Christians Under Attack

Lahore (AsiaNews/TNS) – On a sunny afternoon in the second week of
February 2011, 45-year-old Azra Bibi, clad in black shawl, entered the reception
of Jamia Naeemia with her ten year old son, a leading Sunni-Barelvi madrassa
situated in a congested area of Lahore. Accompanied by a 45-year-old Muslim
witness Chaudhry Muhammad Islam, Azra a recent convert to Islam along with her
six children asked for the imam of the Jamia. She has come here to get proper
documents to prove in the court that she was no longer a Christian.

The young receptionist at Jamia Naeemia talks to the principal on
telephone opens the side drawer of his dented metal table and pulls out a
two-inch-thick book wrapped in a blue cover. He finds a blank page and starts
writing her details.

The book is a registry used to keep record of religious conversions to
Islam. One book is enough to record 100 cases of conversions. A newly built
wooden cabinet brimming with many such books is used to store the record.
Officials at the Madrassa say the number of people converting from other
religions, especially Christianity, to Islam is on the rise here. At least 50 to
60 Christians embrace Islam each month by signing a white and green paper on the
book declaring that they accept Islam without any greed or pressure and promise
to ‘remain in the religion of Islam for the rest of the life’, and will try to
spend life according to the principles of Islam.

Raghib Naeemi, Principal Jamia Naeemia, says that his institute has no
department for preaching. “All those who convert to Islam come to Jamia on their
own, accompanied by some Muslims of their locality as witnesses. We have made it
a prerequisite for the aspirant converts to submit an affidavit declaring that
they are embracing Islam without greed or force.” He says that all Christians
who convert to Islam do not do so because they like this religion. “Some of them
convert to Islam because they want to end their marriage which is not easy in
Christianity, or they want to marry a cousin or a Muslim girl or boy. Over 90
per cent of the converts are illiterate.”

The record at Jamia Naeemia reveals that 678 Christians converted to
Islam in 2009, the number reached 693 in 2010 while 95 Christians have so far
embraced Islam this year.

Badshahi Mosque is another institution that issues certificate to those
who convert to Islam. Muhammad Yousuf, assistant protocol officer at the mosque,
says rarely a day goes without some cases of conversion. “Sometimes dozens of
people convert to Islam during a day. Overwhelming, majority of them come from
Christian minority,” he tells TNS.

Peter Jacob, Executive Director of National Commission for Justice and
Peace (NCJP), an advocacy organisation funded by the Catholic Church, says it is
no surprise some of Pakistan’s three millions Christians are adopting Islam
nowadays. “These are troublesome and dangerous days for the country’s religious
minorities. People have no faith in the police or the justice system and the
kind of fear that exists now was never there before,” he says.

Legally, there is no bar on religious conversion. “But in Pakistan only
one-way conversion to Islam is allowed that can be very fatal to religious
diversity in the country. It is not only Christians in Pakistan who are scared.
All minorities are under pressure.”

Jacob thinks that security has become a major reason for marginalised
and discriminated Christian community to convert to Islam. “Blasphemy laws are
also being misused to pressurise Christians to convert to Islam.”

Last month Shahbaz Bhatti, the only minister in federal cabinet
belonging to a minority religion, was assassinated in Islamabad. Taliban
reportedly claimed responsibility for the killing, saying the minister had been
“punished” for being a blasphemer.

Azra Bibi—whose husband remains Christian and lives separately from his
wife and children—says that she has converted to Islam only because she feels it
is the most beautiful religion. “Now, it feels great and I have moved to a
Muslim neighbourhood. I feel safer.” A woman from the neighbourhood comes to
them daily after dinner to teach her and her children Islam and its
practices.

That day at the Madrassa, as Azra Bibi collected her certificate
declaring her a Muslim and prepared to leave, a young couple entered the
reception. Parvaiz Masih, a 23-year-old auto rickshaw driver and his 22-year-old
cousin Nasreen seemed in a hurry to convert to Islam. But the officials at Jamia
were hesitant, as they did not have two Muslim witnesses accompanying them. “I
like Islam and want to embrace it. I want to be known as Muhammad Parvaiz. I
will be secure now and will take decisions of my choice after converting to
Islam”.

Masih’s reference was her marriage to his cousin, Nasreen—who had
slipped away from her home to come to Jamia with him. She was hesitant to
elaborate why she wanted to convert to Islam. “I like Islam,” was all she
said.

Joseph Francis, National Director, Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and
Settlement (CLAAS), believes that all these conversions are forced. “Jamia
Naeemia or Badshahi Mosque officials do not look into the reasons why people
have been converting to Islam. We have also found that in many cases young
Christian girls are abducted and married off to Muslim men. They are also forced
to change their religion and there is no process available to get them released
as once they are declared Muslims, they cannot come back to Christianity.” He
says his organisation had received seven such cases in 2008, four in 2009 and
six in 2010.

The preamble to the constitution of Pakistan guarantees that adequate
provision shall be made for minorities to freely profess and practice their
religions and develop their culture. The Enforcement of Shariah Act 1991 was
promulgated on June 18, 1991 whereby the Islamic Shariah was enforced as the
supreme law of the land. But under clause 4 of Section 1, it was provided that
“Nothing contained in this Act shall affect the personal laws, religious
freedom, traditions, customs and way of life of the non-Muslims.”

But the situation on ground is altogether different. For instance,
Tahir Iqbal, a Muslim who converted to Christianity was accused of committing
blasphemy in 1990 in Lahore. Then additional session judge of Lahore dismissed
his bail application on July 7, 1991, and passed the following order:

“Learned counsel for the petitioner has conceded before me that the
petitioner has converted to Christianity. With this admission on the part of the
petitioner’s counsel there is no need to probe further into allegations. Since
conversion is in itself a cognizable offence involving serious implications, I
do not consider the petitioner is entitled to bail at this stage”.
Interestingly, there is no law in Pakistan that makes conversion from Islam to
any other religion an offence.

Human Right activists say there is no mechanism to gauge whether the
Christians converting to Islam have been doing it under their own free will or
duress. “We receive many cases every year in which Christian girls are abducted
and forced to marry Muslim men,” I.A. Rehman, Director Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan, tells TNS. “Security is a major reason these days for minorities to
convert to Islam. We have registered cases in which people are deprived of their
jobs on the basis of their faith, admissions to colleges and schools are denied
and then there are social taboos that result in discrimination. All these
factors can lead to religious conversion.”