PAKISTAN: Infanticide Rising

The numbers tell of the worsening situation in Pakistan against newly born babies. In 2010 alone, 1,200 infants died of infanticide or abandoned to die for unknown reasons. Observers believe that this rise resulted from Islamic laws that condemn children born outside marriage and criminalize adultery. It reflects a 20 percent rise from the 2009 count of 999 cases, and 34.8 percent from 2008, which recorded 890 infant deaths.

Most children found had less than a week old.  

Tragic Tales

An infant (age 6) was discovered with burnt body and strangled to death. Another child had been stoned to death  on orders of an extremist imam, and found on the steps of a mosque.  

IRAQ: Muslim Extremists Seek to Drive Christians Out

Three days before the special Synod for Bishos for the Middle East ends, Jordanian priest Father Raymond Moussalli, Protosyncellus of teh Patriarchate of Bablyon of the Chaldeans, said the Catholic Church in Iraq is under attack. 

"There is a deliberate campaign to drive Christians out of the country," he said.

In addition to that, Father Moussalli continued: "There are satanic plans by fundamentalist extremist groups that are not only against Christians in Iraq, but Christians throughout the Middle East."

Patriarch Antonios Naguib of Alexandria reported that the real threat came from an increasingly political for of Islam, which seeks to impose totalitarianism, and "to impose an Islamic way of life on all citizens, sometimes by violence." The "fundamentalists" or extremists though are the minority in the Middle East,w ith the peaceful majority that sees no problem in living serenely with non-Muslims.

Source

CNA (2010): "Vatican synod sees growing concern over Islam," Catholic News Agency 21 October 2010