Pakistan: Checks to Christian Victims of Islamic Terror Attack Bounce

Pakistani Christians chant slogans during a demonstration demanding that the government rebuild their homes after they were burned down following an alleged blasphemy incident, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, March 10, 2013. The incident in Lahore began on Friday, March 8, 2013 after a Muslim accused a Christian man of blasphemy, an offence that in Pakistan is punished by life in prison or death. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Some 265 checks distributed by the Pakistani government to Christian victims of an Islamist terror attack in Joseph Colony have bounced.

The checks were meant to serve as compensation for a March 9 attack in which an over 3,000-member mob set fire to more than 150 Christian homes in Joseph Colony after alleged blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad were made by Sawan Masih, a 28-year-old Christian sanitation worker.

The Express Tribune reports:

LAHORE: The cheques distributed among victims of the Joseph Colony attack by the Punjab government bounced, Express News reported Thursday. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced (Rupees) 5 million in compensation for each of those affected in the mob attack. However, the 265 cheques distributed by the government have bounced.

According to reports, the finance ministry had issued the amount promised. When the cheques bounced, the victims started protesting.

 

Islamic scholar Robert Spencer observes that it is not surprising the checks bounced, as those considered infidels are not entitled to monetary compensation by Muslims. Rather, it is the other way around. Of course Spencer is referring to the “jizya” — a poll tax Islamic leaders demand of their non-Muslim subjects.

Quoting from the Quran 9:29:

“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

 

(h/t: Jihad Watch)