Philippines: Bishop fears for Christians’ lifes after Basilan’s attacks

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This is an update on this story:

Following an April 13 Islamist terrorist attack that destroyed 70% of his cathedral, a Philippine bishop says that he and the other Christians of the city fear for their lives.
“It is the first time we are attacked so directly and with such force,” said Bishop Martin Jumoad of the Territorial Prelature of Isabella. “In the past, I received several threatening letters and intimidation. There have been other smaller attacks, but now it is very different. This could be a tragedy. I seriously fear for my life and the lives of the faithful.”
“I have prepared a pastoral letter calling on Catholics to stay in Basilan, which is our home, and asking them to remain calm, not to react to violence, and to pray for peace,” he added. “Today, a procession of people carrying candles as a sign of peace lit the city. Our hope must not die.”
81% of the Philippines’ 88.7 million people are Catholic. However, the territory in which Bishop Jumoad ministers is predominantly Muslim, with only 27% of residents being Catholic.

CNA has more on the Bishop’s statements:

Sta. Isabel Cathedral via.

The 53-year-old prelate said he does not know how to rebuild the cathedral (left), constructed in 1970 with a capacity for 1,400 worshipers.
…The blasts shattered the cathedral’s stained glass windows and damaged the priests’ rectory. Several priests’ service vehicles were also destroyed.
Regional military chief Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino said military intelligence had received reports of an impending attack, but not its details, AFP says.
“They were planning something big. This was well planned and apparently they were well funded.”
Authorities suspect that politicians who hired mercenaries may have been behind the attacks. 

LWJ reports on other aspects of the attacks:

Five civilians, five Philippine Marines, a policeman, and four Abu Sayyaf Group fighters were reported killed in the ensuing clashes, and five Abu Sayyaf fighters were captured. Police and Philippine troops are currently pursuing the remaining Abu Sayyaf fighters.
Today’s attacks in Isabela are reminiscent of recent terror assaults by the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other al Qaeda-associated groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Yemen.

Archbishop Jumoad (right) issued last year an statement in which he rejected any talks with Abu Sayyaf:

He said the government must unleash more troops with a mission to finish off the militant group in the southern provinces of Basilan and Sulu. “They don’t have ideology. They are plain terrorist and I think there should be no dialogue with them,” Bishop Jumoad said over Church-run Radyo Veritas Friday.
“I am a bishop saying but I’m saying things like this because I know when it comes to terrorists, there are no negotiations,” he said.

A reasonable cause to attack his Cathedral, isn’t it?

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VOM persecution alerts

A well-known Chinese Christian activist from Shanghai has been abducted by government officials for the second time in recent weeks.

Shen Peilan, a seasoned campaigner against government corruption, has not been seen since she was seized on March 24, the same day officials from the Bureau of Letters and Petitions raided her home twice. On their first attempt, they were deterred by police who were summoned by Shen’s family. However, officials succeeded in abducting her in a later raid after the police had gone.
Shen was still recovering from an earlier abduction on March 7, when she was held without a warrant and interrogated by officers from the same bureau for nine days. When church friends reported her missing, lawyers and activists managed to track her down at a hotel in Songjiang and police intervened to free her. Shen had been travelling to Beijing to protest against her house being demolished by local officials earlier this year. Chinese local government officials do not have the power to make arrests unless sanctioned by a higher authority. (Sources: ChinaAid, Release International).

A 19-year-old Pakistani Christian woman, Sonia Mohan, was reportedly abducted on April 1 by a Muslim man and his friends in Nishtar Colony, Lahore.

Sonia’s family fears the Muslim man, Ali Raza, will force her to convert to Islam and marry him. Sonia’s brother, Johnson Parvaiz, stated, “Ali Raza came to our home and told Sonia that I had asked for her, and she went out of the house with him. They had parked a vehicle outside and left, and afterwards we never heard from her.” After two days, Johnson was able to reach his sister on her cell phone but she told him not to call her, that she was very happy and that they should not try to find her. “It was obvious from her voice that she had been forced to say that,” Johnson said. Police have delayed registering a case on behalf of Sonia’s family because, in what appears to be an attempt to delay police action, Ali’s family has filed a complaint that he was abducted by the same accomplices who allegedly helped him kidnap Sonia. (Source: Compass Direct)

On March 16, The People’s High Court of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region rejected an appeal from Alimujiang Yimiti (37), a Uyghur house church leader.

