Kidnapped Christian evangelist resurfaces

A Christian evangelist who was kidnapped two days ago in mysterious circumstances from the south-western city of Quetta, suddenly reappeared on Tuesday in the capital, Islamabad, in conditions that were just as mystifying. He was now in protective custody in a safe haven, according to a minority lawmaker in the national assembly. Pastor Wilson Fazal of the Pakistan Gospel Assembly in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, was feared kidnapped when he disappeared on Sunday. The kidnapping came only a few days after the pastor was said to have received a pamphlet which warned Fazal against preaching Christianity and alleged that he had been blasphemous. Warning Christians against evangelism in Pakistan, the pamphlet urged the minority community to join a jihad against the United States, promising large sums of money should the offer be accepted - and bullets, if it were to be spurned, according to the Pakistan Christian Post. Aasia Nasir, a minority member of the country's lower house of parliament, told IRIN from Quetta that Fazal had suddenly reappeared in Islamabad early on Tuesday and was now in a safe-house, where he was being treated for injuries suffered during his kidnapping. "Today, suddenly, he came back, he escaped from those people and now he is in safe hands in a very safe place. But he is not in his [right] senses because he has been tortured a lot," she explained. "He is so scared that he can't even talk. Even we don't know the details. I'm in Quetta and he came to Islamabad. I don't want to disclose his location. He has escaped from the terrorists," Nasir, who admitted that she had not yet seen Fazal herself, continued. "But when I talked to him on the phone, he kept on crying," she maintained. Although authorities were already investigating, Nasir said no one had any idea why Fazal had been kidnapped nor how he had escaped. "We don't know the exact thing. He said they were transferring him to a third place, after having obviously shifted him to two places earlier, and somehow he managed to escape near Peshawar, and caught a bus to Islamabad," she asserted. Earlier, the chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Association (APMA) told IRIN that Fazal's kidnapping seemed to be the work of extremists linked to jihadi organisations. "Actually, according to those letters he received, we could say that it is the act of extremists linked to these jihadi organisations," Shahbaz Bhatti, the APMA chairman who claimed to have also read the letter, explained. "It was written [in the pamphlet] that you are a blasphemer and an infidel, stop preaching in churches and hospitals and schools, and join our jihad against the USA," Bhatti claimed. So, our apprehension - we are not entirely sure - is that behind the kidnapping are those elements who wish to create unrest and religious anarchy in the country, and sabotage peace-keeping efforts. So, it is not some groups, but some elements," he added.