Christian Leader Shot Dead In Pakistan In Suspected Islamist Attack

12/03/2011 Pakistan (ANS)-A leading figure in the Christian community has been shot dead in Pakistan, having previously received death threats. According to a news release from the Barnabas Fund, Jameel Sawan, a preacher, evangelist and champion of minority rights, was gunned down in Karachi on Nov. 16. He was a city businessman, but spent a lot of his time pastoring Christians and sharing the Gospel with Muslims.

The Barnabas Fund said Sawan had also been a close aide to Saleem Khursheed Khokhar, who is chairman of the Standing Committee on Minorities Affairs in the Sindh Assembly and president of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance in Sindh.
Both men had received death threats from Muslim extremists because of their involvement in campaigning for minority rights and support for policies initiated by the assassinated Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti.
The Barnabas Fund said Khokhar initiated a two-minute silence at the Sindh Assembly for Sawan, as well as three Hindu doctors who were killed in Shikarpur a few days earlier. He also appealed for protection and financial assistance for Sawan’s family.
Sawan leaves a wife, two sons and three daughters. His family believes that he was targeted by a radical Muslim group(Source).