July 12, 2007

Greetings, Friends!

I know that some of you may be worried about us given the current events in Islamabad. Worry not—we are safe and well!

Islamabad is over four hours by car from Lahore. In some ways, the situation in Islamabad (with the Red Mosque, or "Lall Masjid") is an isolated one, centered on a single madrassah and mosque. Fortunately, there are few Pakistanis, at least in our part of the country, that have had any sympathy with these people. However, now that the two brothers running the place have been neutralized (one captured, one killed), some fear that the northern and western parts of Pakistan, where the Taliban movement is strong, will erupt in violence, and that other madrassahs with the same perspective may take up the struggle. This is a real fear, and this country needs your prayers for peace to reign. We are being cautious, and keeping informed. Moreover, our Pakistani friends are being vigilant on our behalf. They worry about us more than we worry about ourselves!

I also want to make sure that all of you understand the pressures that Pakistan has faced in the past few weeks. The largest city, Karachi, has faced disastrous flooding, followed a few weeks later by deadly riots over the situation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Then, on the tail of the floods, a typhoon blew along, and then across, the Pakistani coast, further inundating Karachi and dealing its already fragile power grid a powerful blow.

That was not the worst part, however. Torrential rains wiped out the already minimal civil infrastructure in lower Balochistan, Pakistan's huge southwestern province. Many people in this arid place live in mud huts. The rains caused thousands of these structures to collapse, killing their occupants by the hundreds. Poorly made roads washed away with the rains, causing enormous logistical problems for the government to deliver any relief to these poor souls. There were 800,000 people stranded on roofs of the few houses left standing, in 110-degree heat. The people battled flies, malaria, cholera, hunger, thirst. The waters have receded, but things haven't gotten much better for these folks. And, no one outside (or even inside) Pakistan seems to care.

It is a very tense time in Pakistan.

Tonight, a very handsome older man (the number of men here who look like Omar Sharif is amazing) was interviewed about the Lal Masjid situation in a “man-on-the-street” interview. You could tell that he was getting more upset the more he talked, and he was especially upset by the cowardly use of women and small children as human shields by the militants. “What about the kiddies? The little children? Shouldn't we be looking out for them? All I can say is, ‘God help Pakistan!’”

Please, my friends, join this man in his prayer: God help this nation!

Robert Johnson and Marianne Vermeer
Presbyterian Church (USA) Mission Co-workers

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 111