Page 10 - aruba-today-20181110

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 10 November 2018
Pakistani Christians, an embattled minority

By KATHY GANNON Prime Minister Imran Khan,
Associated Press elected in July, in part on
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The an Islamic agenda, has
uproar surrounding Aasia vacillated between criti-
Bibi — a Pakistani Christian cizing religious parties for
woman who was acquit- using religion to enhance
ted of blasphemy charges their influence, and bowing
and released from death to their demands, including
row but remains at a secret firing minorities from gov-
location for her protection ernment-appointed posi-
— has drawn attention to tions.
the plight of the country's In Bibi's case, Khan seem-
Christians. ingly caved to the Islamists'
The minority, among Paki- demand to have her ac-
stan's poorest, has faced quittal reviewed in an ap-
an increasingly intolerant peal — though some sus-
atmosphere in this Muslim- pected he was trying to
majority nation where radi- buy time to disperse the
cal religious and sectarian protesters.
groups have become more Analysts say mixed signals
prominent in recent years. Pakistani religious students attend sanctity of prophethood rally in Peshawar, Pakistan, Nov. 9, from the government only
Here is a look at some of 2018. embolden extremists. Mi-
the issues involved. Associated Press nority religious leaders also
___ say the poverty of the Chris-
WHY HER RELEASE IGNITED caused riots, even lynch- country of 204 million peo- stan's chief justice, many tian minority sharply reduc-
AN UPROAR ing. ple. The Christians are the live in impoverished com- es their political clout.
Bibi's Oct. 31 acquittal by Rights groups have said second-largest minority, af- munities commonly re- ___
Pakistan's supreme court Pakistan's blasphemy law is ter Hindus, and are almost ferred to as "sweeper colo- HOW CHRISTIANS ARE FAR-
triggered large-scale pro- often used as an excuse to evenly divided between nies" because residents are ING IN OTHER MUSLIM-MA-
tests, with religious ex- settle scores, or as a weap- Catholic and Protestant employed as domestic and JORITY COUNTRIES
tremists demanding the on against religious minori- denominations. sanitation workers. Egypt's Christians, who
54-year-old mother of five ties, including Shiite Muslims The Christian population ___ make up about 10 percent
be publicly executed — who are at times targeted grew at the time of Paki- HOW PAKISTAN'S GOV- of the country's 100 million
and that the three judges by Sunni Muslim militants as stan's creation in 1947, ERNMENTS HAVE TREATED Muslim-majority population,
who set her free also be put heretics. when the Indian subcon- CHRISTIANS have long complained of
to death. Bibi has been in hiding in tinent was divided into The rise of Islamic radical- discrimination and under-
Her ordeal started in 2009 Islamabad since her re- two nations. At the time, ism in Pakistan has left the representation in govern-
after two fellow women lease earlier this week. Her many lower caste Hindus, country's minority religions ment. Sectarian violence
farmworkers refused to family says she will leave living in what would be- vulnerable. The blasphe- occasionally erupts in rural
drink from the same con- Pakistan as soon as possible come Pakistan, converted my law, which carries the communities where Chris-
tainer as a Christian, and because of death threats to Christianity. They were death penalty for anyone tian churches have been
later said Bibi had insulted against her. among the region's poorest convicted of insulting Is- torched. Overwhelmingly,
the Prophet Muhammad. ___ and held jobs many others lam, has been used at attacks on Egyptian Copts
The claim led to her arrest WHO THE PAKISTANI CHRIS- didn't want. times as a tool against mi- have been carried out by
and 2010 death sentence TIANS ARE Although some Christians norities. Christian churches Islamist extremists, mainly
on blasphemy charges. There are about 1.3 million have risen to senior posi- and homes have been at- the Islamic State group,
In Pakistan, a mere accu- Christians in Pakistan, a pre- tions, including A.R. Cor- tacked by crowds invoking which has killed scores of
sation of blasphemy has dominantly Sunni Muslim nelius who served as Paki- the law. Christians in recent years.q

4 car bombs explode by hotel in Somalia's capital; 20 dead

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Capt. Mohamed Hussein. ies were everywhere," said
— Four car bombs by Is- Some of the victims were Hussein Nur, a shopkeeper
lamic extremists exploded burned beyond recogni- who suffered light shrapnel
outside a hotel in the capi- tion when one car bomb injuries on his right hand.
tal, Mogadishu, Friday af- exploded next to a mini- "Gunfire killed several peo-
ternoon killing at least 20 bus, he said. ple, too."
people and injuring 17, said Somali security forces shot Somalia's Islamic extremist
police. dead four gunmen who rebels, al-Shabab, claimed
After the three explosions in tried to storm through a responsibility for the bombs,
front of the hotel, a fourth hole blown into the hotel's according to the group's
blast hit as medics attempt- wall but did not succeed in Adalus radio station.
ed to rescue the injured. entering, he said. Among the dead was the
The suicide bombs deto- "Although they failed to manager of the Sahafi
nated near the perimeter access the hotel, the blasts Hotel, whose father was
wall of the Sahafi Hotel, outside the hotel killed the owner of the hotel be-
An injured civilian walks away from the scene after being which is located across the many people," said Hus- fore he was killed in an al-
wounded in a bomb blast near the Sahafi hotel in the capital street from the Somali Po- sein. Shabab attack on estab-
Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. lice Force's Criminal Inves- "The street was crowded lishment in 2015, said police
Associated Press tigations Department, said with people and cars, bod- Capt. Hussein.q