Christianity in Pakistan

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The adherents of Christianity are the largest religious minority community in Pakistan, numbering only around 1.6 million people, or 1% of Pakistan's entire population, according to the sources cited in the Demographics of Pakistan. However, this number is debatable as Catholic Church's record of births contains higher figures than this.

Contents 1 Origins and Organization 2 Community Issues 2.1 The 1990s 2.2 Conversions and Violence 2.3 Faisalabad Riots 2.4 Persecution of Christians in Pakistan 2.4.1 Blasphemy Laws 2.4.2 Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Origins and Organization

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The exact introduction of Christianity to the South Asia is a debatable topic, with the Syrian Christian community in Kerala, South India being recorded as the earliest. Missionaries accompanied colonizing forces from Portugal, France and Great Britain, but in north western Ancient India, today's Pakistan, Christianity was mainly brought by the British rulers of India in the later 18th and 19th century. This is evidenced in cities established by the British, such as the port city of Karachi, where the majestic St. Patrick's Cathedral, Pakistan's largest church stands, and the churches in the city of Rawalpindi, where the British established a major military cantonment.

The Europeans won small numbers of converts to Anglicanism, Methodism, the Lutheran Church and Catholicism from the native populations. Islam was very strong in the provinces of Punjab, Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province, but small native Christian communities were formed. The largest numbers came from resident officers of the British Army and the government. European and wealthy native Christians established colleges, churches, hospitals and schools in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. There is a large Catholic Goan community in Karachi which was established when Karachi's infrastructure was developed by the British before World War II.

When political independence was won by the people of the South Asia in 1947, the organization and activities of the Christian community changed drastically. Christians in Punjab and Sindh had been quite active post 1945 in their support for Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League. Even before the final phase of the movement, leading Indian Christians like Pothan Joseph had rendered valuable services as journalists and propagandists of the Muslim League. Jinnah had repeatedly promised all citizens of Pakistan complete equality of citizenship, but this promise was not kept by his successors. Meanwhile a large body of lower caste Hindus converted to Christianity in 1947, increasing their population even further. Pakistan became an Islamic Republic in 1956, making Islam the source of legislation and cornerstone of the national identity, while paradoxically guaranteeing freedom of religion and equal citizenship to all citizens. In 1973, Islam became the official state religion further pushing Pakistan away from its stated goal of equality.

Christians have made immense contributions to the Pakistani national life. Pakistan's first non-Muslim and certainly most respected Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court was Justice A R Cornelius. Pakistani Christians also distinguished themselves as great fighter pilots in the Pakistan Air Force. Notable amongst them are Cecil Chaudhry, Peter O'Reilly and Mervyn L Middlecoat. Christians have also contributed as educationists, doctors, lawyers and businessmen. One of Pakistan's greatest batsmen, Yousuf Youhana, was also Christian, but recently converted to Islam, taking upon the Islamic name Mohammad Yousuf.

Apart from the Catholics, Christians of other denominations re-organized themselves, in India, into the Churches of North and South India respectively, and as the Church of Pakistan in 1948. Politically, groups like the Pakistan Christian Congress have arisen.

[edit] Community Issues

From 1947 to the mid-1970s, the governments of Pakistan were largely secular in policy and judgment. Even though non-Muslims were prohibited from holding the office of the president under the constitutions of 1956 and 1962, freedom of religion, assembly and press, with due discretion to Islam's stature for the majority population, was prevalent. From 1956 to 1978 Pakistan had a joint electorate system in place. Later Pakistan's constitution was amended to grant separate electorates to its religious minorities, for due representation in Pakistan's parliament. Joint electorate was reintroduced in 2002.

In 1971, East Pakistan became independent as Bangladesh, and a large chunk of Pakistan's Hindus and Christians were de-linked from Pakistan. Pakistan became a culturally monolithic, increasingly Islamic state, with smaller religious minorities than ever.

With the governments of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Zia ul-Haq, more stringently Islamic laws transformed Pakistan. While conversion to other faiths than Islam is not prohibited by law, culture and social pressures prohibit such conversions. Extremely controversial were the blasphemy laws, which made it treacherous for non-Muslims to express themselves without coming off as un-Islamic. Zia also introduced the Shariat as a basis for lawmaking, reinforced by Nawaz Sharif in 1991.

The Muslims consider Christianity and Judaism as Ahl-e-Kitab People of the Book and have given them protected status. Jews, Christians and Muslims share common religious history and theology and this is clearly recognized by Pakistani Muslims.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The 1990s

In the 1990s, some Christians were arrested on charges of blasphemy, and for protesting that appeared to insult Islam. John Joseph, a bishop in Faisalabad committeed suicide to protest the execution of a Christian man on blasphemy charges. With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan, nearby Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir, the popularity enjoyed by Osama Bin Laden, and with political extremist parties gaining more power, the freedom of religious minorities such as Christians is coming steadily under attack by extremists.

[edit] Conversions and Violence

Christians are also the targets of Islamic missionaries seeking new converts to Islam. In 2005, Pakistan's most prominent Christian cricketer, Yousuf Youhana announced that he had converted to Islam, and changed his name to Mohammed Yousuf. This move changed his life, but estranged his parents and wider family, and became a hot topic of debate and controversy in Pakistan's media. The Hisba bill to be passed in the NWFP will make it's government and legal system intensively and more rigorously Islamic, making it near impossible for minorities to obtain representation or justice- though fortunately this bill was blocked by the federal government as unconstitutional. Also after much debate, the column in the Pakistani passport demanding a declaration of the bearer's religious faith has been retained, to much protest by minorities who consider it profiling and vulnerability to targeting by extremists.

[edit] Faisalabad Riots

The English Daily Telegraph published reports on November 14, 2005 claiming that Christian churches and schools (in the city of Faisalabad) have been destroyed "when Muslim preachers urged people to 'take revenge' after a Christian allegedly burnt pages of the Koran."

The newspaper went on to say: "Hundreds of Christians fled the town as a crowd thousands strong, wielding axes and sticks, set fire to five churches, a dozen houses, three schools, a dispensary, a convent and two parsonages."

The incidents and the reports were published just as the English cricket team was touring Pakistan and preparing to play a test match in Faisalabad, a major city in the province of Punjab.

[edit] Persecution of Christians in Pakistan

[edit] Blasphemy Laws

In Pakistan, 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that any "blasphemies" of the Quran are to be met with punishment. On July 28, 1994, Amnesty International urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the Nawaz Sharif administration which was backed by Islamic Fundamentalists.

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.^[1]

On September 22, 2006, a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by Islamic Fundamentalists.^[2]

[edit] Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church. On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head.^{[citation needed]}

On September 25, 2002, unidentified gunmen shot dead seven people at a Christian charity in Karachi's central business district. They entered the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) and shot their victims in the head. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape. Pakistani Christians have alleged that they have "become increasingly victimised since the launch of the US-led international war on terror."^[3]

In November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.^[4] However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".^[5]

In February 2006, churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in Denmark, leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.^[6]

On June 5, 2006, a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near Lahore when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog".Bystanders encouraged the beating, because it would be a "good" deed that would help them in heaven. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized^[7][8].

On August 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of Lahore, Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.^[9]

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.^[10]

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ [4]
5. ^ [5]
6. ^ [6]
7. ^ Christian beaten for drinking water,Worldnet Daily
8. ^ Christian attacked for polluting,Pakistan Christian Post
9. ^ [7]
10. ^ [8]

[edit] See also

• Demographics of Pakistan
• Christianity in India
• Christianity in Bangladesh