Alimujiang was sentenced in October 2009 to 15 years’ imprisonment for “providing state secrets to overseas organizations” (click here for more information).
One of his lawyers, Li Dunyong, believes Alimujiang’s Muslim background is a large issue in the case. Another of his lawyers, Li Baiguang, reported, “We are fairly sure that there are a lot of factors which are totally outside the law that have influenced the investigation of this case. This is very clear from the procedures that were followed within the courts and from the final decision.” (Source: Radio Free Asia) Here is an interview with his wife among others about his situation.

A court hearing for Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh — Iranian Christians who were arrested by security forces in March 2009 — was held on April 13.

In November 2009, the two were conditionally released from the notorious Evin Prison (click here for more information). Although they have been receiving medical treatment for the past five months, they remain weak and suffer from various illnesses. Yet, despite their frailties, they were determined to be faithful to the Lord and speak the truth in court whatever the consequence or personal cost. At last report, the outcome of their hearing was unknown. (Source: Elam Ministries).

Hector Aleem needs your help

I wrote two days ago about Hector Aleem’s current problems. Yesterday I received a mail from the responsible of the Free Hector Aleem group (I forgot to ask him if he could be named publicly) on Facebook to thank me for the post and to ask me to post this message:

Christian human rights activist and director of NGO Peace Worldwide, Hector Aleem, was taken into custody in January 2009 because a militant Islamic group accused him of sending a ‘blasphemous’ text message from his cell phone. If convicted, he faces the death penalty under Pakistani law.

Prior to the 55-year-old’s arrest, Aleem was threatened by Islamic groups with assassination attempts and lawsuits because he objected to the illegal destruction of a church by Islamabad’s capital development authority (CDA). Muslim leaders threatened to kill him and his sons, and to forcibly convert his daughters to Islam.

Although a heart patient, Aleem has not been allowed to consume his medication and he has been denied visitation in prison. He was denied bail because Islamic mobs filled his trial courtroom and threatened to kill the judge, Aleem, and Aleem’s lawyer.

Aleem is the recipient of a peace award by Pakistan’s Prime Minister.

A Facebook group set up for him consists of freedom-loving members, from all around the world and of all different beliefs, or lack thereof, united for Hector Aleem’s right to freedom, dignity, and fair due process. For instance, one letter received by the Aleems read “You are Christian and it is a good deed to kill you. My Allah will be very happy if I kill you.” (See here and here.)

It has been over a year since Hector has been incarcerated. His family urgently needs you and your friends to raise funds for Hector as soon as possible. The breakdown for these funds are as follows:

- Because no lawyer wants to take Hector’s (locally unpopular) case, only one lawyer agreed to represent him for a relatively high price of $2,500. Unless he receives this amount by the end of this month, he will not represent Hector!

- Hector requires medication in prison. He also needs clothing and hygienic supplies. His family, living for over a year without their father’s support, are also in need for housing, hygienic, and nutritional items. They have had little to eat – not even the most basic food items you would typically have on the table. The family estimates that they would need approximately $250 to cover these expenses for Hector and themselves.

These seem like large amounts. However, please donate any amount you can, even if it’s a few dollars. Many small donations quickly add. Even a few dollars can go a long way in Pakistan!

Please donate via PayPal by following this link:https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=C2QLRGNXL46V8&lc=CA&item_name=Free%20Hector%20Aleem&currency_code=CAD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

(If you prefer to send payments via snail mail, please contact freedom4hector@gmail.com and I will provide you with a mailing address.)

Hector’s family has agreed to make every effort to store and reproduce receipts from your generous donations.

Let’s help Hector and show the authorities that humanity will not acquiesce to their mistreatment of Hector and other religious minorities.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of Hector’s family members (listed as administrators of the group). While your donation is important, your trust is just as important.

Please remember to send the donation link to all your friends!

Thank you all!

 That’s right, thanks to all the people who can help him.

Pakistan seizes second tribal region from the Taliban

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BusinessWeek:

Soldiers took parts of Orakzai, a district of forested mountains where the Taliban regrouped after their ouster from Waziristan. With the fighting in Orakzai, the army has fought major operations in six of the seven tribal districts, called agencies, along the Afghan border.

“Operations are ongoing in South Waziristan, Khyber and Orakzai,” army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said in an interview. “But in all regions where we get information about militants, the military will take action.”

But residents in the area don’t want to return to their homes, as they are not pretty sure about security there:

Despite government’s claim to have taken control of South Waziristan tribal region, the displaced families from the area are reluctant to go back to their homes, saying they will not return without absolute peace and unless the political administration re-establishes its writ in the region.  

