Islamization in Quebec > New bill will provoke a fight with Islam in Quebec if it can be enforced

 

Quebec thinks it can legislate a godless province

New bill will require newcomers to Quebec to adopt ‘common culture,’ minister says

Quebec’s immigration minister says newcomers to the province need to embrace the “common culture” to avoid ghettoization.

The Quebec government will table a new bill on the integration of immigrants on Thursday, which will require newcomers to adhere to Quebec values like gender equality and secularism.

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters today that Canada has never defined its own common culture, and the Canadian model of multiculturalism doesn’t work for Quebec.

Does it work anywhere in Canada?

Roberge says there will be mechanisms in the law to ensure its principles are followed, but offered no details.

He says he wants immigrants to attend Quebec shows, films and celebrations and to mix with people outside their own communities.

Roberge says the bill is in line with his government’s previous Quebec identity-related legislation, including the secularism law and the language reform.

2:1

‘Political Islam’ Wants to ‘Secede’ from France – Macron

Of course, he is wrong to begin with; Islam doesn't want to secede from France; Islam wants France under Sharia Law. Islam wants every country under Sharia. But, at least Macron has recognized there is an elephant in the room and verbalized that realization. It may be too late to do anything about it, but, you never know.

©Reuters / Benoit Tessier

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed an ‘intractable’ fight against ‘political Islam,’ which he said seeks secession from the French Republic. His comments left many puzzled about his goals.

After delivering a speech addressing numerous social issues tied to France’s burgeoning protest movement, the Yellow Vests, Macron’s press conference took an odd turn when he laid into the French Muslim population.

“We are talking about people who, in the name of a religion, pursue a political project,” he said. “A political Islam that wants to secede from our Republic,” against which he asked the government to be “intractable.”

Macron also gave a ringing defense of French secularism, and called out “communitarianism.”

No-Go Zones, France

“We must not hide ourselves when we talk about secularism, we do not really talk about secularism, we talk about the communitarianism that has settled in certain districts of the Republic,” Macron said, referring to Muslim communities.

The government has in recent months worked to strengthen the enforcement of a 1905 law mandating a separation of church and state, Macron said, threatening to shut down “more associations or cultural institutions when they do not respect the rules of the Republic."

The move appears to make good on a statement Macron gave last year, saying he wanted to create an “Islam of France,” wherein the government would “set down markers on the entire way in which Islam is organized” in the country.

Good luck with that, Emmanuel! Better men than you have tried to rescue Islam from its barbaric roots, and failed miserably. Islam will always come back to its violent, bloody, intolerant roots.

‘You are Islam’s Black Sheep’: 300 Austrian Imams Condemn ISIS Terrorists

Good for them! I believe this to be a true expression of how most Austrian Muslims feel, but not all. In a previous post it was clear that some Austrian Muslims were not as secular minded as the Imams appear to be. Also, some will believe that this is Taqiyah - the practice of denying one's faith in the midst of unbelievers. Taqiyah is outright lying and is authorized by Mohammed. I suspect there may be an element of that but that most of these Imams are genuinely secularized.

The problem comes later when the next generation becomes more fundamentalist than their parents, or when the Salafists from the Gulf States begin to greatly influence Austrian Muslims.

Austria's Imams lift a banner in Vienna, Austria June 14, 2017. © Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters

Islamic clerics in Austria have produced a 9-point declaration, calling ISIS terrorists “black sheep” and urging fellow believers to play a greater role in society, days after Austria introduced a burqa ban and compulsory integration courses.

At least they are recognizing terrorists as Muslim. That's a start. MSM doesn't even do that.

300 imams representing the mainstream Islamic Religious Authority of Austria unveiled a text that “condemns terrorist and extremist acts of violence all over the world,” and “holds that the atrocities of the Islamic State terrorists are contrary to Islam and must be condemned most severely.” 180 imams, or local religious leaders, gathered in Vienna for a signing ceremony, and an additional 120 endorsed the declaration through email.

Would they condemn Mohammed, the first terrorist?

Austria's Imams gather in front of a mosque in Vienna, Austria June 14, 2017. © Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters

The document placed particular attention on reaffirming Austria’s secular values.

“We emphasize the adherence to constitutional principles in the Republic of Austria, including the equality of all citizens before the law, pluralism, democracy and the rule of law,” the declaration says, which insists that “freedom is an indispensable asset for people and that the task of every society is to work for freedom at any time and place.”

