Forced marriage, forced labour and police force of 'law'

A number of recent stories (plus one we missed from August) centre around force.  Firstly, Christian MPA Saleem Khursheed Khokhar has submitted his recommendations for legislation around forced conversions and marriages.  As readers of this blog will know, the kidnap, rape, forced conversion and marriage of minority girls, particularly Christians and Hindus, is epidemic in Pakistan.  He cited ignorance, illiteracy and poverty as major factors in the phenomenon.

His suggestions include :
The automatic and immediate registering of a First Information Report (FIR) the moment someone reports a Hindu or Christian woman has been kidnapped.
A judicial officer, rather than a policeman should be in charge of the investigation.
If the girl is found, she should be taken to the regional safe house.  If she has been found to have converted, she should be kept in the safe house free from outside influence for 21 days to consider her decision, and the law enforcement agencies should be vigilant to enforce this.  (As an aside, while this measure would be a good start, the problem is that one means of control is the threat of killing or making false allegations of blasphemy against the girls family to keep her compliant).

He repeatedly noted that he is not being given security by the government, despite both Shahbhaz Bhatti and a Sindh MPA Malik Mohammed Atta being assassinated for standing up for the rights of minorities.
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False charges, false police, real victims

Pastor Victor Samuel Maseeh (left), kidnap victim

In the last month there have been numerous cases of false charges against Christians.  In one disturbing case, a pastor (seen above last year after helping some destitute Christians gain a home after the rains washed the old one away) was kidnapped by people masquerading as police officials and with a falsified official court order (from a court and a judge who on investigation, didn't exist).  7 armed men arrived at his house in the Christian colony of 300 Christians in Tota Tek Singh, Faisalabad in vehicles similar to those used by the Punjab police, and three of them wore police uniforms, and one said he was a police inspector from Lahore, and showed search warrants from a Lahore judge, complete with official court stamps.  After abusively questioning the pastor, looking at files on his laptop, the imposters took the pastor and his brother for further questioning in a local police station as well as confiscating, documents, the laptop and mobile phone.  However, they dropped off his brother by the Gojra bypass.  It later turned out that the local police station never had any colleagues from Lahore, and the Lahore police never sent any group out.  In addition, the Judicial Magistrate named in the 'court documents' was found not to exist.  Police are now searching for the pastor and the abductors - let's hope and pray the fraudulent use of police and court documents means this will be a thorough and uncompromising search.

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An earlier story about the pastor helping out destitute Christians so desperate that the father resorted to putting 'children for sale' signs up - and a video interview with the pastor and the father he helped.

PRIEST  ACCUSED OF  KILLING AFGHAN WOMEN IN PROPERTY ROW

A priest, Rehmat Hakim Michael, in Islamabad, pastor of the Fatima church, is at the centre of false accusations and a decade old property row.  The priest, who came to the church in 2007 was accused with another individual of kidnapping and killing the wife and two daughters of an Afghan man in 2001, even though at the time Father Michael was serving in Gujrat.  The claim was that after the women refused to convert to Christianity, they were kidnapped by Father Michael and his 'gang' and never seen again - presumably murdered and their bodies disposed of.  

(The BPCA notes that this kind of activity is typical of Islamicists - and that often they falsely accuse Christians of doing the very things that Islamicists do, in a kind of projection.  An example is the recent false accusations that Coptic Christians in Egypt kidnapped women and stored explosives and weapons in monasteries and churches, acts that Egyptian Islamicists regularly carry out on Christian women and in their own mosques - false accusations that led to fatal attacks on churches in Egypt and a massacre at a church service in Iraq.) 

A FIR was in the process of being made against him with the police.  However, it appears that the police this time decided to investigate before acting.  A telling and rather unsurprising background began to emerge.  Firstly, in 1991, a previous priest at the church had allowed a sick and jobless Afghan man to move into a church owned house and to rent out another one to get money for his own upkeep for a while.  Successive priests have tried to eject them, but the occupants, now apparently a strong and influential family in the locality, refused, claiming that the man in question had purchased the property for $30,000 and had full ownership.  The case went to court recently and on the 28th of May the court upheld the churches case for a second time on appeal.  It was after this that another Afghan man suddenly starts claiming that the incumbent priest kidnapped his family after failed conversion attempts in 2001.  An NGO that interviewed the alleged husband said that when questioned, he couldn't remember the name of his supposedly kidnapped wife, and had to go and 'consult documents' before giving a name.  

