Christian Pastor Murdered in Pakistan; Persecution Against the Christian Minority Escalates

Christian Pastor Murdered in Pakistan; Persecution Against the Christian Minority Escalates

Uzay Bulut

An unidentified assailant recently gunned down a Presbyterian Pakistani pastor outside his home in front of his daughter on Dec. 5, his family said. The pastor had previously survived an attack in September.

The Rev. Kamran Salamat of Gujranwala was preparing to take his 16-year-old daughter to college when an unidentified motorcyclist opened fire on him with a pistol, hitting him in the right wrist, left ear and lower abdomen, said the victim's brother-in-law, the Rev. Shahzad Salman. Pastor Salamat was 45.

“My brother-in-law succumbed to his injuries at the hospital three hours later,” Pastor Salman told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

Sources said Pastor Salamat had made several outreaches to lawless tribal regions in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, where he preached the gospel to Afghan and Pakistani Muslim tribesmen.

“It’s quite possible that he was martyred due to his missionary work,” a church leader said. “The truth will surface only after the police arrest the assailant.”

Condemning the assassination, the Rev. Reuben Qamar, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, demanded a thorough investigation as well as the immediate arrest of the assailants.

Pastor Naeem Nasir, a prominent Pentecostal preacher, said Pastor Salamat was killed in order to prevent him from proclaiming Christ, reported Christian Daily International.

“Extremists had been pursuing him and threatening him everywhere he went,” Pastor Nasir stated on Facebook, citing a phone call with the mother-in-law of the slain pastor. “He moved from Islamabad to Gujranwala, but they were still not satisfied. They wanted to stop his passion for preaching the gospel.”

More...