Pakistan (MNN) ― Pakistan is bracing for a titanic wave displacement of people in the Swat Valley.
Helicopter gunships and artillery swung into action Wednesday against Taliban in Swat. Officials estimate that as many as 800,000 people are on the run as the government pounds the Taliban back into line.
While many of the refugees are heading for relatives' homes, humanitarian agencies are struggling to accommodate the thousands pouring into refugee camps.
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs notes that the stakes are high for believers. "The Taliban do not want a Christian presence in the area that they control. They do not really want a Christian presence in Pakistan, at all."
The 3-month-old truce didn't work. Rather than lay down their arms, the Taliban expanded its reach from Swat into Lower Dir and Buner. Their constant forays were an apparent land grab designed to test the government's resolve.
The fighting also disrupted ministry. When the Taliban came through to enforce sharia law, beheading officials and burning girls' schools, Christians were hit, too. Nettleton says, "I have heard of direct attacks against Christians. I think it is only natural that as the Taliban advances, churches will be targeted. Christian homes will be targeted. And people will be asked to pay the protection tax to stay in the area."
Compass Direct backs up that report. They indicate that on April 21, as members of a congregation erased pro-Taliban graffiti on their church in Taiser town, near Karachi, armed men intervened to stop them. Soon 30-40 others arrived as support and began to fire indiscriminately at the crowd; among those seriously injured were three Christians, including a child, according to a report by advocacy group Minorities Concern of Pakistan.
A legal advocacy worker told Compass that police stood by as a Taliban-assembled mob attacked the Christians. "The Christians do not have guns, they do not have weapons, but only a little bit of property and the few things in their houses," said Sohail Johnson, chief coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan.
A representative of the Muttahida Quami Movement regional party told Compass that after firing on the crowd, Taliban fighters went through Christian houses, ransacked them and burned one down. He said they also burned Bibles and beat women on the street. Reports of two execution-style killings of Christians could not be verified.
Christians fear inciting violence by taking a stand against elements connected with the Taliban.
Pray for their protection and pray for the boldness of the evangelists and church planters during this time. Pray that Pakistani Christians will remain unshaken from the work the Lord has given them, trusting Him to bring eternal results . Ask God to give healing to those injured. Pray that those mourning for the martyred believers will find comfort in Christ.