The Christian community is agitated and afraid that, even though he has not been arrested yet, their priest may well be arrested on these blatantly spurious, yet very serious charges.  

Please pray for this case, that this blatant attempt at holding the entire Christian community to ransom in a property dispute by extortion would fail and massively backfire on the lying accusers, and that true justice would be done and become an example in similar cases.  

Sources  one, two, and three.

VULNERABLE ISLAMIC CONVERT USED TO OPPRESS CHRISTIANS

As we said before, it is typical of Islamicists to accuse their victims of the very crimes they themselves commit against their victims in a perverse projection.  In a recent case 150km from Lahore, a recently banned Islamicist group - Sipha-e-Sahaba.  They registered a blasphemy complaint against 25 year old Ramzam Masih, an only son (only the father is still alive). (BPCA finds it telling that in Pakistan a complaint registered by a banned terrorist group can be accepted - maybe it helps if the victim is from a powerless Christian background?)  An NGO went to investigate, and found the colony where the victims family lived was virtually empty as Christians (and possibly other residents - the reports are not quite clear on this point) had fled in fear of the group using the charges as an excuse to take over property or make other attacks.  The NGO team questioned the few neighbours willing to talk.  (The NGO also approached the local police who were very angry, allegedly because the NGO endangered their lives because the security situation was so bad, with the banned group following the situation very closely.  Eventually the group managed to get a copy of the FIR).  

The picture that emerged was one of a mentally retarded and vulnerable man whom the group had cajoled into converting to Islam several years ago, and gained his thumbprints as evidence of conversion.  The group has now named many unknown people in their FIR, and the residents fear that the charges are an excuse to take over Christian lands.  The victims father is terrified and only met the NGO a long way from his house.  He says the police took him to the police station and demanded he hand over his son or else he too would be charged with blasphemy (the son is now in prison).  He says he has now idea if his son committed 'blasphemy' a lot, but rightly asked how could a mentally retarded child who didn't know right from wrong 'endanger the dignity of Islam'. He also noted that the S-e-S terrorist group was monitoring his daughters movements as well - so he is concerned for the safety of both his children.  

To give a flavour of what Christians face in these situations, here is the account of a Christian woman about what happened, with mobs of Muslims and clerics arriving with burning torches and threatening another Gojra, and the terrible fear such terrorist tactics engender  :

we are only eighty houses here and are doing our own work, we are independent and are working hard to survive, these people (Muslims) do not let us live. We are poor but are working hard to survive. On the night of the incidence a mob of Muslim clerics gathered our colony to burn us all because of the Blapshemy Ramzan have committed. Everyone was very scared. We all have small children in our houses and we didn’t know what to do. The Mob surrounded our colony and raised a slogan to burn all the houses, they had torches in their hands and petrol in the cans. We called police and thank God Police arrived just in time. The police distracted their attention from us and we found some time to leave the houses. We left the houses quickly and thus saved our lives. People saved their lives and the lives of their children, Now we all are living in different places of our relatives and our homes are empty like graves. We pray to God not to put us in graves and also to protect the family of Ramzan Masih and his sister who also have small children in her house. We are very scared; I came to my house at this hour to pick up some clothes and personal belongings so that we can stay in the relative’s house. Once this matter is cooled down we will come back to our house

Source

REFUSE TO BECOME MUSLIM?  THIEF! TORTURE!

