We are scared, we are terrified

A recent short documentary shows something of the situation of minorities in Pakistan. Although it concentrates on Hindu's, the same applies to Christians. It covers the kidnap and 'conversion' of minority girls, the power of the extremists to intimidate the government and the law courts, and the terror that minorities live under every day. Click to watch the 7 minute video

The charade and sham of Pakistan's 5% quota

Cleanliness before safety for suffering minorities!

One of the ways the Government of Pakistan claims to be helping overcome the discrimination against religious minorities is by reserving a certain proportion of state positions for them - in other words, a certain proportion of civil service jobs have to be given to minorities.  In theory this means that talented and well educated minority candidates can get respected jobs that use their qualifications.
The reality turns out to be rather different.  An article in the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune gives both anecdotal and statistical evidence that the positions of 'bhangi' - sanitation workers, involving cleaning toilets etc, are being given pretty much exclusively to minority members - Sikhs, Hindus and Christians etc.  In some cases, well educated minority members with degrees chose to leave well paid but somewhat insecure jobs in the private sphere to join what they thought would be respected and secure jobs in the civil service.  They were heart-broken to find they had essentially been downgraded from responsible jobs to the equivalent of the 'chuhras' 'street-sweepers', a term that is used as an insult for Christians.

Dozens of departments only allow minorities to apply for sanitation workers jobs.  Even in the Sindh minorities Department, nearly all of the sanitation workers are Christians or Hindus. A Christian worker testified that every single Christian graduate holder who applied for a civil service job in their area was offered the job of sanitation worker.  They also claimed that the of the few Muslims who had sanitation jobs, nearly all just took salaries, but didn't actually work.

The extent of the despair is shown by one well-educated Hindu sanitation worker said he didn't plan to spend much money on education for his children as it was a complete waste of time for minorities.  Christians spoke of the shame and degradation of being forced into such menial jobs.   In other words, the much trumpeted '5% quota' is a charade and a sham, and only serves to perpetuate the deep discrimination it is purported to ameliorate.  

Injured hearts and bodies

Narang Mandi, property conflicts in village near this town

We have yet another story of influential Muslims stealing from the Christian community.  The Christians in the Bhondary Wala village near Narang Mandi (about 20 miles north-northeast of Lahore, are protesting the stealing of cemetery land by a retired army Colonel.  The Colonel, Farukh Alam, whose nephew is a Pakistan Muslim League politician, claimed that the cemetery land, which the Christians have owned since before even the founding of Pakistan, was in actual fact his.  He says it was 'taken back' in 1983, and he has recently discovered that it is his - despite failing to provide any proof whatsoever of his claims.  He has already built a boundary wall that has reduced the size of the land by over two thirds, and turning what he has stolen to agricultural use, and told the Christian community that they will need to make other provisions for burial.  He has threatened and abused Christians who tried to protect and save their graveyard.  The police did nothing about the complaint until a senior regional politician got involved.  The colonel claims that the Christians are accusing him after incitement by an Ahmahdi with a personal grudge, and that it is all a conspiracy against him.  

Source 1 and source 2

We also will summarise the story of a convert from Islam and the persecutions and deprivations he endured.  Karachi resident Muhammad Kamram, 34, was beaten mercilessly by thugs two years ago after telling his wife he had converted to Christianity.  He was troubled by the practices of his faith, the so-called 'moderate' Balrevi faction whose religious practice focuses on shrines to dead saints, and attracted by the satisfaction and love of Christian work colleagues.  He started going to church, but his family beat him when they found out.  He started going secretly, and managed to evade his family's watch.  He was baptised in 2009, and kept the fact secret from his ultra-conservative family, although he openly questioned Islam.  In 2010, his family pressured him very strongly to marry a Muslim woman in the hope of stopping his questions about their ancestral faith and he gave in to their pressure.  When he told her of his faith, she said she would stand by him, but the next day she told both families.  Both families started to threaten him with death every day.  Then he was badly beaten by thugs - he doesn't know which family sent them.  After 2 years, he is still in pain, with severe injuries to his pelvis and groin.  He fled the country, and his wife got a divorce.  He had to return to Pakistan a month later after his visa expired, and returned to Karachi some time later after he hoped things had calmed down.  In 2011 he married a Christian woman.  One day a cousin saw him and followed him home, and then told his family where he was and that he had a Christian wife.  His father came and demanded he leave his wife and return home, and raised a hue and cursed him when he refused.  The family fled the house and have had to move house repeatedly, whilst still receiving daily phone calls from the family threatening to kill his wife and unborn child if he did not return to Islam.  His family found out where his wife works and continue to harass them.  Because he cannot work, his wife must continue at her job, as she can't find better work.  He cannot get the funding for the hospital operations he needs.  A local politician has tried to raise funding, but nobody will take the risk because he is someone called Muhammed but whose religion is Christian.  In addition, Kamram is directly discriminated against the state because the functionality for changing religion on the new computerized ID cards is disabled for those whose religion is down as Muslim.  

