A pastor was shot and injured on 3rd September 2023, a week after unidentified persons inscribed Islamic slogans on the walls of his church in Jaranwala, Pakistan.
Reverend Eleazar Sidhu, the pastor in-charge of the Presbyterian church in Kukranwala village of Jaranwala tehsil, Faisalabad district, stated through a video circulating on social media:
“I was returning to my home in Rehmat Town with my assistant John Masih when the assailants stopped us. One of the attackers pulled out a pistol and asked me to recite the Kalima (declaration of Islamic faith). When I refused and instead started to recite the Apostles creed, the man shouted “Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (Islamic slogan of praising prophet Muhammad)” and opened fire, resulting in a bullet wound on the upper half of my chest. The assailants fled after the attack.”
Pastor Eleazar continued further: “I was conducting early morning prayer in the church on 28th August 2023 when a female member informed me that there were graffiti on the walls, including a slogan associated with the hard-liner religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. I immediately called the police who got the walls whitewashed in their presence. I also registered a case against the unknown vandals.”
“Three days later when I was returning home after picking up my son from school, we were stopped by some unidentified bearded men. They threatened me, saying that I will be ‘eliminated from the world’ in the same manner in which I had removed the graffiti from the church walls.”. He added that the person who opened fire on him on Sunday was among those who had threatened him three days ago.
