Daughter of leader used as human shield
By Jawad Mazhar
Pakistan Campus Crusade for Christ (PCCC), one of the country’s largest parachurch organizations, has been robbed.
The attack on Bright House, the Karachi headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ International, the international group founded by Dr. Bill Bright, took place on April 23, 2011, when an estimated six armed robbers attacked the property.
The unknown gunmen, brandishing firearms, kicked open the main entrance gate of the building, which is also the residence of the Rev. Shahid Kamal, the national director of PCCC who was away on a trip to South Korea to participate in an international leadership conference.
The Rev. Zahid Kamal who works for PCCC in the Sargodha region said that the robbers trussed up the a guard, Muhammad Tariq, a servant, Aslam Masih, Mrs. Maroofa Kamal, National Prayer Director for PCCC, and also their children, Semab, Yuoab and Zariyab.
He told ANS, “The national director’s three year old daughter, Nayyab Kamal, was taken at gunpoint by robbers and used as a shield.
The Rev. Zahid Kamal said that at first the robbers looted the residence and stole a laptop, five digital cameras, six cellphones, and jewelry, as well as cash worth about $5,919.00 USD.
Later, he said, they headed towards the office of PCCC and from there they absconded with check books and cash of around $1,184.00 USD.
The also hurled threats at the family of the PCCC national director and told them not to inform the police otherwise they would kill him.
ANS has established that shortly before the robbery, a new Muslim armed guard was appointed to protect the PCCC headquarter, and we have discovered that some of the suspected men had twice visited the newly-appointed guard, Rev Zahid Kamal said in his first hand account, that recently some suspected men visited the same Muslim gun-man twice particularly a day before the robbery.
The incident took place within the jurisdictions of Ferozeabad Police Station and ANS has learned that police at once registered a First Information Report # 336/2011, under section/s 392-109 (planned robbery) and 34 (illegal weapons) of Pakistan Penal Code.
The Rev. Zahid Kamal said a month has passed since the crime was committed, but police have failed to “crack the case” and he has appealed to the country’s President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of Pakistani Apex Court to intervene and ensure that “justice is served” to the PCCC. — ASSIST News Service