According to government statistics, about 22 percent of the country’s 8.7 million population are “of a migrant background.” The exact number of Muslims is harder to calculate – with estimates varying between 5 and 10 percent – though all sources agree that demographic profiles and birthrates mean that they are over-represented among the young.

“Every Muslim man and Muslim woman is to play an active part in the security and peace of the country and its citizens,” the imams say. They also “call upon Muslims to participate actively in various social spheres.”

Amid a resurgence of the nationalist Freedom Party, largely provoked by the influx of over 90,000 migrants into the country since 2015, the discussion of integration, both for settled migrants and asylum-seekers, has dominated the public sphere.

A controversial law was passed by the centrist coalition last month, banning the burqa and niqab – full-face Islamic veils – from October this year, and forcing migrants to attend integration courses in exchange for receiving benefits.

But the declaration says that there is no deeper integration issue presented by Islam, insisting that “terrorism cannot be attributed to a religion, an ethnicity or a culture” and stating that “terrorists misuse our peaceful religion of Islam to reach their political goals.”

Not even Salafism or Wahhabism?

On Wednesday, Austrian security officials said that they knew of only 14 people who traveled to the Middle East to become jihadists in 2016, compared to over 100 at the peak of the Islamic State expansion in 2014. Officials said that their database featured around 300 jihadists, though some of them have been killed, or are still believed to be in Syria or Iraq.

Austria’s imams now further plan to publicize their religion’s peaceful intentions, with plans to send a copy of the declaration to leading politicians, and to form a human chain from a mosque to a Christian church.

Centre-Right Presidential Candidate Plays Religious 'Threat' Card in France

OPINION

François Fillon recently took aim at Catholicism, 

Judaism to appeal to secular sentiments in the 

politically insecure country

By Michael Coren, for CBC News 

Alain Juppé, left, watches François Fillon after the conservative presidential primary in Paris on Nov. 27. Fillon won France's first-ever conservative presidential primary after promising drastic free-market reforms and a crackdown on immigration and Islamic extremism. 

(Christophe Ena/Associated Press)

If we've learned anything from the Brexit surprise and the Donald Trump-election jolt, it's that those who claim to know precisely what is going on in the political world are often over-zealous in their confidence. Or to put it another way, predicting political outcomes is a fool's – or a journalist's – game. With all of their money and skills, the CIA, for example, was stunned by the immediacy of the Soviet decay, and with all of their experience and finesse, British intelligence had no idea Iran would become so Islamist so quickly.

We assume that the French, being Western and democratic, are merely better-dressed North Americans and thus easy to understand. Not so. Gallic politics is far more exotic, polarized and volatile than anything the Anglo-Saxon world can offer and we have no authentic idea what will happen next spring. What we do know is that the presidential front-runners are François Fillon and Marine Le Pen. The former, once prime minister under the now discredited president Nicolas Sarkozy, is the candidate of the latest manifestation of the mainstream right. Marine Le Pen is the daughter of that rancid old Nazi darling Jean-Marie Le Pen and, while the underdog, is barking loud and long.

The left is unlikely to make much of a mark in the coming election, largely because French socialism has been in a state of confusion for a generation, but also due to the increasing connection between working-class voters and the hard right. And here is the issue. The battle will be a struggle between two shades of deep, deep blue.

Admirer of U.K. neo-conservatives

Fillon is on the right of the French Republican movement. He's an admirer of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a close friend of the British neo-conservatives who were empowered in the 1980s and a man who is more than willing to listen politically and electorally when the Parisian sewers breathe. He's also unusual in that he's an Anglophile with a Welsh wife, and by no means unsympathetic to the Brexit culture.

French far-right Front National leader Marine Le Pen is greeted by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen

in Lyon, France on Nov. 30. (Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press)

Le Pen is, well, a Le Pen. Her father was the personification of the old French far right with all of its ambivalence towards the Nazis, anti-Semitism and fear and hatred of the United States, which it saw as the big brother of perfidious Britain. Marine is different, however, and almost certainly sincere when she claims to be distinct from dad. She has certainly done a great deal to expunge the party's apparent Jew-hatred, homophobia and penchant for black leather jackets and violence. She's built up relationships with Sephardic Jews in particular, the gay community and – important this – organized labour. A soft fascist? Perhaps, and that's bad enough; but many in the party refuse to change, even after a series of expulsions of the nastiest of the nasty.

