security to churches on Christmas day. Personnel of the Frontier Corps and police will be stationed at the churches. “Usually we celebrate Christmas with friends, family and relatives...we party, go on outings and distribute gifts,” says Rahul Javed, “This time, however, we will be mourning.”

“Christians had come to attend the programme at Methodist Church from all over Balochistan,” says Javed, “but the security was inadequate.”

There are several hospitals and educational institutions in Quetta that are run by the Christian community and are open to anyone regardless of faith. A sizeable segment of the community lives in rural areas too.

There was a time when Quetta’s religious and ethnic minorities used to enjoy equal status in society and their political, economic and religious rights were protected.

However, things started to change after 2001 after the US invaded Afghanistan. All of a sudden, Christians began to be viewed as American and Western agents who were brought to the country to promote an imperialist cause. A lot of the oppression this community faces is because of misconceptions borne out of this line of thinking.

Many churches have come under attack by militant groups since then. “I am a proud Pakistani and my heart beats along with Pakistan. The militants who target us want to break the social fabric of our society,” says Samuel Payara. “They cannot break us. We are one.”

He claims that on June 19, 2014, former chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani had ordered a special force to be formed to protect sacred sites of minorities in the country. However, the orders were never followed, he laments. “We know these kinds of incidents will take place in the future,” he warns.

The attack of Dec 17 is a fresh wound in the hearts and minds of Quetta’s Christians and there is an overwhelming feeling of insecurity among them. The Methodist Church has been attacked before but even so, the faithful have never been deterred from performing their religious rites.

In the aftermath of this latest attack, however, Kashif Aneel, the youth president at the Bethal Memorial Methodist Church, says the community feels increasingly unsafe. “Our insecurity is increasing by the day. Those injured in the attack on the Methodist church are still in hospital. They lack medicines and proper attention and care... they have not even been referred to Karachi for treatment.”

Finally, members of the Christian community have requested the provincial and federal governments to provide them foolproof security on Christmas day in Quetta, in particular, and in Balochistan, in general, so that they could pray and remember their martyred community members in their churches on that day.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2017