Christian NGOs to continue despite latest deadly attack

In yet another attack on Christians in Pakistan, seven people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a welfare organisation in the southern commercial city of Karachi on Wednesday. This is the fifth such attack targeting Christians since 11 September. In total the attacks have killed 30 and injured more than a hundred. According to initial reports, two gunmen entered the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ), a Pakistani Christian charity, spraying the room with automatic weapons fire on Wednesday morning. Among the dead were three Pakistani Christians and three Muslims, police said, leaving four others injured. Authorities say the gunmen escaped. But Mehboob Sada, head of the Christian Study Centre (CSE), a non-profit-making charity organisation in Rawalpindi told IRIN his work would carry on despite the attacks. "We will continue our work. Unfortunately there are some people who are using religion as a tool to corrupt the peace of our country," he said, noting no religion promoted terrorism or violence. The violence follows a spate of attacks on Christian targets since 11 September. In March, five people including the wife and daughter of an American diplomat died in a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad, while 16 Christians and one Muslim were massacred in a church in Bahawalpur in eastern Punjab province. On 9 August, three men hurled grenades at a group of nurses leaving a church at a Christian eye hospital in Taxila, 25 km northwest of the capital, Islamabad, killing four. The attack came just four days after gunmen assaulted a missionary school in the resort town of Murree northeast of the capital, killing six. The attacks have also heightened concerns amongst foreign nationals living in the country, many of whom are now seriously considering leaving. "The government has failed to protect the Christians and minorities," Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, told IRIN from the eastern city of Lahore. "If these kinds of attack continue, there will be a complete genocide of minorities." "This attack by Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces are in retaliation for the coalition military campaign in Afghanistan," Bhatti said, adding after the Taxila incident they had demanded the resignation of the interior minister for failing to protect them. "The worrying thing is that religious sections sympathetic to Al-Qaeda and Taliban continue to threaten us." Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have reportedly increased security for Christians following local and international pressure. According to an AP report on Tuesday, steps to safeguard churches have been taken in several Pakistani cities and police have removed signs from outside a number of churches around the country, fortifying others with sandbags after finding evidence that Islamic militants may be planning new attacks.