Concerns about religion versus civil laws

But right-wing parties are in the ascendancy in Europe, which is why the traditional conservative movement in France chose Fillon rather than a safe, gentle pragmatist. France has been victim to numerous terrorist attacks and lost almost 250 people in the past two years. That must not be dismissed. The natural ceiling of the hard right was usually around 15 per cent at best, but myriad blue collar, middle class and even high-income French voters are now deeply shaken by what they see as the religious threat to their beloved republic.

I say "religious threat" because France has long been aggressively secular, and Fillon recently made a point of criticizing both Roman Catholicism and Judaism for not always observing the civil laws of the civil state. Some in the Jewish community condemned him for that, but this intensely intelligent man knew exactly what he was doing and saying.

From the end of the 18th century, the Catholic Church was under siege. Protestants were seen as outsiders as soon as they mobilized in the mid-16th, Jews have always occupied a complex and nuanced place in French society and now Muslims are perceived as a danger — not just due to terrorism carried out by fringe fanatics — but due to Islam's sense of orthodoxy and adherence. For so many people who will be voting in April, it's just not French.

Remember: this is the nation of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, repeated revolutions, the Dreyfus affair, Vichy collaboration and Algerian atrocities. The divisions are severe: Paris and provinces, educated and not, ethnic and proudly Gallic. In spite of what it seems and boasts, France is and has always been politically insecure and even democratically unstable. The nation, and by extension the European continent, could change dramatically before we even know it.

Columnist and broadcaster Michael Coren is the best-selling author of 16 books, translated into more than a dozen languages. He is currently studying for a Masters in Divinity at Trinity College, University of Toronto.

Indonesian Police Use Tear Gas as 1,000s of Muslims Rally Against Christian Governor

As in any country where Islam is dominant and increasingly so, tolerance for Christianity or any other religion becomes inversely proportional. IS is the extreme example where all religions, even other Muslim sects, were slaughtered without hesitation. 

Tolerance for Christianity, and even secularism, will slowly decrease in European countries where Muslims are welcomed in excessive numbers, especially if they cannot be absorbed quickly into western culture.


Members of hardline Muslim groups attend a protest against Jakarta's incumbent governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian running in the upcoming election, in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 4, 2016. © Beawiharta / Reuters

Tens of thousands of hardline Muslim protesters rallying against a non-Muslim governor they accuse of blasphemy marched in Jakarta, where multiple calls for violence and provocations from foreign jihadists resulted in tear gas and scuffles with police.

President Joko Widodo had put 18,000 police and military on alert in anticipation of the violence. The procession started as a peaceful march, but local Metro TV now reports that hardline Muslim protesters have reached the presidential palace, where they ran into police in riot gear. Some protesters threw plastic bottles into the police barricade.

Local TV One showed a fire that had been ignited at the national monument, where there are reports of thick black smoke, according to Reuters. The broadcasters said a vehicle had been overturned, but the cause was unclear.

Companies and businesses have asked their employees to work from home today, as the situation at present remains unpredictable. The Russian embassy also told its staff to stay home and to observe caution.

The latest accusations of blasphemy came after Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known also by his nickname Ahok, referred to a Koranic quote in an argument with political opponents who were urging Muslims not to vote for him. Being a Christian, hardline Muslims believe he has no right to quote their holy book to further his ends.

In other words, it doesn't matter what the Quran says, only who says it? It's what happens when you are caught disobeying the Quran - you shoot the guy who points it out.

Purnama has also faced frequent attacks from Indonesians because of his Christian background, and his remarks prompted major Muslim organizations and Syrian jihadists alike to call for him to step down. Last month, a photograph emerged online from the Syrian-based terrorist group Jabhat Al-Nusra with a banner saying “punish Ahok, or our bullets will.”

All I can say is, it's a good thing Indonesia is a secular country. I would hate to see what it would be like if it was Islamic.

The governor recently struck out at the opposition for citing a Koranic verse that they said warns Muslims against dealing with Christians and Jews, accusing them of “lying,” setting off a chain reaction. His later apologies did nothing to dissuade Indonesia’s leading hardliners, the Islamic Defenders Front, from calling for mass protests and demanding that the Chinese Christian be jailed.

Although it subscribes to a moderate form of Islam, Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, and suffers from frequent attacks against its Christian and Buddhist minorities.

While the government of Indonesia is officially secular, it recognizes 6 religions, the largest being Muslim (99% Sunnis) @ 87%, and Christian (Protestant and Catholic) @ 10%.