Finally, in yet another 'surprise, surprise, here we go again' case, two Christian employees are being charged with theft after refusing to convert to Islam.  The wealthy and influential employer in Karachi had 5 employees working as domestic workers in his household.  For a year he aggressively tried to get the two Christian employees to convert to Islam.  Some gold ornaments went missing in early June, and 10 days later the employer lodged an FIR about it, which surprisingly enough only named the Christian employees and not the Muslim employees as suspects.  The two Christians volunteered themselves to the local police station when they heard of the accusations.  They were transferred to another police station, and their relatives were told by police that if they did not pay a bribe of £238, then the two Christians would be beaten.  The poor families could not pay the bribe, and so the two Christians were severely beaten and tortured, and one was left unable to walk.  

Lawyers have now taken up the case, the Karachi police district has apologized and said the victims families can register an FIR against police staff if they want.  Let's hope this is a real gesture that will result in real change and real justice.  BPCA is not particularly holding it's breath, but you never know....

Please also pray for the victims, for healing and provision, as well as justice

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Marriage, mobs and murder

Faryal Bibi aka Rinkal Kumari, example of kidnapped hindu girl

We have often documented the increasing numbers of minority girls and woman kidnapped and forcibly married and converted to Islam.  In the Sindh province it is often Hindu girls who are kidnapped in this fashion.  Although some of them say they have done so willingly out of love for Muslim men, it is known or strongly suspected in most cases that this is not true - a typical tactic is to tell them that if they don't say this, their families will be killed or have blasphemy charges made against them.  This suspicion is further heightened in a recent case in Karachi.  A Hindu factory worker, Sooda, went to court because his teenage daughter Rekha, had been taken in such a manner from their house in Gadap town, near Karachi, in December, by Ashgar, the supervisor of the factory she worked in.  In court she was dressed in a full black chaddur, so they couldn't see her at all, but she said she had converted and married willingly - the case was immediately dismissed.... and the family has never seen her again, despite the immediate promises after the court of elders from Ashgar's village that they would be allowed to meet her.  Sooda says that her family are not allowed to see her because she is Muslim and they are Hindu - even though Islamic scholars say it is fine for them to meet, but not for her to partake in any Hindu celebrations.  

Human rights workers on the ground say this is the norm, and ask if these are willing conversions, why are these girls not allowed to see their families after their 'conversion'?  BPCA asks the same.

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BLASPHEMY ACCUSED PULLED FROM POLICE STATION AND BURNT ALIVE

Whilst the blasphemy laws are disproportionately used against minorities, they are also used against Muslim citizens of Pakistan.  In a horrific recent case, a man named Ghulam Abbas, who was reportedly mentally ill, was accused of desecrating the Quran and arrested, but a mob stormed the police station, dragged him out and burnt him alive, injuring a number of police officers in the process.  This happened in the Chani Goth area of Punjab, and has been a trigger point for increased religious tension and attacks, leaving local Christians in fear of their lives.  A local priest says it is part of the increasing lawlessness and religious intolerance in the region.  

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BALOCHISTAN BUS BOMB KILLS SIX CHRISTIANS

A recent bombing involving a motorbike killed six Christians, although the target was apparently some Shia pilgrims on another bus that passed by at nearly the same time.  Local sources said that both Pakistani and Afghan Christians were on the bus, and some of them were graduates of a Middle Eastern bible school on the way to work in missions in the Balochistan province.  At least 40 other people were injured in the attack near Quetta, and 10 of the injured are also reported to be Christians.  A charity that supports the bible school is trying to raise funds for families of the victims.  

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Killings and kidnappings near and far

Sindh Christian MPA Saleem Khokhar - 

received death threats for standing up for Hindu women

As we come up next month to the anniversary of the start of Asia Bibi's incarceration on false charges of blasphemy, we start by focusing on the place where it all started, her home village of Ittan Wali.  This article from nearly 18 months ago tells of the attitude among Bibi's fellow villagers, and provides a stark reminder of the environment in which her ordeal was born, and from which her family sought escape.  


Under the heading 'Villagers issue their own verdict' the article conveys the fury the villagers feel.  One old man says 'If she returned I would beat her to death with anything I could get my hands on', with a crowd of onlookers, young and old, agreeing she should die.  After her arrest, local clerics began announcing that 'Christians are dogs', and the village of Ittan Wali's' cleric Maqsood Ahmed Masoomi suggested that if anyone in the village commits blasphemy, they may not make it to the courtroom.