Source

On the issue of trauma due to persecution of Christians, BPCA came across this article containing observations and recommendations for pastoral support for Christians in Pakistan.  It also covers the inferiority complex, identity issues, sense of powerlessness, anxiety and fear the Christian community in Pakistan develops as a result.  It recommends a spiritual care plan for those going to Pakistan and talking to persecuted Christians

Speaking of the plight of minorities in Pakistan, yet another report has come out about the atrocious content of Pakistani educational textbooks.  The report is by the Catholic group National Commission for Justice and Peace.  They noticed that 1000's of minority students are forced to study Islam for fear of discrimination.  For instance, the populous state of Punjab, with relatively high percentages of minority population, has made the study of the Koran mandatory for all by a unanimous vote.  And in subjects like social studies, at least 20% of the material is Islamic in nature. Muslim students are given a bonus of 20 points for material reserved for those wanting to go deeper into Islam.  This despite the fact that the constitution Article 22 states that no person in education will be required to take religious instruction or take part in a religious ceremony if they concern a religion that is not their own.  

Source

Discrimination in Prisons and Schools

A Pakistani Jail

Several recent reports have highlighted the discrimination that Christians and / or other minorities face in both prison and school in Pakistan. Prisons first.

A report states Christians face significant discrimination in prisons and the legal system. Partly it is to do with Christian's poverty. Many are in prison for minor offences for which they could get out of jail if they could pay the fines, and this includes children who have to stay in jail with their mothers. But Christians in prison are also discriminated in the distribution of food, clothing, medicine and the right to practice their faith. And usually, they have no lawyer because of their poverty and already low social position.

On another note, there is also another reason for fearfulness for Christians in jail, and that is the rise of the Taliban. Often masses of Taliban prisoners take over the prison and violently assert extremist values, for example beating up all prisoners who took part in music lessons and smashing their instruments because singing or listening to music is considered 'haram', even though making music is physically and psychologically beneficial for prisoners (hardly a surprise given that it is God's gift).

Source

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recently released a report detailing the Islamicizing nature of even much government financed education in Pakistan, and the discrimination against minorities in textbook materials. Hindus were described in very negative terms and references to Christians were often inaccurate and offensive. The contributions of minority religions to history and Pakistani life were almost entirely omitted everywhere. Teachers had very little knowledge of minorities and some thought they were not even citizens of Pakistan, and they often expressed negative views about minorities and were found to successfully transmit these negative views to their students. In short, even government education is essentially Islamicist in nature, and this combined with the suspected influence of Islamicists in high government does not bode well for the long term prospect of prosperity and freedom in Pakistan.

Initial source

Report

The report highlights some of the reasons why BPCA is so concerned at the indiscriminate way the UK - yours and ours taxpayers money - is being flung into the Pakistani educational system.

So pray

and please sign our petition if you haven't already..... and if you have, please urge others to sign in

Another year, another Flood, yet more discrimination

Just like last year, discrimination against minorities, including Christians, has been widespread. Religious and charitable organisations have given aid only to Muslims, with minorities explicitly told that the food is 'only for Muslims'. Dalits are treated this way as our Christians, who are told 'Western Missionaries think about you'.