The minister for political, legal, and security affairs, Wiranto, will meet with the protesters today. On Thursday, President Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla released a statement calling for the rally to be peaceful.

In the meantime, an investigation into Purnama’s blasphemy has been launched by the police. The president, a Muslim, has vowed not to interfere in the probe, Reuters cited the Indonesian Clerical Council as saying.

His 'blasphemy' being that he quoted the Quran!

Ethnically Chinese people make up just one percent of Indonesia’s population of 250 million, so politicians such as Purnama rarely make it into office. In this case, oppositional sentiment against the governor is overwhelming, despite some social media pockets of support.

The country has seen its fair share of protests, but Friday’s was the biggest in quite some time. In extreme cases, people die, as was the case at a Bali nightclub in 2002, when an Islamist bombing claimed 202 lives. The current rise of Islamic State has led authorities to fear further attacks. Earlier in January, IS supporters mounted an attack in Jakarta, with explosions and gunfire heard in several downtown spots, including a mall. A standoff ensued at the Skyline Building, in which four assailants and four civilians were killed, and 23 others were injured.

Sultan Erdogan Moving Quickly Now To End Secularism in Turkey

Erdogan urges vote on presidential system

Middle EastTurkey, RT

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (photo by AFP)

Presstv - Hot on the heels of Prime Minister and longtime henchman Ahmet Davutoglu’s resignation, Turkey’s president has urged the holding of a national referendum on the introduction of a presidential system to replace the current parliamentary one in the country.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the referendum on Friday, a day after the premier’s resignation.

In order to flip the country’s ruling system, Turkey needs to make changes to its constitution, which itself requires popular approval.

“In order to be strong, we need to rapidly present a presidential system which is the guarantee of stability and trust to the approval of the people,” he said.

(Translated means - I get to be Sultan, and you get to do whatever I want you to do).

Observers say Erdogan may be incrementally accumulating power in his own hands, especially as he indirectly forced out Davutoglu, an ally who, while faithfully following the president’s line, introduced nuances of his own in running the country nevertheless.

Erdogan has been haranguing in favor of a presidential system based on the claim that the country cannot be run by two strongmen.

“A car that has two drivers cannot go without an accident. It will inevitably have an accident,” Ismail Kahraman, the speaker of the Grand National Assembly (Turkish parliament), who is an Erdogan ally, recently said in description of the bid for a presidential system.

Davutoglu had, however, asserted that such a system would eat away at his sphere of authority. On Thursday, he said he would resign from heading the ruling AKP party and premiership when a special congress session is held on May 22 to pick another person.

The party had already stripped the premier late last month of the power to elect provincial party officials, dealing a body blow to his political leeway.

No doubt orchestrated by Erdogan.

'Worse Than Military Coup,'

But EU Stays Silent on Erdogan Press Crackdown 

Sputnik, EUROPE

Can Dudar, centre, Erdem Gul, left, arriver at the Justice Palace © REUTERS/ Osman Orsal

Freedom of the press a bad joke in Turkey

Two journalists from Turkey's leading newspaper Cumhuriyet have been sentenced to five years in prison for revealing state secrets, but the case against them is purely political since the footage they published only confirmed what everybody already knows about Ankara's activities in Syria, Turkish journalist Zeynep Oral told Radio Sputnik.

Two prominent Turkish journalists, Can Dudar and Erdem Gul, were sentenced on Friday to five years ten months and five years in prison, respectively, for publishing footage that appears to show Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) smuggling arms to opposition groups in Syria.

​However, the charges of terrorism and espionage that were levied against them are baseless because the supposed state secret that they divulged has been well known for some time, Zeynep Oral, President of PEN Center Turkey and a columnist for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, told Radio Sputnik.

Attempted assassination of Dudar

Dudar's wife and lawyer grab man with a gun who tried to shoot Dudar on the court steps

"In fact both Can Dudar and Erdem Gul were put on trial for spying and terrorism, for attempting to put down the government and so many things, they were even prosecuted as terrorists, but the court acquitted them of all of these."

"They are only being punished for what they have written. The court insisted that they have revealed 'state secrets.' Those secrets are not secrets; everybody knows about them, there are tons of publications about them, it's not a secret any longer, this has already been published before."

Oral believes that the current state of journalism in Turkey is the worst she's seen in her 45-year career, and has resulted from the government's political interference in the media and arbitrary use of the court system.

