Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
One of the 100 families freed from bonded labor in Pakistan’s brick kilns in the most recent phase of Barnabas Aid’s loan clearance project.
Barnabas Aid : Christians make up between 2 and 3% of the population of Pakistan. Conditions for our Pakistani brothers and sisters show little sign of improving as they strive to live for Christ in the vast Muslim-majority nation. In this article we outline four major challenges Christians in Pakistan face, and how Barnabas Aid is responding to their needs.
The “Blasphemy” Law in Pakistan
Many Christians and other religious minorities, as well as Muslims,
have fallen foul of Pakistan’s notorious “blasphemy” laws. A mandatory
death sentence is imposed for those convicted under Section 295-C of the
Pakistan Penal Code, which refers to defiling the name of Muhammad, the
prophet of Islam (although this sentence has never yet been carried
out). In January 2023, “blasphemy” laws were even tightened with the
punishment for insulting the family of Muhammad increased from 3 to 10
years in prison.
The “blasphemy” laws are often used to make false accusations to
settle personal grudges. Christians are particularly vulnerable, as
merely expressing some of their beliefs can be construed as “blasphemy”
and the lower courts usually favor the testimony of Muslims, in
accordance with sharia (Islamic law). Such accusations can often lead to
mob violence. In August 2023, the alleged discovery of desecrated pages
of the Quran stirred up a mob to rampage through the Christian area of Jaranwala
city. They burned at least 24 church buildings and several dozen
smaller chapels, as well as attacking the homes of more than 100
believers.
Higher courts sometimes overturn lower courts’ convictions. Brothers
Umar (Rocky) and Umair (Raja) Saleem, both Christians, were acquitted in
February 2024 of “blasphemy” charges that sparked the Jaranwala riots
after it emerged that they had been falsely implicated by two Muslim men
with a grudge against them. Those accused of “blasphemy” often suffer
extra-judicial violence instead – for example, a Christian man in his
70’s was beaten and stoned by a mob of extremists in Sargodha city in
May 2024, following unsubstantiated allegations that he had desecrated a
Quran, and he later died of his injuries.
Abductions and Forced Conversions Target Christian Women and Girls
Christian girls and young women are vulnerable to being abducted by
Muslim men and forced to marry their captors and convert to Islam. These
“conversions” are often secured under a threat of violence to the
victims and their families, but the authorities rarely intervene.
Among numerous cases of violence against women, in September 2023 the
Islamabad Sessions Court sentenced Muhammad Shahzad to 25 years’
imprisonment (considered a life term under the Pakistan Penal Code) for
the murder of Sonia Bibi. Sonia died in November 2020 after being shot by Shahzad on an Islamabad street for refusing his persistent marriage proposal.
Christian women and girls in Pakistan are vulnerable to being abducted, then forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men.
Sunita Munawar, 19, was hospitalized with severe burns
after a Muslim man, Kamran Allah Bux, threw acid on her while she was
getting off a bus in Karachi in February 2023. Bux admitted his crime,
saying that he threw acid at Sunita for rejecting his proposal that she
convert to Islam and marry him. Sunita’s family’s previous complaints to
police about Bux’s unwanted advances had been ignored.
