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August 2, 2006
Afghanistan: Muslim Clerics Want Christians Deported
News from Reuters via Khaleej Times states that 500 Islamic clerics have gathered in a mosque in Mazar-I-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. They want to see Christian aid workers from South Korea deported.
Protest organiser Sayed Haider Hashimi said: "They are not needed here. They have come to promulgate Christianity and the government should send them out."
Another cleric warned of "bad consequences" if the Christians were not expelled. There are currently 1,000 Christians from South Korea in the country, who say they are there to assist people with computer skills, language and to provide education and health facilities. A further 500 are expected to arrive soon.
A government official from the town said he had seen no sign of the visitors spreading Christianity. 200 of the Koreans are attending a "peace festival" in Mazar-I-Sharif, despite warnings from Seoul that this could make them susceptible to attacks.
In March in Mazar-i-Sharif there had been a large protest which had lasted for about two hours, with protesters chanting "Death to Bush!" and other anti-Western slogans. This protest was to express anger at a court's decision to drop the case against Abdul Rahman, a convert to Christianity. Rahman had been on trial for apostasy, and if found guilty would have received the death sentence.
UPDATE: More information has come from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Christians who had planned the three day "peace festival" were ultimately prevented from staging the event, which apparently was due to start on August 5. The event was to have included a medical conference and two football (soccer) matches at Kabul's Olympic Stadium between a Korean team and Afghanistan's national team.
The group belong to the Institute of Asian Culture and Development which has organised humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan since January 2002.
Ali Askar Laly, an adviser with the Afghan Football Federation, stated: "According to the information we have received, they wanted to do propaganda for Christianity here. Members of the nongovernmental organization that was bringing the [Korean football] team here were expelled from Afghanistan today. For that reason, it was not possible for [the Korean players] to come."
Central Asia director for the Institute of Asian Culture and Development, Kang Sung Han, has claimed misinformation had led to claims of the group proselytising, and the NGO is "shocked" by the negative reaction.
After the behaviour of the government and clerics concerning the Christian, Abdul Rahman, in March, no-one should be shocked by anything which happens in Afghanistan. To attempt to spread Christianity is a crime in Aghanistan. Every country in the West which bases itself upon Judeo-Christian thought is currently being targeted by Muslims, mostly funded by the Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia, who are trying to build mosques and gain converts. Ironically, no-one is allowed to practise Christianity, let alone proselytise, in the land of Mecca and the Wahhabis.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 2, 2006 12:49 PM
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