"I have lived through three different military coups and in none of them was it so bad. At least when you had the military coups you knew what you could write, what was forbidden to write, what was not forbidden to write, what was permissible."

"Now there is uncertainty, you can be prosecuted for anything you write. The same article can be written by different names and one will be prosecuted and the other will not be prosecuted. For me this is a completely political court case, it has nothing to do with justice," Oral said.

At first the Turkish government claimed the trucks were only taking humanitarian aid to Syria, then changed their story and said they were providing arms for the Turkmen in Iraq.

"Then the Turkmen said no, we're not receiving any arms from the Turkish government."

"Then Mr. Erdogan declared, 'I shall not let them go free, they'll have to pay for this.'"

"I think the court obeyed the orders of Mr. Erdogan."


Secular constitution will give way to Islamic constitution

Oral said that while Turkey has a secular constitution, religion has been playing a greater role in political under the current government.

"In the last ten years we have made a lot of concessions in the field of secularism. The education is being changed, the law system is being changed. The president of the parliament is saying, 'we should change our constitution and take away secularism.'"

"All the resonances are becoming more and more religious. Of course, for me, that is unacceptable, not understandable, it's a counter-revolution I would say."


EU selling their soul

Turkey has recently become important to Europe "for the first time" because of its deal over the migrant crisis, but while the EU expresses concern about authoritarianism there, it will not interfere in support of European ideals regarding human rights, particularly freedom of expression, Oral said.

"They are ready to do anything to save their profits, their territory, I won't say their ideals."

"Profits and benefits are more important than ideals, these days, for the EU."

Sultan’s Family? Erdogan’s Children 

‘Walking in Golden Slippers’ 

Bilal Edrogan, son of President Erdogan © AFP 2016/ OZAN KOSE

Sputnik MIDDLE EAST

While Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s annual income stands at the modest level of €50,000 ($57,000), his children appear to walk in golden slippers. At the same time, there are no official statistics that appear to explain where all that money originates from, the German newspaper Bild reported.

According to the report, Erdogan’s children occupy luxurious villas and have businesses that are far from transparent. Bilal Erdogan, the Turkish leader’s younger son, for instance, has been suspected of several accounts of money laundering. He has been also spotted engaging in the 2013 corruption scandal along with his sister Esra, the paper notes.

Moreover, it was revealed last year that Bilal has long been covering up Turkish businessmen that close underground bargains with the Daesh extremist group with an annual value of up to $500 million. All attempts to investigate alleged crimes by the president’s son within Turkey had been “swept under the carpet," Aykut Erdogdu, member of opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) told earlier Sputnik Turkiye.


See No Evil: Erdogan's Son Blocks Access to Websites Detailing His Criminal Connections

The Russian Defense Ministry published last December satellite images that laid bare oil smuggling from Daesh-controlled territories in Syria to Turkey. Despite the country’s establishment’s denial of the allegations of involvement in the dirty business, the trade went on until at least till last February, the RT investigation unveiled.

"In fact, Bilal Erdoğan is up to his neck in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution," Gursel Tekin HDP vice-chairman told Turkish journalists in August.

Now Recep Erdogan is looking into opportunities to expand both the financial and political influence of his “clan,” Bild noted. After the resignation of current prime-minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the president has started to promote for that post Minister of Transport Binali Yildirim or Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law. Albayak is convenient to Erdogan, as he has proven his loyalty multiple times.

It Feels Like a 'Crime' to Be Christian in Pakistan

There are no angels in Islamabad; only politicians

The deplorable state of Christians in Pakistan

by WAJAHAT S. KHAN

Pakistani Christian children play in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad on Jan. 23. Muhammed Muheisen / AP, file

A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an Easter Sunday suicide attack on a park in Lahore and said Christians were "our prime target." In August 2014, NBC News examined what life is like for Christians in the country.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — This Islamic republic's wealthy and cosmopolitan capital is jokingly referred to as "a beautiful city 15 minutes from Pakistan." But life is no laughing matter for Islamabad's Christian community.

Most of the city's Christians can be found living in ramshackle houses constructed over open sewers in ghettos hidden from sight behind whitewashed walls. Authorities supply no power or gas to the slums, which are essentially cities within cities and in some cases are nestled between Islamabad's most plush neighborhoods.

Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah proclaimed in 1947 that his countrymen "may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state."

But the modern reality is very different. Most people in Pakistan are Muslims and Jinnah's imagined secular state has become increasingly theocratic after decades of dictatorships and official Islamism. 

