Chief Justice of Pakistan wins International Award for complicity in persecution!

Video of protestors confrontation at the awards ceremony

The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) lent its support to protests today against the giving of a world-class award to the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court,  Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.  The International  Council of Jurists (IJC) is giving him the award today in London.  The BPCA argues that giving such an award to a man who has just passed down cases more in accord with Sharia law than international standards of justice is a slap in the face of the Chief Justice’s recent victims, Hindu women whose kidnap, rape and forced conversion and marriage Chaudhry upheld.  In addition, he dismissed representations by the leaders of the Hindu community seeking protection for their vulnerable girls.  

Mr Wilson Chowdhury, chairman of the BPCA, said ‘This is yet another case illustrating the contempt for the rights of minorities in Pakistan.  One girl, Rinkel Kumari, cried for her parents  in court and clearly stated she had been forced against her will to marry a Muslim boy, but the Chief Justice ignored her clear testimony and distress and handed her to her ‘husband’.  It is an insult to the minorities of Pakistan these international jurists persist in giving such an award to a man who makes himself and the state of Pakistan so complicit in the persecution of minorities.  The case sets another precedent, and the fact that this award is not being rescinded is another precedent.  The IJC is in effect making itself complicit and validating the systematic kidnap, rape, forced marriage and conversion of vulnerable minorities in Pakistan.’


He went on to add 'Should someone still be given a community award for previous good actions when they have recently also rioted and vandalized property?  The same principle applies here.  The IJC is spectacularly proving the old adage that the law is an ass - and is discrediting itself in the process.'

Other commitments prevented BPCA representatives joining in the protest.   The BPCA counters assertions that such girls voluntarily convert to Islam and sometimes say so by noting that it is routine in such cases for the kidnappers to threaten to kill their families or bring false blasphemy charges against them if the girls do not say they have married and converted voluntarily. 

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. 

Wider social issues in Pakistan

Pakistani Hindu women

We have repeatedly reported on the kidnap and rape of Christian women, and violence against Christians generally. These are almost always religiously motivated. However, we will do well to remember that wider social situation in Pakistan. I include links to a number of articles that talk about very concerning issues in Pakistan.

A number of situations we have reported on are in the port city of Karachi (of which a little more in a later article). It has long been a city of ethnic strife, and 'political' shootings are common, and often the dead are totally apolitical innocent victims in the crossfire, as the following article tells :

http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2011/08/tears-and-trauma-in-karachi-who-is-to-blame-for-the-cycle-of-violence/ In July alone, 232 were killed in this manner, and people live in a state of fear. Political parties are using protection money rackets, 'spot checks' on civilians to determine areas and deduce their politics, leading to kidnap, torture and death. Ambulance drivers are paid to carry 'dead bodies' and kalashnikovs, grenades and rocket launchers to the various factions. The dead bodies get up and walk with the weapons when they reach the destination. And then the ambulances are fired upon (surprise) killing the (genuine) injured within them.

Another report makes chilling reading - about homo and heterosexual abuse (and murder) and pimping of street children in Pakistan, largely by the police. We have reported in the past Christian boys (not on the street) who were kidnapped, raped and murdered by police officers. This was not an abberration. Many children run away from home due to beatings, an estimated 170,000 children live on the streets. Up to 90% are abused on the first night of being on the streets, and 60% have been abused by the police. For more, see

http://news.yahoo.com/children-sexually-abused-pakistans-streets-072740116.html

Another article (I don't agree with all the attitudes of the writer, but the facts and experiences are revealing) reveals that 80% of Pakistani women suffer domestic abuse, and that Pakistan is ranks the 3rd worst country in the world to be a woman. Rape is common, and the victims are blamed, rather than the perpetrators.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/6463/pakistan-hates-women/

and http://tribune.com.pk/story/189294/pakistan-ranks-3rd-on-list-of-most-dangerous-countries-for-women/

Another reason why it is so bad is Female Genital Mutilation, usually associated with Africa, but what most people don't know is that it is practised in Pakistan too, among certain groups, and it is increasing. This is also being forced increasingly on British pakistani girls. They go off on holiday, unknowing, and come back mutilated and maimed for life. The following link contains details, but it is very disturbing

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/7523/female-genital-mutilation-in-pakistan-and-beyond/

In addition, Christians are, of course, not the only minority who is suffering. One aspect of Hindu women's plight is that the state does not have, and seems to be refusing to have, official means of recognising Hindu weddings. Thus a maltreated Hindu wife has no recourse in court, because she has no acceptable proof of marriage.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/5389/jinnahs-pakistan-has-no-room-for-hindus/