Convert to Islam or else- Pakistan's Talibanization

Christians (and other non-Muslims) in Muslim majority countries are increasingly facing harassment, violence and death. Here's something lovely just out of Pakistan:

Lawyers in Pakistan are investigating a report that up to 30 men tortured and gang-raped a young Christian man for refusing to convert to Islam. The victim is seriously injured and unable to move, Release International’s partner in Pakistan has reported. However, according to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) the police are keeping him locked up and have denied him medical treatment. The police are also refusing to register the rape following a counter-claim made by his principal attacker – “a man of influence”, Release International has told Christian Today.

According to Andy Dipper, CEO of Release International there has been a worrying increase in the amount of attacks on Christians in Pakistan:

“We are receiving reports of rape, abductions and forced conversion. Pakistan is becoming an increasingly difficult place for Christians to live. To make matters worse, the government is pushing through a law which could impose the death penalty for any Muslim man who converts to Christianity – and life imprisonment for any woman. As well as being an attack on the basic human rights of Muslims, this will also make things harder for Christians who preach the gospel.

(For more details on this story) H/T Weasel Zippers

Pakistan seems to be failing in its attempt to keep the extremists at bay. As much as they claim to be helping in the "War on Terror" they seem to be losing a major battle on the homefront. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was recently warned, by his Interior Ministry (in a 15 page document)

"that the influence of the extremists is swiftly bleeding east and deeper into his own country, threatening areas like Peshawar, Nowshera and Kohat, which were considered to be safeguarded by Pakistani government forces. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, the prime mover behind the document, narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack in April by extremists in his home area of Charsadda, 18 miles northeast of Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province. The attack on Mr. Sherpao shook his confidence in General Musharraf’s policy toward the militants, which has included a series of peace deals. Since the peace accords have been signed, the militants have filled a vacuum left by tribal leaders, who have taken a back seat, and by the military, which has retreated to its barracks, the president’s critics say. The policy has been questioned by the United States and by some of General Musharraf’s own officers. “It’s a policy of appeasement,” said Brig. Mahmood Shah, who was the senior Pakistani government official in charge of security in the tribal areas until last year. “It hasn’t worked. The Talibanization has increased in the past year.”

The document divulges the names of the many known Taliban (and other militant) leaders in that country and describes the various problems that they are facing in the various regions of Pakistan including:

In Swat, a scenic area that the government recommends for tourists, an extremist imam has begun to issue edicts against vaccination, female education and female health workers. A local FM radio station spouts jihadist beliefs, the document said.

In two areas, Bannu and Tank, the police are “patronizing the local Taliban and have abdicated the role of law and order,” the document said. In an example of the impotence of local government forces, the document said that “every military or sting operation” drew retaliation in the form of suicide bombings or terrorist attacks. In an illustration of the surge in violence, the report said Taliban fighters had gone on a rampage in Tank, ransacking banks, schools, gas pumps and
checkpoints after an assistant to a Taliban leader who was enrolling students for jihad operations was killed by the police.

In a series of recommendations, the document called for the local enforcement agencies to tackle the militants “head on.” But it gave no suggestion how that was to be done. It suggested blocking FM radio transmissions by extremists and called for a media campaign to mobilize public opinion.

A Western Diplomat claims that although the Pakistani government is aware of the spreading cancer of extremism in their country, they are either unable to do anything about it, or choose not to. Fear and appeasement will send us on a fast train to hell.

The problem with losing the Middle East to the fundamentalists (and that's happening faster than anyone cares to acknowledge) is that it's a quick hop, skip and a jump to Europe and then what?