* NEW FEARS FOR FUTURE OF NEPAL * SATELLITES SHOW KAREN VILLAGES BURNT IN BURMA * WHY DO ISLAMISTS WHO HATE THE WEST WANT TO LIVE IN THE WEST? * CLAIM THAT CHRISTIANS ARE BEING MARGINALIZED IN UK * NIGERIA: TEN CHRISTIANS KILLED IN MUSLIM RAMPAGE * MANY TURNING TO CHRIST IN NORTH AFRICA ----------------------------------------------- NEW FEARS FOR FUTURE OF NEPAL By Surendra Phuyal Recent serial bombings in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, highlight the fragility of the transition to a new constitution and federal democracy. The blasts - in which three people were killed and more than 20 wounded - underline the security challenges in the run-up to the constituent assembly elections rescheduled for 22 November. The assembly is to write a new constitution. At its first meeting it must also decide the fate of King Gyanendra and the monarchy - another tricky issue. But growing divisions between former Maoist rebels and political parties in the governing alliance are casting a shadow over last year's historic peace accord and putting the future in doubt. Governing party leaders like Sujata Koirala, the only daughter of the Prime Minister, have already accused the Maoists of the attacks. The Maoists have rejected the accusation, and pointed the finger at elements in the army and the royal palace. Last November, seven political parties and the Maoists signed a peace deal ending 10 years of Maoist insurgency that had claimed more than 13,000 lives. In doing so, the parties pledged a new peaceful, stable and democratic Nepal. The constituent assembly was to write a "democratic, inclusive new constitution that would put the diverse Nepali people at the centre and make them truly sovereign", they promised. Less than a year later, the parties seem ill-prepared for the elections. The editor of the Nepal News puts it: "The Maoists don't seem prepared to face the electorate as they seem to realise they will fare badly. The road ahead going to be tough. Nepal's media are awash with reports of Maoists beating up activists from other parties around the country. And recently, things came to a head on the timing of elections, already postponed from June. Top Maoist leaders said the party and the nation were not prepared for the constituent assembly vote on 22 November. They denied however, that their party no longer wanted elections to a constituent assembly. Meanwhile Nepali Intercessors have issued the following prayer points as they request Christians around the world to pray for their nation. "Our nation is in great need. The prolonged monsoon this year has resulted in many villages being washed away by floods and landslides, thousands of people have been displaced and hundreds covered over by mud and debris. Many places became inaccessible and isolated because roads and bridges were carried away by flooded rivers and many more have died due to outbreaks of disease. Due to the political unrest almost everyday strikes hit cities and towns, markets, educational institutions and even hospitals. The capital city Kathmandu has been rocked by powerful bomb explosions. There is racial and religious violence in the western districts of the country. Over 30 people have been killed, more than 150 buses, trucks and other vehicles burnt down, hundreds of villages torched and thousands fled across the border to Indian cities and other parts of the country. The November 22nd Constituent Assembly Election (in which people are placing their hope for the resolution of the Nepal Crisis) is threatened. Political chaos is apparent, law and order is lost, there is anarchy everywhere, and one does not dare to travel by night-coaches. Everyday there are news of buses being looted, whilst burglary and stealing are escalating. God is dealing with our nation, which is filled with idolatry, paganism. In the midst of this the people of God are living in peace with the hope of deliverance by God's intervention. It is amazing how much the Church has grown in the past ten years, at a faster rate in fact than almost anywhere else in the world. Please stand with us and praise His name. He has made us more than conquerors! We are victors by HIS GRACE! Please pray: * for the awakening of the Nepali Church to prayer and the demonstration of the love of God for people wherever there are. * that the Nepali Christian leaders will accept the power of unity in working together to expand His Kingdom to the glory of God. * for peace, justice and harmony to arise among the people so that they will share a mutual vision and come together to build the Nation. * for political leaders to have their eyes opened by God and for them to come to an agreement on a united National agenda. * and that the prayers of the people will overturn the powers of darkness in Nepal. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- SATELLITES SHOW KAREN VILLAGES BURNT IN BURMA Satellite pictures show predominantly Christian Karen villages burnt to the ground in Burma, US researchers have said. The images were taken months before the military regime's latest dramatic crackdown on dissent. Patches of scorched earth corresponding to settlements reportedly destroyed are visible in the high-definition photographs taken by satellites and analysed by the Washington-based American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Now the group is analysing images from satellites trained on Burma's main cities during the recent uprising and subsequent crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by the Buddhist monks. In Karen areas of Burma, AAAS project director Lars Bromley told reporters that pictures taken had spotted foundations and fence lines with all the structures gone, where a village had earlier stood. "There is quite extensive evidence of possible forced relocation," Mr Bromley said. "We are trying to send a message to the military junta that we are watching from the sky ... We are warning them not to continue" the violence, said Aung Din, policy director of the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma. Aung Din said 3,000 villages had been destroyed by the military rulers, with 1.5 million refugees living along the country's borders and 500,000 internally displaced people hiding for their lives in its jungles and mountains. The military regime in Burma is intent on wiping out Christianity in the country. A secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry, contains point by point instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state. The text, which opens with the line "There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practised", calls for anyone caught evangelising to be imprisoned. Human rights groups claim that the treatment meted out to Christians, who make up six per cent of the population, is part of a wider campaign by the regime, also targeted at ethnic minority tribes, to create a uniform society in which the race and language is Burmese and the only accepted religion is Buddhism. The document may have been produced by a state-sponsored Buddhist group, but with the tacit approval of the military junta. The regime has denied authorship of the document - which also calls for teenagers to be prevented from wearing Western clothes - but has made no public attempt to refute or repudiate its contents. Eha Hsar Paw, a Karen Christian, who fled her village to a refugee camp near the border with Thailand while heavily pregnant , said: "The journey here was very difficult. It was hard to leave our village, but if we had stayed there, we would all be dead." Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- WHY DO ISLAMISTS WHO HATE THE WEST WANT TO LIVE IN THE WEST? Al-Arabiyya TV Director-General Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed criticized the hypocrisy of Islamist extremists who live and operate in the West. He said that while these extremists spread hatred for the West and its culture, at the same time they fight for the right to live there. "The common denominator shared by Abu Qatada, currently under arrest in Britain, Osama Nasser, who was kidnapped in Rome by the CIA and taken to Egypt, and Omar Bakri, who fled from London to Lebanon but is now begging to return to London, is that all of them want to live in the West, rather than in their native Islamic countries. Abu Qatada prefers to remain under arrest in Britain, rather than being deported to Jordan whilst Osama Nasser is likewise demanding to return to Milan, and is even suing for financial compensation. He said "We have never heard of these extremists wanting to immigrate to Somalia or Pakistan, or wanting to return to their countries of origin. This despite all their sermons and writings about religious duty and love of the homeland, and despite their characterization of others as 'infidels,' and calling their fellow believers to take up arms against these "infidels." "What makes Omar Bakri, who enjoys liberty in Britain, spread hatred against Britain, fight its culture, and say obscenely that Britain is a toilet in which he lives in order to defecate there? Does it make sense for someone like him to express a desire to return to Britain after everything he has said and done? "It is blatantly obvious that all three are enjoying all the benefits of the government they despise: They want the financial aid, the security, the rule of law, the justice and the freedom of expression afforded by this government. Is this not the epitome of hypocrisy? When they preach, aren't they greatly deceiving their followers - considering this discrepancy between what they say and what they do? "Extremist hate-mongers living in the West incite the Muslims in the East against Western countries - the same countries that have hosted them, given them protection and shelter, and in many cases financed the education of their children, including their Islamic studies. It is revolting to see writers denouncing the actions of Western governments that wish to get rid of the extremists by sending them back to their Islamic countries. These writers insist that Western countries spare them thus tolerating the ideological damage that they inflict on their societies." Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat ----------------------------------------------- CLAIM THAT CHRISTIANS ARE BEING MARGINALIZED IN UK A survey by the BBC has revealed "unprecedented disquiet among churchgoing Britons amid claims they increasingly face prejudice in the media, the workplace and even in their own communities." One in three Christians claim to have suffered discrimination because of their religious views. The report also noted that the poll shows a growing unease that multiculturalism has led to ethnic minority faiths being given special treatment, while there is a fear that the historic importance of Christianity in British life has been pushed to the sidelines. Referring to recent legislation that will force Christian adoption agencies to adopt children to homosexual couples, Tory MP and prominent Roman Catholic Ann Widdecombe said: "We should stand together and fight this discrimination. Christians are being marginalized, yet it is the established religion of this country." The Rev Malcolm Duncan, of Christian campaigning group Faithworks, added: "The Christian church is suffering more than all other faiths in the UK. There is an aggressive secularist agenda that says it's OK to support any group ending in 'ism' but not okay to support anything connected to Christianity." Source: This is London ----------------------------------------------- NIGERIA: TEN CHRISTIANS KILLED IN MUSLIM RAMPAGE A Muslim rampage in a town in northern Nigeria has resulted in the killing of 10 Christians and the destruction of nine churches, according to eyewitnesses. Another 61 people were injured and more than 500 displaced. The disturbance was touched off when Muslim students of a public high school, claimed that a Christian student had drawn a cartoon of Islam's prophet, Muhammad, on the wall of the school's mosque. Rabiu Danbawa, pastor of an area Evangelical Church of West Africa congregation, said he stood about 500 meters from his church and parish home as it burned. "There was nothing I could do," he said. Danbawa said he went to the police station, only to find the police dispersing the many Christians who had run there to escape the attack. "We were told to leave, as our safety could not be guaranteed," he said, in tears. "Women and children all scampered to the bush, only to be attacked by the Muslims who had already hid themselves in the bush awaiting their Christian prey." This is where the violent carnage took place. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- MANY TURNING TO CHRIST IN NORTH AFRICA The increase in terrorist activity in the name of Islam is actually having a positive affect on the number of people coming to Christ in Islamic nations in North Africa, according to Partners International. The number of Christians there has grown significantly in numbers, in some countries up to1000-percent. This growth has come mainly from one-on-one evangelism. Since these are Muslim countries, being a converted Christian is difficult, especially in your own family. Imagine you are a mother and a father, you've converted, you are now a Christian, but it is difficult and almost impossible to share this with your children. Obviously your children do not have the same security concerns, so they are going to talk to their friends which can often lead to the authorities becoming aware of the conversion which can in turn generate persecution.. One-on-one evangelism through the showing of God's love is the best way for people to share their faith. The relational interaction carries a lot of weight. Source: Intercessors Network
top of page