Christianity in Pakistan
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The adherents of Christianity are the largest religious minority community in Pakistan. The total number of Christians in Pakistan was at least 2,800,000[1] in 1998, or 2.1% of the population at that time. Of these, 1,400,000 in 1998 were Catholics[2]. However, current number of christians is debatable as i.e. Catholic Church's record of births contains higher figures than this. (The 2.1% figure mentioned here is at the lower end of a range of estimates that run as high as 5%. The figure normally quoted is around 2.5% (CIA World Factbook, Operation Mobilisation) or 3%. In 1998 there were 1,400,000 members of Protestant Church.[3]
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[edit] History
In 1877, on St. Thomas' Day at Westminister Abbey, London, Rev Thomas Valpy French was appointed the first Anglican Bishop of Lahore, a large diocese which included, all of the Punjab and northwestern India, and remained so until 1887, during this period he also open the Divinity College, Lahore in 1870 [4][5][6]. Rev Thomas Patrick Hughes served as a Church Missionary Society missionary at Peshawar (1864-1884), and became an oriental scholar, and compiled a 'Dictionary of Islam' (1885) [7][8].
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, and the Irish (who were subjects of the British Empire and formed a large part of the British Army) were an important factor in the establishment of Pakistan's Catholic community.
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 guaranteeing freedom of religion and equal citizenship to all citizens.
Christians have made some 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 he recently willingly 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
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From 1947 to the mid-1970s, the governments of Pakistan were largely secular in policy and judgment.However, with the Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization and forced implementation of Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan marginalized the Christian minorities and caused intense persecutions.
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. Coerced conversions to Islam from Christianity are a major source of concern for Pakistani Christians, and the minority face threats, harassment and intimidation tactics from Islamic extremists[1]. Often, converts to Christianity from Islam face the death penalty [2]
[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 committed 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.[citation needed]
[edit] Conversions
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.[citation needed]
[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
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.[9]
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.[10]
[edit] Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists
On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church. The attack occurred 3 weeks after US-led war in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban.
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 victimised in the retaliation of the campaign on Islamist."[11] The Muslim militant views the campaign as the part of Crusader on Islam by the West and Christian.
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.[12] 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".[13]
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.[14]
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[15][16].
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.[17]
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.[18]
In January 2008 a Christian medical superintendent in Bannu was kidnapped and held for 25 days, according to the Barnabas Fund.
[edit] References
- ^ Adherents.com: By Location
- ^ Adherents.com: By Location
- ^ Adherents.com: By Location
- ^ Churces and Ministers: Home and Foreign EventsNew York Times, January 13, 1878.
- ^ An Heroic Bishop Chapter VI. His Fourth Pioneer Work: The Lahore Bishopric.
- ^ Beginnings in India By Eugene Stock, D.C.L., London: Central Board of Missions and SPCK, 1917.
- ^ British Library
- ^ Dictionary of Islam by Rev Thomas Patrick Hughes
- ^ Religious Intolerance In Pakistan
- ^ PAKISTAN Young Christian arrested for blasphemy - Asia News
- ^ Gunmen 'execute' Pakistan Christians
- ^ Asien, Pakistan: Sangla Hill attack continues to draw condemnation - missio
- ^ PAKISTAN Islamic extremists still unpunished 40 days after the Sangla Hill attack - Asia News
- ^ International Christian Response: Cartoon Protesters in Pakistan Target Christians
- ^ Christian beaten for drinking water,Worldnet Daily
- ^ Christian attacked for polluting,Pakistan Christian Post
- ^ N.J. Civil Unions Hung Up on 'Marriage' | Christianpost.com
- ^ N.J. Civil Unions Hung Up on 'Marriage' | Christianpost.com
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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