Thursday, April 07, 2011

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Convert Or Go To Hell ~ Tablighis Tell Non-Muslim Patients At Government Hospitals

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Convert Or Go To Hell ~ Tablighis Tell Non-Muslim Patients At Government Hospitals
(NSI News Source Info) KARACHI, Pakistan - April 7, 2011:
Twenty-three-year-old Zain*, a Catholic Christian, was admitted to the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital Karachi after he was shot and wounded as a passer-by in a crossfire.
While his worried parents and sister stood around waiting for the doctor’s verdict, men in green turbans and high shalwars swooped down on Zain. “Brother, you must denounce your infidel ways. Kalma parhein (recite the Kalma),” they told the young man who was barely conscious and obviously in immense pain. “Become a Muslim, and god will forgive you all your transgressions against him. Die a Muslim!” Zain’s 17-year-old sister pleaded with them once to leave the family alone. “My brother is in pain. Please, let us take care of him,” she said. In response, one of the men turned around and gruffly told her to shut up. “Do not interfere in god’s work,” she was told.
Such scenes are no longer an anomaly at government hospitals in Karachi: men from various religious factions – the Tablighi Jamaat in particular – stalk the hallways of emergency wards, hoping to earn ‘savaab’ by converting non-Muslims on their deathbeds. In their quest for supposed divine rewards, they ignore the pleas of the families to be left alone with their loved one, as well as any pain that the patient might be in. Zain’s parents pulled their aside. “We know the consequences of interfering,” his father, who works as a mechanic, said quietly after the men had left when Zain, who had lost consciousness by then, did not respond.
“These people are like vultures; they do this to everyone. If we try to stop them, they will accuse us of maybe insulting their religion. We don’t want to be charged with blasphemy. It will be our word against theirs. Who will listen to us?” he asked. Zain wasn’t the only victim. The group of green-turbaned men went around to every bed, asking attendants of patients if they were Muslim. If they replied in the affirmative, they were asked to recite the Kalima to ‘prove’ it. It must be noted that these attendants were already harassed – most of the patients in the ward were in critical condition; they were either victims of roadside or household accidents or had gunshot wounds that needed attention.
Nurses in the area, meanwhile, pretended to look the other way. “We’re already understaffed and have too much to deal with. We can’t handle this additional headache. Let them do what they want. The patients’ attendants can deal with them,” they said.
Similar scenes are repeated regularly at every government-run hospital in the city. While security at these organisations is minimal, even the guards that are present don’t try to stop the evangelists. “Who are we to interfere in the work of god,” Saleem, a guard on duty outside the emergency ward at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre claimed, shrugging helplessly. “If someone converts to Islam this way, we will get Savaab too. These men help the patients and their families get spiritual peace.”
“We wish they’d leave us alone,” Zain’s father maintained. “If my son wanted to convert, he would have done so on his own. What’s the point of harassing someone who is obviously already in pain? Whose god would allow that?”
* Name changed to protect privacy
Pakistan Related News;
CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday spelt out serious concerns over the current state of the relationship between the two major allies in the US-led anti-terrorism campaign with the presence of a large network of CIA operatives on Pakistani soil at the top of complaints’ list.Pakistani authorities also warned that a delay in action on the part of Washington to address Islamabad’s concerns could jeopardise the cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism. The

Read full story

Top National Stories

CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

Indian spy sent home after 24 yrs

LAHORE - An Indian national, who was held by Pakistani intelligence agencies and charged with spying and sentenced to life imprisonment…Read full story »
CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

Shahbaz calms doctors, strike called off

LAHORE - The government and the young doctors set aside their egos as the Young Doctors Association (YDA) finally ended its strike after a…Read full story »
CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

LHC displeased with Punjab health secy

LAHORE - Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Thursday expressed displeasure at the appointment of Punjab Health…Read full story »
CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

Balochistan DIG survives suicide attack on residence

QUETTA - A senior police officer survived a suicide explosion outside his house on Thursday morning that injured 13 people, including three…Read full story »
CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

Why were rules relaxed in Reko Diq lease, asks CJP

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday observed that there was no need to make new…Read full story »
CIA network in Pakistan will worsen shaky ties, US told

Ministry ‘too small a price’ asked by MQM

KARACHI - Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza said at a reception in his honour hosted by the Timber Merchant Association here at PPP…Read full story »

Recently Updated

Older Stories

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

©

COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)