Pastor attacked, church ransacked in Punjab
From our correspondent
Pastor Bagh of Duggalwala village in Tarn Taran district of Punjab has moved the High Court seeking protection following objections raised by the village sarpanch and others against conducting of prayer service in the village. The Court has directed SSP of Chandigarh to provide adequate protection to the pastor and the church.
The pastor has been taking care of Good Shepherd Community Church in the village for the past several years. Sarpanch Sukhdev Singh and others including Tarlok Singh, Gehla, Jitender Singh, Sinda Singh and Balwinder Singh, had been threatening the pastor and the congregation with serious consequences if he failed to stop the service in the village. They have also asked him and other believers to leave the village or face dire consequences if he did not withdraw the complaint given to the police in earlier cases.
On 2 July 2006, about 20 people came into the church and beat up Bakshish, son of Dara of Bhojiyan village Tarn Taran and disturbed the Sunday service in the presence of the police. Pastor Bagh filed another complaint with the police and then got the seriously injured man admitted to hospital.
The same night around 50 followers of the sarpanch arrived in the hospital and threatened to eliminate the man if he did not leave the hospital. Then they forcibly removed from the hospital.
Surprisingly the latest attack on the church took place in the presence of police personnel who were posted on the orders of the High Court for protection as well as prevention of any untoward happening in the church premises. Sadly the police officials are allegedly siding with the attackers. They have sent false reports to the higher authorities and refused to lodge FIR. And none of the accused have been taken into custody and action initiated so far.
The All India Christian Council has urged the authorities to punish the culprits as per the law. It has also sought adequate security for the minority Christian community in the light of increasing attacks and threats, thereby restoring the confidence of the Christian minority community in the rule of law.
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The land for the Good Shepherd Community Church was donated to the church by one Balbinder Singh in 2003. After the church building was completed, there arose some conflicts with regard to the ownership of the land. The sarpanch, along with his followers, has been trying to force the church out of the village.
