Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
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| Christian Rally in Pakistan |
PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The miseries of Christians in Pakistan are enormous and visible everywhere and at every level. The religion of Islam dominates in the constitutional, political, judicial, social, cultural, and governmental systems.
So writes Pastor Baber George, a key leader from Pakistan who has had to flee for his life, in an e-mail to ANS.
Pastor George says that Islam is the official state religion, and Islamic Shariah is being enforced as the supreme law of the land.
“Under this system,” he writes, “ the Christians of Pakistan do not have equal political and socio-economic status; or equal opportunities to play a leading role in the national set-up. There are no Christians in government, education, or other leadership offices.”
According to Pastor George, the Christian educational institutions, which were running and managed by the churches, were taken over by force and nationalized by the Bhutto government in 1972.
“Now, no Christian character is visible in these captured institutions. Lots of other non-Christian institutions have been denationalized and given to their real owners. But for no known reason, the Christian institutions are not being denationalized and given to the churches. At present, more than 5000 jobs, which were for Christians, are now held by Muslims,” George said.
Because of this, says George, those 5000 or more Christians have been forced into unemployment and thousands of dependents have been deprived of their livelihood.
“These institutions were the basic centers for learning, social and cultural gatherings, and spiritual development for the Christians. Today Christian teachers, professors, or students are not seen there. Now these places are the dens of automatic weapons and training centers for religious terrorism. Many Muslim and non-Muslim countries have complained that the ground of Pakistan is being used for international terrorism,” he said.
Not all Muslims in Pakistan are terrorists, George writes.
“A large majority of them want to live in a tolerant society and brotherhood-like atmosphere. However, more than 20 Islamic religious parties are misusing the name of Islam, instigating illiterate Muslims against the non-Muslims (Christians, Jews, Hindus) that Jihad (Holy War) has to be launched against them to bring Islam to glorious status.
“When dignitaries visit Pakistan, the government states that it favors the non-Muslim minorities. But that is baseless lip service. Instead, the law is like a sharpened Islamic sword held to the necks of innocent Christians.”
There are many cases of blasphemy law, pending in different courts, with the accused waiting for their fate, although some have gone into hiding, said George.
“However, the Muslim fundamentalists are after them to search and kill them whenever they can find them. The fanatical and rigid Muslim priests often say in public meetings that all Christians are blasphemers because they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God Himself,” he said.
“The Christians are hated at the worst level, but their women are chased, kidnapped, raped, and even made to be Muslims by force. Then they are married to Muslims against their will.”
George cited, for instance, the case the daughter of a Christian man named Tara Masih was kidnapped and raped. Another Christian girl named Surryia Bibi, was kidnapped, raped, and forced to marry her kidnapper/rapist.
“The sufferings of Christian women are very troublesome, “ he siad. “They go through a different kind of brutality.
“Under Islamic law, the rights of women have been eroded. Women aren’t equal to men. In Pakistan two women are equal to one man. Under the Islamic Evidence Act, whenever a woman is raped and she wants a criminal case registered against the rapist, she has to produce four Muslim men as witnesses. No women or non-Muslim men or women can be witnesses. The evidence of the Christian man or woman has no validity against any Muslim rapist.”
George goes on to say that Untouchable and ‘detestable’ are the marks of the Christian community.
“Untouchability is not prohibited legally from all sectors,” George says.
He adds: “This is promoted against the Christians. All of the jobs, which are considered the most degradable, Untouchable, or considered below Muslim dignity are reserved for the Christians. The Christians are treated inhumanely, socially degraded, and of the lowest community. They are not allowed to enter the dining rooms or kitchens while they are cleaning the houses. Nor are they allowed to sit on the furniture, where Muslims have to sit. The Christians are hated at the worst level.”
George concludes by saying that all the pastors, clergies, evangelists, social and human-rights activists, Christian politicians, and all other Christian leaders are under the severe target of Muslim extremists, terrorists, and other Muslim hard-liners.
“Even police authorities are chasing the Christian leaders. Those Christian religious ministers and human-rights activists who show special concern to the Christian victims, their life and properties, families, and interests, are under great danger.”
| ** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter |  |
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