Source: www.morningstarnews.org
Date: September 6, 2024
Evangelistic team obtains rare bail.
By Christian Daily International-Morning Star News
Members of the Rawalpindi Railways Police. (Pakistani Railways Police Rawalpindi Division Facebook)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A Christian woman arrested under Pakistan’s blasphemy law along with her sister and three other Christians has vowed to continue preaching the gospel to Muslims.
“I am working for the Lord, and I’m prepared to pay the price for this service,” said Saba Boota, a 27-year-old resident of France Colony in Islamabad, after a court granted bail to her and her four team members on Thursday (Sept. 5).
Rawalpindi Railways Police on Wednesday evening (Sept. 4) arrested Boota, her 24-year-old sister Anita Boota, 22-year-old Adeel Shamaun, 17-year-old Zubaeyen Samson and British national Jonathan Howard, 34, after members of Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) objected to their sharing about Christ with Muslims.
“I was preaching to a crowd at the railway station when some TLP members came there and started intimidating our group, even though I had said nothing against the Islamic faith,” Boota told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News after her release from custody.
Formerly a member of the Roman Catholic church, Saba and her sister joined the Pentecostal, United Mission of God Church some years ago. Holder of a Master’s in Education but currently unemployed, Boota said she and her sister had formed an evangelistic group to spread Christ’s message of hope and salvation among Muslims.
“In my sermon, I said that religious rites like fasting and Zakat [an annual alms that Muslims are expected to pay] were not a guarantee for our salvation, and that Jesus Christ is the only source of eternal life,” Boota said. “The crowd was listening very intently when the TLP members arrived there and disrupted the sermon.”
She added that the TLP members started heckling the Christian group, but timely intervention by police prevented violence.
Police took them into custody, where senior officers questioned them for more than four hours, she said.
“The officers agreed with us that we had said nothing disrespectful to Islam, but they registered a blasphemy case against us due to pressure exerted by the TLP,” Boota said.
Police registered the case under Section 298 of the blasphemy law for deliberately hurting religious sentiments, which carries a punishment of up to one year in prison and/or a fine; Section 120 of the Railways Act for “committing nuisance on a railway,” punishable by up to six months in prison and/or a fine; and Section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, “a criminal act done by several persons with a common intention.”
Boota said that the British Christian worker, Howard, had joined the Pakistani group for the first time.
“This was our first preaching mission with Brother Jonathan,” she said. “The other male members of the group, Adeel and Shamaun, are from humble backgrounds like us and share our passion for serving Christ.”
Expressing the group’s determination to continue with their preaching mission, Boota said the police case and threats by Islamist groups would not deter them from sharing the gospel.
“In Matt. 28:19-20, Christ has bestowed upon us the global mission of spreading the gospel,” she said. “It’s a call to action for all believers, promising His presence with us as we fulfill this commission.”
Christian attorney Waheed Javed said the police had sought their physical remand, but that fortunately the court granted them bail against surety bonds of 100,000 rupees ($358 USD) each.
He said that timely intervention by the police had prevented the situation from escalating.
“Anything could have happened given the TLP’s record of inciting violence against Christians in the name of blasphemy,” Javed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, adding that the group should exercise caution as the TLP and other Islamic extremist groups seek to persecute Christians.
Hundreds of people were incarcerated on blasphemy charges during 2023 in Pakistan, with 552 detained in prisons in Punjab Province alone, according to the research organization Center for Social Justice (CSJ). At least 350 persons were behind bars in June 2024, while 103 new persons had been accused of blasphemy between January and June 2024, the CSJ stated.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.