This, I believe is typical evolution in an Islamic state. They tend toward theocracy and away from secularism. Look at Turkey, an intensely secular country when Attaturk separated it from the Ottomans a century ago. Now look at it! Erdogan is not so far from setting himself up as Sultan.

Europeans don't get this evolution. Many countries still think they can absorb an endless number of Muslims and maintain there western identity. They are fooling themselves and putting themselves in a position from which they can never extract themselves. Europe is living on borrowed time.

Christians, particularly the poor belonging to the agricultural center and north of the country, are considered outcasts by many and find themselves pushed to the edge of society.

Islamabad's Christians allege rampant discrimination by the conservative Pakistan Muslim League government. They say their small proportion of the population means they don't stand a chance at the ballot box and are now demanding a voice.

Recently retired cook Rehmat Masih has lived in Islamabad for four decades. The 65-year-old offers a bleak assessment of life in a Christian slum.

"I think being Christian, in this place, this Pakistan, is a crime," he said. "If we speak out, our corpses will be on the road."

Masih lives in "100 Quarters," a litter-strewn slum tucked between Islamabad's posh Margalla and Hill Roads. It is named after the first 100 apartments granted to Christians by the government in the 1960s, but it has since grown and now houses more than 1,000 Christian families.

"They say that Islamabad is a great capital of a great nation," said Masih, standing next to an overflowing drain. "But they let us live like this in middle of Islamabad. Officials drive by every day in BMWs and see this. Yet we are kept like this. Why?"

"WE ARE TOO SCATTERED, TOO DIVIDED, TOO UNEDUCATED"

According to the National Minority Alliance (NMA), Christians form under three percent of Pakistan's estimated 180 million people. But the community is spread all over the country, making it almost impossible for Christians to elect representatives who share their religion because they lack the numbers in a free-for-all poll. Almost always faced with a choice of a Muslim candidate from mainstream parties, they have to depend on a handful of "reserved" seats for minorities for representation in the 343-seat parliament, where non-Muslim minorities — Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians — have only 10 seats.

Critics like Samuel Yaqoob, of the Muslim-Christian Coalition, say those seats are given to "friends and favorites of the ruling parties, not actual spokespersons of our community."

"We are too scattered, too divided, too uneducated," added Robin Daniel, of the National Minority Alliance.

Many residents of the capital's Christian slums work in sanitation, cleaning sewers and collecting refuse. Others provide domestic help for Islamabad's well-heeled. Students from private high schools can be spotted with their expensive cars parked near the gates of such slums during afternoons, purchasing narcotics from Christian teenagers.

"Our problems are social, legal and political," said Shahryar Shams, 25, a newly graduated lawyer. "In theory, all fundamental rights for minorities are granted by the Constitution of Pakistan. But we lack organized political leadership in our own community. We face increasing extremism from the rest of society too ... But our biggest issue is that we are represented by those who are selected by the powers that be, and not through our direct vote."

In September, a suicide bomb attack on a church killed at least 75 people. And in March 2013, a Muslim mob set ablaze almost 200 buildings in a predominantly Christian neighborhood of Lahore.

Pakistan's much-debated "Blasphemy Law" is also often used to target Christians and other minorities. In 2012, 14-year-old Rimsha Masih was falsely accused of burning the Quran, the sacred Islamic text. Charges were later dropped amid international concern for her safety, but the law, remains on the books. Those accused under an anti-blasphemy law are sometimes lynched by the public even if they are found innocent by the courts.

One brave politician championed the idea of dropping the grossly misused Blasphemy Laws. He was murdered last year by the religion of peace.


But Fazeela Bibi, 17, a Christian high-school dropout who works as an office assistant at the American Embassy in Islamabad, suggested that the community was traditionally "not united" enough to drive change.

"One person can't do anything alone," she said, while preparing lunch over a wood stove in a 100 Quarters courtyard adjacent to a drain oozing out monsoon rains and refuse. "Injustice cannot be fought alone."

Fazeela Bibi, a 17-year-old resident of the "100 Quarters" slum, says Christians are unfairly treated in Pakistan but also acknowledges that the community is not organized. Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News
Masih, the retired cook, has been unsuccessfully trying for 14 months to meet his elected local representative to request repairs for a broken electric transformer. He wasn't too optimistic about the future.

"I'm pretty sure that we will remain living like this," he said. "That's how it's been for 67 years. There are no angels in Islamabad. Only politicians."