"They should be killed on the spot," he said. 


The BPCA has always acknowledged that other minorities and groups also suffer in Pakistan.  One Pakistani newspaper article asks the question 'How much killing is too much?'  We will refrain from the rather obvious answer, because the sentiment of the article is ours.  The article notes a number of killings of various sects over the last month or two, and continues 'The treatment of Pakistan’s minorities has never been good, but, in the last few years, things have gone from hostile to absolutely intolerant.'   It even goes so far as to say that the level of persecution against minorities in Pakistan is edging closer to the definition of genocide.  It notes that in one Pakistani province alone, an estimated 3000 Hindu girls have been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam.  


It also cites an old but very pertinent case - that of Nazir Bhatti, editor of the Paksitani Christian Post, who after a 1997 peaceful protest that ended in murder and bloodshed perpetrated by the police, was targeted as an alleged ringleader, and in two hours had 21 serious charges falsely brought against him, including murder and blasphemy.  He had to flee the country.  


The same newspaper also carried an article concerning death threats against a Christian MPA (Member of a Pakistani Provincial Assembly).  Saleem Khursheed Khokhar, from the Sindh assembly, has been vocal in opposing the abduction and forced conversion of Hindu women and girls to Islam, in particular in the light of a recent case where Hindu women were kidnapped and forced to marry and convert according to their families.


The MPA Khokhar is concerned that the security guards he has been given are too few and haven't been vetted, considering they are Muslim - a pertinent point, given governer Taseers murder by one of his bodyguards over similar controversial areas.  He has been receiving death threats by text such as 'Only Muslims will be allowed to live peacefully in this country. No one else will be allowed to live here with dignity' and 'You should learn from the remarks of Chief Justice, and High Court, only Muslims are allowed to live here. You should leave the country or you would be responsible for what happens.'


Finally, like many of you, we have followed the case concerning the murder of British-Pakistani teenager 8 years ago.  Her parents have been put on trial for what prosecutors maintain is a case of honour (or better a shameful dishonour) killing - after her father drugged her to take her to Pakistan, which she drank bleach after fearing she was facing a forced marriage.  According to her sister, she was killed by suffocation for failing to follow her parents wishes over various matters, including boyfriends.  All we can say is, if a culture produces such fruit where they are in a minority, how much worse must it be (and as we know, is in fact) when they are in a majority in their home country against minority citizens. 

Kidnap and forced conversion reaches 1 a day!

From Watson Gill, in Holland, we have news of another kidnap at gunpoint from the street in broad daylight of a Christian girl. The report names the victim as Mehak Masih, 14 years old, and the chief perpetrator is Tayeb Butt, who lead four friends in the attack.

The report mentions that not a single one of the increasing number of murders of Christians have been resolved, and that abducting and selling Christian girls is like a legal business for the perpetrators. Over the last month the rate of kidnap and forced conversions of Christian girls has reached one a day! It happens especially in Punjab due to the influence of the Taliban and other wicked groups, and the government - as ever - does precisely nothing!

Where it's even worse.....

In the last post we talked about the latest case of the kidnap of Christian girls and their rape, forced conversion and marriage in Pakistan, and noted that it was happening at the rate of (at least) one a week. Spare a thought for our brothers and sisters, the Copts of Egypt. After the 'Arab Spring' Wahhabi and Salafist movements have mushroomed with funding from Saudi Arabia. These groups are paying Muslims per convert. Unsurprisingly, the rate of abduction has shot up in past while. In one city alone the rate is 2-3 per day. Muslim University students are encouraged to get close to and sexually violate Coptic girls in the age range of 9 to 15. The tactic is to sexually blackmail them and shame them in front of their parents (photographs etc) to coerce them to run away and thus be more vulnerable. They are coerced into converting and marrying.

Salafist groups, police and state security combine to provide a strong infrastructure. The girls are held in houses procured especially for the purpose, the police refuse to pay attention to the girls families. And the Salafi groups have set up a group to deliberately counter and smear the efforts of the Coptic community to get the girls back. The Orwellian titled 'Alliance for the Support of New Muslim Females' has staged against the Coptic church, accusing it of kidnapping girls who have converted to Islam.

