Why do Muslim politicians push identity politics? Watch our video narrative by Clarion’s National Correspondent Shireen Qudosi.
Qudosi argues that Muslims have a choice — between old school Islam, which many of their parents fled, and the opportunities offered in America. Which will it be?
Pakistani Christians mourn at the funeral of one of the victims of Monday’s terror attack. (Photo: BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Four Christians were murdered and a young girl injured in a terrorist attack in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Monday. Quetta is the capital of the Balochistan province in South Western Pakistan. The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
All four were members of the same family. They had been meeting relatives in a Christian area of the city. Traveling in a ricksha, they had just left the house where they were staying when armed men on a motorcycle drove past and opened fire.
“It appears to have been a targeted attack,” provincial police official Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters, according to EuroNews. “It was an act of terrorism.”
Pakistan has long been struggling to contain Islamist terrorists. In particular, the Pakistani terror group Tehreek-e-Taliban cooperates with the Afghan Taliban on the other side of the border and is able to move men and resources from one country to the other. This flexibility makes it harder for Pakistan to combat terrorists effectively.
Religious minorities are frequently targeted in Pakistan. In particular, Shiites, Ahmadis and Christians often suffer terrorist attacks. Christians make up an estimated 2% of Pakistan’s population.
Watch the trailer of Clarion Project’s latest film, Faithkeepers, about the violent persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. The film features exclusive footage and testimonials of Christians, Baha’i, Yazidis, Jews, and other minority refugees, and a historical context of the persecution in the region. To host a screening of the film or find out what you can do to help stop the genocide,click here.
Despite an ordered media blackout by authorities, a new blasphemy case in Pakistan has gained worldwide attention for the violent and sexual abuse of those accused at the hands of their government interrogators.
Two young Christian men, Patras Masih, 18, and his cousin, Sajid Masih 24, were accused of sharing an image on Facebook considered sacrilegious by Muslims.
As word got out, a mob made up of members of the extremist Islamist political party, Tehreek-e-Labiak Ya Rasool Allah (TLK), blocked all entrances to Lahore and demanded Patras (accused of being the main perpetrator) be beheaded. Extremists also congregated in front of Patras’ home, waiting to lynch him.
Armed with gasoline, the mob threatened to burn down the 1,500 Christian houses in the area, causing some 1,000 Christians to flee. The police, with the help of other law enforcement agencies, were able to disperse the crowd after promising the most severe blasphemy charges would be levied against Patras. Those charges carry a mandatory death sentence.
In 2016, a similar charge was made against a Christian man, Nabeel Masih, who was accused of “liking a Facebook post seemed insulting to Islam.” Such an “insult” falls under the blasphemy law that carries a punishment of 10 years in prison. However, because of the demands of a violent mob, he was charged with the most severe form of blasphemy as well.
Police officers arrested Patras and Sajid, but their interrogation was conducted not only by the police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officers, but a large number of TLK party officials, who mainly served to scream at the young men.
During the investigation, Sajid suddenly jumped out the window of the multi-storied building, a fall which broke his legs and jaw and left him in critical condition.
Although he was not expected to live, after a number of hours, he regained consciousness and released a video statement detailing the harrowing treatment he and his cousin received at the hands of their interrogators.
On the video (see below), Sajid related:
“[The FIA officers] demanded my attendance at their headquarters to check my mobile phone.
“They used this pretext to take me to a bathroom where they started to beat me.
“They confiscated my mobile phone as part of their investigation, checked it and then started beating me again.
“I asked why they were beating me, what have I done that was wrong? They started roundly beating me again and told me they were hitting me because I was the ‘cousin of that boy’ [Patras].
“They told us to insult each other by using the word laanti (men under a curse). My frightened young cousin complied under great duress.
“They then asked me to remove my cousin’s trousers and perform oral sex on him. I refused outright…[which] made them angry. They then started shouting loudly at both of us. I saw a window in the room and quickly jumped out of it.
“After this, [the FIA officers] downstairs asked why I had jumped from the window, at the time I was semi-conscious. But I could hear everything.
“Khalid Saeed [the FIA sub-Inspector] took me there [to FIA headquarters]. No evidence of any crime was found on my phone”
After his statement, an investigation into the violence and sexual abuse during the investigation was launched by the federal minister for the Interior Department, although Pakistani’s Christians hold little faith in such an inquiry.
In addition, a separate police case was registered against Sajid for attempting to commit suicide.
On the instructions of the Pakistani government, the media did not cover this atrocity due to tensions with the United States, which has put Pakistan on a special watch list for increasing violence against religious minorities in the country.
Also, there is fear that Pakistan could be included in FATF (Financial Action Task Force) black or grey list for money laundering and supporting extremist organizations.
Further, the government fears reprisals by the European Union, which is not eager to renew Pakistan’s GPS-plus status (Generalized System of Preferences) for free trade to EU countries unless Asia Bibi, a Christian blasphemy victim suffering in Pakistan jail for the last eight years and sentenced to death, is released.
It is time for the international community to stand with Pakistan’s religious minorities. Pressures such as these can be effective in fighting Pakistan’s archaic and discriminatory blasphemy laws.
In a dangerous and bizarre precedent, a federal judge disallowed references to the Council on American Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) ties to Hamas in a lawsuit brought by a civil liberty group against the San Diego Unified School District, reported the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
However, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant did allow references to CAIR’s hostility towards Israel and allegations that CAIR “promotes discriminatory bias against non-Muslim students on the basis of their religion.”
The case involves a suit brought by the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) against the school district for instituting an anti-Islamophobia/anti-bullying program designed by CAIR.
