Attacks by Islamists drive Christians out of Pakistan city

CHRISTIANS say they are being driven from one of Pakistan’s major cities after a string of terrorist attacks claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The jihadist militant group has said it carried out two gun attacks that have killed six Christians in Quetta this month so far, and also bombed a church in the city shortly before Christmas.

The recent attacks in the southwestern city follow increasing persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan, where Christians and others have faced mob violence and accusations of blasphemy.

Christians told The Sunday Telegraph that many in the community were fleeing Quetta fearing for their lives and being chased from homes where they had lived for generations.

Isil attacked and oppressed Christians after the militant group captured swathes of territory in the Middle East to establish its so-called caliphate. It has established an outpost in Pakistan, largely by recruiting established Sunni Islamist militants, but the country’s religious minorities have also long been targets for other extremist groups.

Isil said its militants in Pakistan killed two Christians in a motorbike drive-by shooting as they left church last week, and shot dead four members of a family on Easter Monday. Two suicide bombers killed 10 and wounded scores of others when they stormed Quetta’s Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in December.

The recent attacks and a campaign of threatening letters have prompted many of Quetta’s 50,000-strong Christian population to consider fleeing to the port of Karachi.

One Christian, who declined to be named, told The Telegraph: “We have been living for centuries in Quetta but due to targeted killings of the Christian community, I have lost nine of my family members and friends.

“We will rebuild our lives and establish our business in some other peaceful city, which is really a difficult task. Leaving our home town is quite tough but for life we have no other option.”

Pastor Simon Bashir, who was leading a service in Bethel Memorial Methodist Church at the time of the attack, said the incidents had left his congregation “afraid and concerned about their security”.

Christians make up less than two per cent of Pakistan’s 207million population. As well as being the targets of extremist militants, they have also faced spurious blasphemy charges.

Saroop Ijaz, of Human Rights Watch, criticised the Pakistan government for failing to hold perpetrators of past attacks on churches accountable.