This new tactic explains why by far the highest proportion of 'converts' to Islam are from young and underage Coptic women. It can't even be (fully) blamed on normal Islamic practice, since it is deemed alright for the husband, the head of the house, to be a Muslim while his wife isn't. It is only deemed detestable if the 'subservient' wife is a Muslim and the husband is not. Thus these events cannot be about some kind of Romeo-Juliet romances across the religious divide. The goal is not the marriage of in love couples but the open promotion of sexual coercion and blackmail to induce conversion to Islam.

Elements of the security forces, courts, police, University officials and Muslim clergy are openly promoting and facilitating this policy. The supposedly 'pious' Muslims are engaging in mass rape and paedophilia and teaching their followers to do the same.

Even before the Revolution such practices were widespread, with tactics used including telling Christian women that their fathers were seriously ill in hospital and asking for them, and then snatching them off the street as they rushed to the hospital, or straight grabbing them from the street and aneasthatising them, marrying them in this condition, gang raping them for weeks, and then divorcing them. Fathers who protest have been accused of 'promoting sectarian strife' by the police and had their homes stolen from them.

Even where such girls are taken into state care homes (in one recent case it seems the girls claimed that they had freely converted to Islam because they feared retribution from their own families) there is intense intimidation, often with no Christian presence in such institutions, and the machinations of Sharia associations and threatening by Hijab encloaked social workers.

For more information see here, here and here.

Yet another kidnap and forced conversion and marriage

It's become a tired, tired old story, because Pakistani culture and corruption and religious discrimination has not changed - at least not for the better. Young Christian girl is kidnapped by a Muslim(s), is forced to convert and to marry her kidnapper - in effect being triply raped - in will and freedom as well as in body. This follows the reports recently about another case which we reported - that of Farah Hatim.

In the latest case, just 20 miles from the capital, Islamabad, a young Christian girl named Mariam Gill went out to the market and never came back. Witnesses saw a local man, an important local businessman, Muhammed Junaid, physically snatching her from the market. He had asked her to marry him and had been refused, so he took the woman he lusted after anyway, by force, and typically, cloaked his rape by claiming he had been a pious Muslim and converted her to Islam. Again, typically, the police prevaricated, refused the application of the distraught family, and treated the Christian family with disdain by showing no interest in the matter. A local police officer, Amir Mirza, praised the culprit as 'a respectable Muslim businessman' and claimed, against all evidence, that the girl had converted and married 'of her own free will'.

Again, typically, the local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Hafeez Aziz, praised the perpetrator of this wickedness as a 'pious Muslim' and a 'true follower of Muhammed' who has 'fulfilled Sharia', who had done an act that 'only a true Muslim could do'. He stated he had 'converted Mariam to Islam' and then 'celebrated' her 'marriage'.

The lies of both the religious and secular authorities became apparent when local officials questioned Mariam. She forthrightly stated that she had been abducted and forced to convert and would not renounce her faith in Christ. The officials ordered that the girl should be returned to her family and the two 'sides' should reach an 'agreement'. However, again typically, Muhammad Junaid showed his approach - he demanded the girl he had violated thrice over be returned to him for his pleasure and continued abuse, or there would be 'terrible consequences'.

Yet again, those who abuse Christian women (and indeed those of other minorities - Hindu girls are fleeing to India in increasing numbers to escape this cadre of sadistic rapists) indulge in a culture of impunity where these perpetrators of serious crimes are praised and lauded as model citizens and religionists while the victims and their families are threatened and intimidated.

The local bishop is quoted as saying 'the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate. The matter needs to be checked, kidnapping of Christian girls is becoming a common practice in Punjab. Law enforcement agencies need to enforce the law'

Amen to that.

He also says 'It is time to take concrete action to guarantee the safety of minorities in Pakistan'.

Amen to that too.

Thank you to the people at Asia News for bringing this to our attention.