Issue No. 600
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22 - 28 August 2002 Issue No. 600 International |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Christians under siege
Historical prejudice, discriminatory laws and Islamist extremism have combined to create an oppressive environment for Pakistan's Christian community. Iffat Malik reports from Islamabad
In 1947, when the Indian Subcontinent gained independence from the British and Pakistan came into being, the country's founder, Mohamed Ali Jinnah, set out a vision of a tolerant liberal state in which people would be free to practice whatever religion they chose. Fifty-five years on, the Christian community in Pakistan feels anything but free.
Estimates of Pakistan's Christian population vary from three to five million (two-three per cent of the total). Most are the descendants of low-caste Hindus who converted to Christianity in an effort to break free from oppression and discrimination.
It was an effort that failed. With few exceptions, Christians occupy the bottom rungs of the socio-economic ladder in Pakistan. Often, they carry out menial tasks that no one else is prepared to do: cleaning bathrooms, collecting rubbish and unblocking sewers. In the capital, Islamabad, they live in kuccha abadis (rough dwellings) on the edges of rich neighbourhoods -- close enough to work as servants for the wealthy, but hidden out of sight behind big walls or trees. Their low wages mean that they can seldom afford to give their children a good education, thereby perpetuating a cycle of poverty.
Those Christians who do manage to obtain qualifications face further problems. Employers, with the exception of the dwindling foreign community, do not like to hire Christians. They face discrimination in both recruitment and promotion. The same discrimination occurs in their dealings with the police, the judiciary, the civil administration and society at large.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to say that the majority Muslim population feels hatred towards the Christian minority: contempt would be a more accurate description. The darker colour of most Christians (in a society which values fair skin), their low position on the socio- economic ladder, their low-caste ancestry and historical prejudices, combine to produce feelings of contempt in Muslims.
However, it is important to stress that this contempt is not induced by religious differences.
A famous Urdu novelist once wrote about a man who fell in love with a dark- skinned Christian nurse while being treated in hospital. His family and friends opposed the match, but later wholeheartedly welcomed an Anglo-Saxon, Christian bride. Like the people in the story, many Pakistani Muslims look up to foreign white Christians, while looking down on natives.
This contempt for indigenous Christians makes them vulnerable to abuse. Being poor and uneducated, and having little political support, they often become victims of violence and exploitation. Periodically there are cases of Christian women being raped. Additionally, Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws have become an instrument with which to attack Christians. These laws allow a person to be charged with blasphemy, even when there is little substantive evidence. They have been used maliciously by those seeking to settle property disputes, or to punish opponents. Christians have been the principal victims of these accusations.
Once under arrest and on trial for blasphemy charges, most Christians are convicted as charged. The power of the conservative Islamist lobby sees to that.
Judges in higher appeals courts are wary of angering the Islamists, or inciting their wrath, and thus do not correct injustices. Once released, the convicted Christians carry the stigma of blasphemy: they often have to move from their neighbourhood to escape lynching by angry residents.
Last week, in a historic decision, the Supreme Court overturned the blasphemy conviction and death sentence given to Ayub Masih, a 25-year-old Christian from Punjab. He had been arrested and convicted solely on the word of a Muslim rival, who Masih claimed coveted his property. When the death sentence was given, in April 1998, such was the sense of impotence and injustice felt by Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad, that he committed suicide outside the court building.
Ayub Masih was lucky, but many Christians have been languishing in jails for years as their cases wind their way through the court system. The plight of Christians in Pakistan tends to improve or worsen proportionately with the level of Islamist fervour among the Muslim majority. Under General Zia-ul-Haq, the Pakistani ruler who instituted a brand of 'Islamic government', their situation worsened. New blasphemy laws, which facilitated discrimination against Christians were introduced by Zia, who also established separate electorates for non- Muslims and new standards of evidence that effectively made non-Muslim testimonies worth half that of Muslim ones.
Shahbaz Bhatti, head of the All- Pakistan Minorities Alliance, believes that anti-Christian prejudice was encouraged to such an extent during the Zia era that anti-Christian feeling has become deep-seated in Pakistani society. Pakistan's current military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has tried to improve the situation. He has appointed a Christian, Colonel Tressler, as minister of tourism; he also tried, unsuccessfully, to reform the blasphemy laws, and abolished separate electorates. This last reform has received a mixed reception: while many Christians welcomed it as a sign that they were beginning to be regarded as equal Pakistani citizens, others criticised it because it makes it almost impossible for Christians to win a National Assembly seat in Muslim-majority constituencies.
However, some of General Musharraf's policies have hit Christians hard. Pakistan's support for the US war in Afghanistan and the subsequent clampdown on militant Islamic groups within the country, have unwittingly increased the sense of insecurity already felt by Christians. An extremist backlash has been directed against the government, against foreigners in the country, and against the Christian minority. It is becoming increasingly clear that militant Islamists see these three entities, the government, the international community and Pakistani Christians, as a singular enemy.
The first attack came in October 2001, when 18 Christians were gunned down in a church in Bahawalpur. As mentioned, Christians have been the victims of communal violence, but Bahawalpur was the first time they had been targeted by militant groups. Following Bahawalpur, there was an attack on a church in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave in March (five killed), a missionary school in Murree (six killed) and a Christian hospital in Taxila (three killed).
Hundreds of Christians across the country took part in protest demonstrations after the Murree and Taxila killings. In his Independence Day address to the nation, President Musharraf added his voice to the chorus of protesters. "The recent attacks on our Christian brothers and sisters are the most shameful and despicable examples of terrorism," Musharraf said. These are strong words. But it will take more than strong words to destroy the prejudice experienced by Pakistan's Christians in their daily lives, and remove the sinister threat of Islamist extremists.
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