The suit charges that the program is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another.
Since the program is solely about Muslims students, the FCDF charges that it establishes them “as a privileged group within the school community.” Moreover, the suit contends that CAIR, the designers of the program, is an organization that is “intrinsically religious in nature.” In addition, the suit charges that CAIR has “prioritized public schools as ground zero to advance its religious mission.”
This means, according to the FCDF, that the school district has given “a divisive religious group … unprecedented decision-making authority” in a public school program – a violation, they claim, of the Establishment Clause.
The FCDF was right to make reference to CAIR’s well-documented ties to Hamas to prove their case. Hamas is not “just” a terrorist organization, but rather it is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization.
Islamist organizations by definition discriminate against non-Muslims by promoting a world governing by an Islamic caliphate and ruled by sharia law – laws which make non-Muslims second-class citizens. Yet the judge ruled that references to CAIR’s ties with Hamas were not pertinent to the case and were “likely intended to ‘besmirch’” the school district for their ties with CAIR. (In fact, she called the references “impertinent, immaterial and scandalous.”)
It is bizarre, however, that the judge did allow references to CAIR’s hostility towards Israel (ostensibly because that could be coming from anti-Semitism) and allegations that CAIR “promotes discriminatory bias against non-Muslim students on the basis of their religion.”
While the ruling is a setback for the FCDF, to prove the above allegations – that CAIR promotes discriminatory bias against non-Muslim students on the basis of their religion – the FCDF’s lawyers need only prove that CAIR is an Islamist organization, which should not be difficult.
For example, in the fall of 2014, CAIR’s founder and executive director Nihad Awad signed a letter to ISIS rebutting the theological arguments behind their actions. However, the letter, which was also signed by 126 international Muslim leaders and scholars (including other top American Muslim leaders), endorsed the goal of the Islamic State of rebuilding the caliphate and instituting sharia governance, including its brutal hudud punishments.
That goal – which is the definition of Islamism – is discriminatory because of how such a society would treat non-Muslims.
Many other examples of CAIR’s support of Islamist goals and leaders exist (a slew can be found by simply searching for the worlds “CAIR Islamist”on the Clarion Project’s website).
The FBI and the Justice Department have both banned CAIR as an outreach partner because of their Islamist agenda and ties to Hamas and terror funding. The San Diego Unified School District should also not be partnering with them.
It is a scandalous waste of time and resources of civil liberties groups and the American court system to have to bring suits like this to dissolve such partnerships. It is even more unfortunate that a group like CAIR has been able to push its agenda on impressionable, young American students.
Taylor Force was an American army veteran who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist while on a university trip in Israel.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee has just approved a bill called the Taylor Force Actwhich would strip U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority until it changes its policies on supporting terrorism.
What Is the Taylor Force Act?
Taylor Force was a U.S. veteran killed by a Palestinian terrorist while on a university trip in Israel. An officer who had served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Force was stabbed in Tel Aviv in March 2016. His killer was shot and killed at the scene.
The Palestinian Authority is paying a salary to the family of the terrorist who killed Force, as it does to the families of all terrorists killed in action by Israeli forces. Terrorists who are not killed or who are imprisoned receive salaries directly. The longer they are in prison the more money is awarded. Palestinian leaders have long defended these payouts.
“It is the right of all of theprisoners and martyrs who have struggled and sacrificed for Palestine to receive their full salaries from the PA,” Hassan Abd Rabbo, spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs has said.
Such payouts make up a significant portion of the Palestinian Authority budget. In 2017, the Palestinian Authority took in an estimated $693 millionfrom international donors, but allocated nearly $345 to pay terrorists and their families.
According to the official congressional website, the Taylor Force Act will halt U.S. payments to the Palestinian Authority until that body:
is taking steps to end acts of violence against U.S. and Israeli citizens perpetrated by individuals under its jurisdictional control, such as the March 2016 attack that killed former Army officer Taylor Force;
is publicly condemning such acts of violence and is investigating, or cooperating in investigations of, such acts; and
has terminated payments for acts of terrorism against U.S. and Israeli citizens to any individual who has been convicted and imprisoned for such acts, to any individual who died committing such acts, and to family members of such an individual.
Although the Palestinian Authority is technically a secular nationalist organization in direct opposition to radical Islam, Palestinian leaders have long used Islamist rhetoric to incite the population to carry out acts of terror against Israel. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2015 slammed Jewish access to the Temple Mount saying, “Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem.”
Who Supports the Bill?
The bill enjoys bipartisan support despite being drafted by Republicans. The Senate bill was sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham. Democrats were persuaded to support the bill after concerns that the U.S. would continue to provide direct humanitarian aid, such as paying for water, were addressed. It is predicted to pass and become law.
“With this legislation, we are forcing the PA to choose between U.S. assistance and these morally reprehensible policies, and I am pleased to see this measure move forward in both chambers with so much support,” committee chairman Ed Royce (R-California).
The bill is also supported by a network of pro-Israel think tanks and political organizations.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed the bill unanimously on Wednesday. The bill will now come before the House of Representatives for a floor vote. Parallel legislation has been introduced in the Senate and will have to pass both houses to become law. The Senate’s version of the Taylor Force Act passed the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in August.
The Taylor Force Act passed the committee alongside two other bills targeting Palestinian terrorism. One, the Hamas Human Shields Prevention Act, will impose sanctions on Hamas for its use of human shields. The other, the Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act, imposes sanctions on foreign persons, agencies and governments that assist Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or any of their affiliates.
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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