Father George Ibrahim was brutally murdered in the early hours of July 5 as six armed assailants entered his home in Renala Khord and shot him and his parish assistant. Local police are claiming that the attack was a robbery but church leaders believe that Father Ibrahim was murdered and his assistant wounded because of the government's decision last fall to return a former Catholic school to Ibrahim's parish after thirty years of state control. When the Supreme Court declared in the early 1990's that the forced nationalization of Pakistan's Urdu-language schools in 1972 had been unconstitutional, private school owners began to apply for the return of the schools. Government-employed teachers and administrators, and militant Muslim groups have often opposed such applications. Shahbaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, told VOM that Father Ibrahim had been receiving death threats and that there are militant Islamic groups in the area who do not want Christians to be prosperous. Private schools run by Christians are typically seen as offering superior education to state or Islamic schools. Christian schoolmaster Pervez Masih was accused of blasphemy in 2001 by a rival Muslim schoolmaster because of the success and popularity of Pervez's school.
Pray that those responsible for this murder will be brought to justice. Pray for Christian schools and their administrators and teachers in Pakistan. Pray that God would give them strength and courage as they faithfully serve Him.
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