And it seems they are not at all wrong:

…On the other hand, the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP*) had recently warned the tribal people not to return to their houses unless they push out the army from the area.

“We have launched the offensive against the military and as long as we do not defeat them, no one should think of coming back to the area,” TTP spokesman Azam Tariq announced few days back.

The Govt is wrong to ask this people to go back if their security cannot be ensured. But publicity is publicity and they really need the international image of being fighting heavily the Taliban in the area.

*TTP is the group whose leader was Baitullah Mehsud, killed by a US drone airstrike, while he was having a massage in his legs, and afterwards, Hakimullah Mehsud, who assisted Al- Balawi, the suicide bomber who killed several CIA agents in the. Hakimullah Mehsud was also fatally wounded by another US drone. The actual leader of TTP is probably Maulana Toofan.

Iraq: AQ plotted against Shia mosques

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Iraqi authorities have uncovered plans by Al-Qaeda to fly hijacked planes into the country’s Shiite mosques in Iraq, a US counter-terrorism official said on Wednesday.
But it remained unclear how far the plot had advanced, the official said.
“There are indications that such a plot was, in fact, in the works. It may not have been that far along, but that’s obviously a key question people are looking at now,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
He added that “the Iraqis are working hard to make sure that everyone connected to it is wrapped up.”

And the war between Shiites and Sunnis goes on and on…

The Caucasus Emirate

Areas claimed by the “Caucasus Emirate”. Image via Wikipedia

This report is republished (partially, here is the report in full) with permission of STRATFOR: The Caucasus Emirate is the responsible for the Moskovite bombings (here, here, here, here, here and here).

The Caucasus Emirate appears to be an umbrella group for many regional militant groups spawned during the second Chechen war (1999-2009). Myriad groups formed under militant commanders, waged attacks (sometimes coordinated with others, sometimes not) against Russian troops and saw their leaders die and get replaced time and again. Some groups disappeared altogether, some opted for political reconciliation and gave up their militant tactics and some produced leaders like the Kadyrovs who formed the current Chechen government. All in all, the larger and more organized Islamist groups seen in the first and second Chechen wars are now broken and weak, their remnants possibly consolidated within Umarov’s Caucasus Emirate.

For example, the militant group Riyadus Salihin, founded by Basayev, seems to have been folded into the Caucasus Emirate. Umarov himself issued a statement confirming the union in April 2009. When Basayev was killed in 2006, he was serving as vice president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria under Umarov. Significantly, Riyadus Salihin brought Basayev together with Pavel Kosolapov, an ethnic Russian soldier who switched sides during the second Chechen war and converted to Islam. Kosolapov is suspected of being an expert bombmaker and is thought to have made the explosive device used in the November 2009 Moscow-St. Petersburg train attack (which was similar to an August 2007 attack in the same location that used the same amount and type of explosive material) as well as devices employed in the March 2010 Moscow metro attack.

The advantage of having an operative such as Kosolapov working for the Caucasus Emirate cannot be understated. Not only does he apparently have excellent bombmaking tradecraft, but he also served in the Russian military, which means he has deep insight into how the forces working against the Caucasus Emirate operate. The fact that Kosolapov is an ethnic Russian also means that the Caucasus Emirate has an operator who is able to more aptly navigate centers such as Moscow or St. Petersburg, unlike some of his Caucasian colleagues. While Kosolapov is being sought by virtually every law enforcement agency in Russia, altering his appearance may help him evade the dragnet.

Not surprising, they are using the fanatic convert (and of Caucasian appearance, another reason to underline that this is not a race question, but rather an ideological one) to build and plant bombs. AQ’s dream come true.

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Saudi clerics define terrorism

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An unprecedented ruling has been issued by the Saudi Arabian council of religious clerics. After years of deliberations and debates, both in public and behind closed doors, the Saudi supreme council on religious rulings, which in essence applies to the entire Muslim world, has determined a definition for one of the most talked-about words of the past decade – “terrorism“.

According to the ruling, terrorism is defined as “the destruction of and damage to public resources, the highjacking of airplanes and the bombing of buildings.”

…the clerics ruled that funding terror is also a crime, and that this ruling is valid all over the world and not just in Saudi territory. The clerics stressed that terror must not be funded, and that anyone funding it is to be considered a full partner in the offence. 

It’s important to note that they have defined terrorism, not Islamic terrorism. In most cases, Jihad and terrorism is not considered the same and Western countries are considered as “terrorists” too. 

They have neither said what the punishment for terrorism should be.