Pakistan's minority rights activist attacked in S Korea seeks help for medical treatment

A Pakistani minority rights activist and lawyer attacked with a knife in South Korea on Tuesday has sought help for his medical treatment.

A Pakist minority rights activist and lawyer attacked with a knife in South Korea on Tuesday has sought help for his medical treatment.

Rahat John Austin, a Christian born in Pakistan, has been raising his voice for the persecuted minorities back home. He had to flee from Pakistan and is now living with his family in South Korea.

On January 5, Rahat was attacked by an unidentified man with a knife. It was an assassination attempt. He got injured and was admitted to the hospital.

In a video message, Rahat Austin said, "I was attacked by an Islamist jihadist. He had a knife and the words he said were 'Allahu Akbar'. He seems to be from a country in the Middle East."

He said, "I don't know why these violent people do such things everywhere in the world. We are not doing anything wrong. I just personally report the incident of persecution, genocide and systematic ethnic cleansing which the Muslim majority people are doing like `jihad' against non-Muslims."

"We were 23 per cent when Pakistan was created 70 years ago in 1947. We are not just 3 per cent. It's a systematic genocide. Because of controlled media and government policies to hide such atrocities, nobody reports these. If I did not defend myself, he would have beheaded me. These are just crazy people," said Rahat John Austin.

His left eyeball for which he got surgery a few months ago is severely injured. His nose bone is broken which also needs surgery.

According to Korean law, injuries inflicted during the violence aren't covered by insurance. He incurred a hospital bill of USD 680 only for a minor eye check-up.

Rahat has launched a fundraising drive for his treatment. About 8000 Euros are needed for both nose and eye surgery and treatment.

He is the author of two books: "Thousand Shades of Slavery" on human trafficking in Pakistan and "The Dracula State" on the biased constitution and blasphemy laws of Pakistan. He is working on his third book titled "Pakistan: The Chronicles of Terrorism-- Past, Present and Future, which is expected to be launched this year.

Rahat has been writing and raising a voice against persecution and atrocities on religious and ethnic minorities in Pakistan since 2009 on different national and international platforms and social media.

He was writing blogs and articles. He, with his team of volunteers, reports incidents of persecution of non-Muslims in the Islamic republic of Pakistan which are not covered by Pakist media because of the policy of hiding such atrocities.

His reports are published and widely covered by various reputed media houses, both broadcast and print media.

Covering such reports of persecution of non-Muslims is considered anti-state and anti-Islam by the government and the majority in Pakist society. For all these activities, Rahat Austin (@johnaustin47) and his family have been a target of threats and violence various times.

( With inputs from ANI )