Christian ‘is beaten up by Muslim gang over poppies on his car’
A CHRISTIAN of Pakistani origin believes he was beaten unconscious by Muslims who objected to him displaying poppies on his car.
Tajamal Amar, 46, was attacked as he walked to his vehicle, which has the flowers attached to the grille and a cross hanging from the rear view mirror.
Making his way though a dark passageway in Derby, he was pounced on by two men – one armed with a knuckleduster – and woke up in hospital five hours later.
The father-of-one, who left his homeland because of death threats over his Christian beliefs, yesterday claimed he was targeted because of his faith. He said his overt support for this country’s Armed Forces has seen him branded a ‘ kaffir’ (infidel) by some members of the Muslim community.
He said police had advised him to move away from the area with his 40-year- old wife and daughter, seven, for their own safety. But he vowed that he would not be cowed by the incident – and would instead add at least two more poppies to the front of his Toyota Corolla.
Mr Amar was attacked on October 20, just over a week after he started working as a delivery driver for a Cantonese restaurant in Littleover, Derby.
He said a group of Asian men had gathered near his car earlier that evening and were staring at the poppies and the cross hanging inside. He added: ‘When I was attacked, I had just collected some food from the restaurant. I called my sister as I walked back to the car. I didn’t remember anything else until I woke up, but she told me she heard the sound of me being attacked.’ Recalling only frag- ments of the incident, he told how one man with ‘glasses and a grey beard’ held his arms back as the other hit him forcibly with an ‘iron fist’.
Mr Amar suffered a broken nose, cuts and bruising and body and was unconscious when he arrived at the Royal Derby Hospital. He comes from a family that has been Christian for generations in Pakistan.
He ran a clothing business there but fled to the UK in 2007 when gunmen fired through the window of his office because of his refusal to convert to Islam.
Speaking about the most recent incident, he added: ‘What you have to remember is that it has happened in Great Britain. It was not Pakistan or a predominantly Muslim country, it was in Great Britain.
‘These people are doing this openly, without any shame or any fear of the law. They are trying to force Islam into this country. I have had my car for four years and have always had poppies on it, as well as the cross inside. I will never drive around without poppies. I am a huge supporter of the British Armed Forces and the work they do around the world to stop the bad people and to make us safe.’
Wilson Chowdhry, of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) said the beating was part of a ‘growing plethora of community attacks on identifiable non-Muslims’.
Last year, Nissar Hussain and his family were forced to flee their home in Bradford under armed police guard amid fears for their safety.
He was beaten up as part of an eight- year hate campaign because the family converted from Islam to Christianity.
BPCA helped them relocate to outside the city, and say they will now try to assist Mr Amar.
Derbyshire police yesterday confirmed they are treating the incident as a hate crime. Appealing for witnesses to come forward, a spokesman said: ‘No arrests have yet been made.’
‘Forcing Islam into this country’