A Christian colony established near Faisalabad over 45 years ago has become a health hazard after the local government recently decided to release a sewage
line, allowing a stagnant pool of over 40 feet in depth to form less than 100 meters from a very deprived Christian community.
More than 540 Christian homes have been affected and despite several protests and numerous appeals from the thousands of Christians residing in the
area, the Jhang Thesil Municipal Authority have ignored the plight of the community that has reported several recently sick patients. Local residents
are already moving away from the area due to the noxious odour and increased dysentery and flu like symptoms that the community is reporting, which
they cannot afford to have treated. Residents believe that their local drinking water has been contaminated by the surface water pollutants. The
area is sandy and has a high water table and it is believed these factors have allowed the ground water to spread contamination. Local residents
are in complete fear of the potential for even worse illness as the stagnant water could attract Malaria and has already resulted in increased mosquitoes
which will inevitably lead to heightened susceptibility to Malaria and Dengue Fever both still prominent in Pakistan.
Asif Manawer, resident of Christian colony, old Chinot road, Jhang told the BPCA that he believes the local authority opened the drains intentionally
allowing the pool of waste and effluence to build alongside the Christian colony, in an attempt to remove them from the area. The land is home
to thousands of deprived Christians that have often been reported as a blight by the local council. Moreover the land value has risen in recent time
as when the local Faisalabad Diocese of the Catholic Church gave the land to local Christians to build their communities the area was underdeveloped,
but now as the whole region has developed this land is considered a prime location, due to proximity to the town centre. Asif believes senior
officials have been corrupted and are involved in the scandal attempting to make a solid profit out of the migration of Christians from the area.
Jhang is 75 kilometers away from Faisalabad, and is a rich land of sugarcane and cotton. Before Pakistan’s second war against India in 1970, Catholic
Church of Faisalabad purchased the land for Christian people and a few hundred people started living there. With the passage of time the colony has
grown to over 4000.
The local residents led by local pastor Naveed Akhtar of the Seventh Day Adventist Church met with officials at the city authority and expressed great
fear of the potential drowning of children who play near the new effluent pool, and adults travelling at night as the area is not well lit. Moreover
they demanded an evaluation of the potential risk of spread of illness and disease. However the local authority officials have failed to respond and
the stagnant effluent pool is said to be growing in size.
Pastor Naveed Akhter (Seventh Day Adventist Church), said:
“Our church building is extremely close to the effluent pool. During heavy rain and considering the growing depth of the water we are fearful that our church will become water logged and contaminated. I believe this act of hatred was intentional and that local officials are planning to forcibly vacate the land so that it can be used by developers and Christians are removed from close to the Muslim city. We residents however will stand against this injustice. We are equal citizens of the country and our quality of life should be restored.”
BPCA are aware of other Christian communities who have been forced from their homes due to land grabbing mafia often led by local politicians. We reported
on several homes that were bulldozed in Kasur on 31st January 2015, leaving seven Christian families homeless. The families which included children
had to watch as their belongings were thrown on the dusty streets. They vacated their homes under duress from local gangs that threatened them
with blasphemy allegations and a local council worker was implicated in false land registry documentation. Read more (click here)
We also reported on the institutionalized apartheid in Pakistan after Pakistan’s Supreme court received a report in December 2015, that they required from Islamabad’s Capital Development Agency (CDA) in which they were ordered to justify their next planned clearance of a slum in the capital city. It
contained a very nasty Christmas present for the Christian inhabitants of those slum dwellings – this formal submission by an accredited government
agency called them ugly and a stain to be removed, providing further evidence of the ongoing direct religious discrimination by the Pakistani government
against Christians in pretty much every sphere of life. Read more (click here)
Worse still, in Karachi land grabbers regularly threaten and murder Christians for their property in the most lawless of all the poorly administrated
cities of Pakistan. Jerusalem Church was threatened by land grabbers in June 2015 and the community is still being threatened by land mafia, who have
said they will lay blasphemy charges against the congregation if they do not vacate the property (click here).
Several Christians have been shot dead forcing their families to flee and leaving the vacant property ready to be usurped by the murdering known
local land mafia gangs. Archie Dass was killed and many other Christians of the Drigh Road area of Karachi (click here),
due to the burgeoning cost of land that is close to the city centre, which mirrors the believed reasons behind the recent act of releasing pollutants
near the Christian community in Jhang.
Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the BPCA, said:
“There is need for reform of the administration of land and property rights. A central body is required and a modern electronic system that is both accountable and secure. Otherwise Christians and other minorities will continue to fall foul to the whims of such pernicious avarice. An enquiry into the involvement of government officials in the usurpation of property and apartheid is long overdue, Western donors should seek such change and make it a precursor to future foreign aid. Without foreign encouragement an insouciant government evidently allows the continuing malaise to proliferate.”
Please pray with us:
For continued courage and strength for the church in the face of these threats and discrimination.
That the local council realigns the sewage system so that effluent is transferred far away from this Christian community and that current pollution
levels are assessed and residual pollutants removed.
Jesus said He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (paraphrase, Matthew 16:18) Pray that the Christians of Pakistan
are protected and united.
Pray that Pakistani Christians are recognised as a persecuted group by Western nations who could offer asylum before more lives are lost needlessly.
If you would like to contribute towards our ongoing work our bank details and paypal/visa payment facility can be found here: (click here) . Please use Ref: Love for Pakistani Christians.