The discrimination is not just restricted to food and emergency shelter. It is also occurring in the grants of plots of land to people to recover from the floods. There are several reports that Christians and minorities, even though often the worst affected, are being denied land plots and similar help, whether due to bad organisation or deliberate discrimination by the land revenue officers who are responsible for this scheme. In some cases, people who already have over 20 acres of land are being granted plots of land, but Christians with nothing are getting no land plots.

BPCA has an ongoing appeal for flood victims and the related Dengue Plague.

If you would like to contribute please use the Pay Pal facility on our blog or website. Alternatively you can pay any donations directly into our Bank Account using the following details:

Account: 63468976

Sort Code: 20-67-90

with the reference BPCA FLOOD/DENGUE APPEAL so we can identify what the donation is for.

Should you wish to donate by cheque please use the following details (again with the same reference to show the purpose of the donation)

British Pakistani Christian Association

57 Green Lane

Ilford

Essex

IG1 1XG

Pakistan's shame - at home and exported

We have highlighted the ubiquitous practice of denying aid to Christians in Pakistan after disasters like the flood. While our focus is naturally on Christians, we have never made light of the fact that it is not only Christians who are affected. Here we have another report about these practices, this time affecting 'scheduled castes' among the Hindu's (ie Dalits / untouchables etc) in the Sindh province. They are denied aid, with Mosque leaders telling them that the food is only for Muslims. They are even prevented from drinking water from the fountains set up outside the camp.

SHAME!!

In another report from Africa, we find out about the latest escalation in Sudan. Now church leaders are being threatened with death by texts. Attacks have been made on a bishop's house (fortunately the bishop was away). The texts say they want Sudan to be a purely Islamic state so they want to exterminate infidels and destroy the churches. The recipients are warned that they have been monitored and their 'anti-Islamic' activities observed, and if they don't stop..... The texts are part of a broader campaign, where every two weeks extremists from the fringes of the Indian Subcontinent, including Pakistan, arrive to be trained in secret camps and are then sent out to preach Islam and destroy churches. I have a question of these men. Is your religion so worthless and powerless that the only way it can advance is threats and destruction? Surely a worthwhile religion would have no need of such pathological violence and destruction to advance its cause because it would win adherents by the attraction of goodness and coherent arguments? Jesus (whom you consider a prophet) warned about people like you. He said that you can judge a man (and a teaching) by its fruit. A good tree produces good fruit and a bad one bad. If your ideology produces such wicked fruit of destruction and death, how are we to judge you and it?

SHAME!!

More to follow...

Young Christian experience of discrimination in Pakistan

Yesterday an article was posted online on a new site It provides a small window onto the daily discrimination and harrassment that Christians receive in the realm of education, and also work, and something of the pressure and mental distress this causes.

The article, entitled 'Why is this discrimination' starts by quoting several verses from the bible about loving your neighbour as yourself, loving the foreigner in the midst, and several sura's from the Quran that talk about not fighting with those who don't fight the Muslims, and harmony between tribes.

Then it talks about the discrimination faced by Christian young people. It notes that in terms of jobs, although they are supposed to be on merit, especially in government, this does not happen. 'Minorities day' instituted because of the work of the martyr Minister Shabhaz Bhatti, is honoured on the day, but not in the laws to end discrimination - not in effective action. To date, it has been mere tokenism. Promotions aren't given to Christians - or at least, if they are, they are the subject of intrigues and conspiracies to 'cut them down to size'. In state schools, the Christians are treated harshly by the teachers, and loose heart - often fleeing school. At college and university they are discriminated against, and not given good grades unless they convert to Islam - leading to depression and lack of application to studies due to hopelessness.

And the discrimination is seen in the job adds in the newspapers. The lowest and dirtiest jobs are always reserved for Christians only.

This facet of discrimination is one reason why BPCA want's funding and donations to set up bursaries to support Christian children and see to it that they are dealt with fairly in the state school system, with agents on the ground to monitor what goes on in the schools.