WASHINGTON, Sept 28: US-based Pakistani Christians on Friday accused President, Pervez Musharraf, of allowing Muslim fanatics to kill minorities because, they said, “he fears that interfering with the groups could destabilize his government.”

Representatives of various Pakistani Christian organizations in the United States gathered in the Pakistan Embassy in Washington to protest the killings earlier this week of Christian charity workers in Karachi. Seven people were tied up and shot in the head at point-blank range. The gunmen escaped.

“The general cannot control the fundamentalists,” said Anjum Bhatti, general secretary of the Christian League of Pakistan. “He is too concerned about staying in power.”

Manny Alam, president of the Pakistani-American Christian Association, said no one tried to rescue the victims.

“While all this was happening, no one came to their rescue although the office is located in a 12-story commercial building,” he said.

The Christian delegation also handed over a protest note to Pakistan’s ambassador, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, reminding him that since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, “at least 36 Christians have been killed in Pakistan.”

“The killings have continued despite the Musharraf government’s rhetoric against the extremists,” Bhatti said. “This never-ending cycle of violence could not have continued, had the government been serious in fighting it.”

The delegation accused the Pakistani police and intelligence agencies of allowing the killings to continue.

Christians say they are being punished for Musharraf’s decision to dump Pakistan’s former Taliban allies and join the US-led war on terror. Dozens of moderate Muslims, who support the government’s decision, have also been killed in these attacks.

The Christians say Muslim extremists are targeting them because they see America as a Christian power and want to hurt Americans by killing Christians.

“The wiping out of the Karachi Institute of Peace and Justice is not a solitary incident,” said Victor Gill, chairman of the Christian Voice of Pakistan, another US-based Christian advocacy group. “It is indicative of a trend.”