The Islamic State reportedly crucified kidnapped Indian Catholic priest Father Thomas Uzhunnali, 56, on Good Friday, confirmed by the Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna.
Father Thomas was abducted while the jihadists attacked a retirement home run by the Missionaries of Charity in Aden on March 4. The jihadists killed 16 people, including four nuns, during the attack.
The execution was symbolic as it is said to be done by the same method the Romans used to kill Jesus. While the Indian government is yet to confirm the killing, media reports said Father Thomas was tortured before he was crucified. Father Thomas is a Catholic priest from the Kottayam district of Kerala who worked with Mother Teresa's Missionaries Of Charity.
Sources from India’s ministry of external affairs said the Centre has been trying its best to get information, but is yet to get any confirmation. It also got in touch with the Vatican, which remains just as much in the dark about the Father's whereabouts.
The news came to light after a South Africa-based religious group, the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen claimed in a Facebook post last week, that they were informed the priest was being tortured and that the IS has planned his crucifixion on Good Friday.
Christian website Aleteia published a handwritten account of the IS attack on the old age home, by a nun who witnessed the entire event. She claimed five young Ethiopian Christian men ran to the sisters to tell them IS terrorists were coming to kill them. The article also describes the brutal killing of many people at the home.
“A neighbour saw them put Father in their car. They did not find a trace of Father anywhere,” it said. The article, written by Sister Sally, the superior who was the only one to escape, clearly states how the extremists weeded out the only Christians present in the old age home.
“They smashed the tabernacle, crucifix, statues, religious articles and religious books.” The Missionaries of Charity were “the only Christian presence” in Aden, the letter says, “and ISIS wants to get rid of all Christianity.”
Captors send video demanding huge ransom
Reports, meanwhile said that the captors of Father Thomas have sent a video to the Indian government demanding millions of dollars in ransom. The video showed Father Thomas, a Salesian priest, asking for help with a man standing behind him. However, there is no confirmation on whether Father Thomas Uzhunnalil is now dead or alive.
The Indian government has been in touch with several local agencies to get the priest rescued. The reports of his alleged crucifixion was also dispelled after the government got in touch with ambassadors of the Catholic Church. The sources also added that the government is unsure whether the IS is involved since the terrorist organisation opts for beheadings and not crucifixion.
Taliban attack Lahore Park on Easter
At least 75 people were killed and more than 300 people, including women and children, injured in a powerful blast triggered by a suicide bomber in a crowded park in Lahore on Sunday, where Christians had gone to celebrate Easter, officials said.
Witnesses saw scattered body parts spread across the site of the explosion and a bomb disposal squad official said that 10 to 12 kg of explosives were used in the attack.
Following the attack, Pakistan launched a major military operation in Punjab province of the country. Intelligence agencies along with the Army and Rangers personnel are conducting raids, making arrests, and carrying out a series of operations in different parts of the region.
ce officer Haider Ashraf said, “It was a soft target. Innocent women and children and visitors from other cities have been targeted. It seems like a suicide attack.”
Army media wing Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said, “A number of suspected terrorists and facilitators have been arrested during raids which were conducted in Lahore, Faisalabad, and Multan, after the Lahore suicide explosion.”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack saying, “Terrorists and their facilitators will eventually meet their logical end. We have to win the war (against terror). Coward terrorists are targeting innocent children and women. We must take this war to the doors of terrorist outfits before they are able to hit our innocent countrymen.”
Resolving once again to eliminate the threat of terrorism from the country, Sharif said winning the war against terrorism was “imperative” for the country.
The attacks were claimed by the Taliban. Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban known as Jamat-ul-Ahrar vowed such attacks would continue.
According to a report published in an American magazine, the Taliban, Islamic State, and other regional terrorist organisations have engaged in attacks against the West with a devotion that is at most, daunting. The repeated strikes have set off a domino effect with their beliefs and attacks as the rest of the world chooses to associate terrorist attacks with Muslims which, in turn, has resulted in attacks instigated by Islamophobia and ignorance. Terrorism is not an Islamic event. Those who are well-versed with the Holy Quran, will easily identify the difference between Islam’s teachings and the ongoing actions. Muslims are just as much victimised by the IS or the Taliban, as the others, maybe more.
Religious Freedom
Religious freedom is an increasingly significant issue for the UK as for other countries around the world. The eve of Easter weekend saw the murder of a shopkeeper in Glasgow, Asad Shah from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which police said appears linked to his religious beliefs as expressed on social media in Easter greetings to customers.
Glasgow’s community has stood together in the face of that attack, rallying through the #thatisnotwhoweare campaign. The murder, by a Muslim, has been described as sectarian. It has been condemned by bodies such as the Muslim Council of Britain and others.
National faith communities in the UK seek to respond to incidents here and also to support those around the world whose religious freedom is truncated, often brutally, including through murders and terrorist attacks, such as, most recently, the appalling Easter day attacks in Lahore, and atrocities in other parts of the world. Attacks on, or intimidation of, groups and individuals of other beliefs are an extreme form of restriction on the religious freedom of others. We deplore these in the strongest terms.
A number of Inter Faith Network for the UK work to promote inter faith understanding and cooperation, make an important contribution to that. One of the key principles of the Network is to respect other people’s freedom within the law to express their beliefs and convictions http://www.interfaith.org.uk/code We must be free to disagree, including in relation to matters of religious belief, but, as the Inter Faith Network code also says, we should work to prevent disagreement leading to conflict and to avoid violence in our relationships.
Let us stand firm by these values, speak out against extreme voices and violent actions, encouraging education and dialogue, and working together on the basis of our common values for increased understanding, cooperation and harmonious coexistence.
- Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Inter Faith Network, UK
