A 17 year old student in the UK has written a report on the abduction, rape and forced Islamic marriage of Christian girls in Pakistan, as a submission for a Extra Project Qualification (EPQ).
The EPQ is a standalone qualification and is often taken by students to in addition to their A level studies. These are often taken to compliment Universities and College Admission Services (UCAS) applications. Around 30,000 students take an EPQ each year. Read more (here)
Hannah Chowdhry has for the last 4 years been a recognised campaigner for Pakistani Christian girls. She has spoken at the Pakistani Embassy in the UK, UK Parliament and even the EU Parliament, focused on bringing justice for these girls and safety for future generations.
Hannah has completed all written elements of the project and her presentation and is awaiting a decision on her grade. Though her work has not yet been fully assessed she takes this opportunity to share the contents here with you now, in order that the contents might fuel academic debate and fuel campaigns to help these young women.
Introduction
When I selected this subject for my EPQ it was due to a desire for something to be done about the appalling number of Christian girls subjected to violent rape and worse, due to their vulnerability in Pakistan. My research quickly highlighted a raft of issues pertaining to the situation and I try to make some sense of the many intrinsic factors that make this persecution so widespread and difficult to annihilate.
Before we start let me explain that I am focusing on Christians as I am of Pakistani Christian origin myself and have been heavily involved in campaigning for justice for these victims. However, there is definitely an argument that Sikh, Hindu and other minority girls are affected to similar persecution but factors such as being more educated or wealthy and in larger protective enclaves has meant they are affected to a lesser extent.
The USCIRF Annual Report for 2020, states: In Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities, young women, often underage, continued to be kidnapped for forced conversion to Islam. Several independent institutions estimated that 1,000 women are forcibly converted to Islam each year; many are kidnapped, forcibly married, and subjected to rape. Local police, particularly in Punjab and Sindh, are often accused of complicity in these cases by failing to investigate them properly. If such cases are investigated or adjudicated, the women are reportedly questioned in front of the men they were forced to marry, creating pressure to deny coercion. In October 2019, the Sindh Government rejected a bill seeking to criminalize forced conversion. Religious minorities also faced broader social discrimination, with reports of economic boycotts.
In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. government enter into a binding agreement with Pakistan as authorized under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). Such an agreement with defined benchmarks could provide Pakistan a path toward no longer being designated by the State Department as a “country of particular concern.” This policy update discusses the usefulness of an IRFA binding agreement and highlights substantive issues that an agreement should address in order to protect religious freedom, especially for the country’s religious minorities.
Lit Review:
What is my EPQ about?
Why are Christian girls kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriage? My topic overall is based upon the persecution of young Christian girls in Pakistan. In my literature review I will be discussing topics such as corrupt governments and laws, poverty, illiteracy and many other topics to understand why persecution continues to increase in Pakistan today.
History and background information of Pakistan
Pakistan is a very populous and ethnically diverse country in South Asia. It has historically and culturally been involved with its neighbouring countries Iran, Afghanistan and India. Pakistan successfully became independent from India in 1947 and has become a dominantly Muslim country.
However, Pakistan has always struggled to attain political stability and sustain social development.
Pakistan established themselves as a parliamentary democracy that was ruled by secular ideas. However, military coups and the government (political figures) have increasingly been measured by the standard of Sunni Islam. In the northern of Pakistan, in particular the Federally Administered tribal Areas, have become areas for members of the neighbouring Afghanistan’s Taliban regime and for many other Islamic extremist groups.
There have been numerous cases of ethnic, religious and social conflict. They often happen in areas that are ‘virtually ungovernable’ by central authorities. This has led to the increase in acts of violence against religious minorities. [1]
Persecution in Pakistan
Open Doors, a Christian Persecution charity, state that only 1.9 per cent of people in Pakistan are Christians – just over 4 million from a population of 208.3 million.
Christians in Pakistan face extreme persecution in every area of their lives. Believers who have converted from Islam face the greatest levels of persecution, but all Christians are considered second-class citizens in this strongly Islamic country.
Christians, particularly Christian men, are given jobs perceived as low, dirty and dishonourable, and can be victims of bonded labour. There are some Christians among the middle classes, but they are still considered inferior to their Muslim counterparts and often face severe workplace discrimination.
Christian girls are at risk of abduction and rape, and are often forced to marry their attackers and coerced into converting to Islam.
Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws are used to target Christians, and Islamic extremist groups vehemently ‘defend’ these laws, including attacking or killing those believed to have contravened them. Often these are used to target Christians after a dispute relating to work or tenancy, rather than genuine cases.
Christian churches do exist, but those that are active in outreach face severe persecution from society.[2]
The UK All Parliamentary Party Group for International Religious Freedom (APPGIRF), in their Annual General statement for Pakistan 2020, wrote:
Christian and Hindu girls are targeted for kidnapping, forced conversion and marriage – an experience which usually includes sexual abuse. Every year up to 1,000 young women from these communities between 12 and 25 years of age are abducted – and this may be an under-estimate. A Hindu girl, 14, was married to 40-year Mohammad Aachar Darejo in Sindh in April 2020. In the same province, in October 2020, a 13-year-old Christian girl, Arzoo Raja, was abducted and married to a 44-year Muslim man. In August 2020, a Christian girl, Saneha Kinza Iqbal, was abducted and forcefully converted to Islam in Faisalabad, Punjab. Even if the girls manage to escape, they can receive death threats from their former kidnappers.[3]
Corrupt government and law enforcement
A report written on forced marriages and forced conversions – written by The Movement For Solidarity and Peace (MSP report) published in April 2014 covered many topics in their report including legal and political framework. There seems to be a bias in their political representation in the government, they wrote:
‘Political representation remains a contentious issue for the Christian community. Christian community leaders contend that the nature of patronage politics – based on contributions and funding to political parties – have prevented truly representative candidates from rising to positions of prominence.’
‘Access to Urdu-language media is also restricted and little or no mention is made to the legitimate demands of minority communities.’
When it comes to hearing the pleas of minorities in Pakistan, they are ignored and promises made to keep women safe are not addressed. In the report it says:
‘Committees, as with federal institutions, have failed to review urgent matters for minority women’s rights, such as personal laws and rules.’
‘In 2009, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Minorities criticized the Commission for failing to protect minorities’ rights.’
‘Though devolution promises advances in women’s rights recognition and work, this potential is contingent upon effective implementation by provincial governments and authorities.’ [4]
In their latest report for 2020, the Human Rights Commission for Pakistan, wrote:
In Yazman, district Bahawalpur, there were at least a dozen cases of forced marriages alongside forced conversions. A member of the local community told the mission that in Chak 104-D in December 2018, Emanuel Masihís 13-year-old daughter was forced to marry into a Muslim family and was converted to Islam. The incident was brought to the notice of the Federal 6 Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari but even then, justice was not dispensed.
From another household, once again in Chak 104-D, four sisters were married to Muslim boys and efforts to prove this were unsuccessful. There had even been a case of a Muslim girl marrying a Christian boy and the boy had to convert. Unfortunately, the boy was later killed. The local people had said the court would deliver justice to the victim family but nothing had been done. The community said that such cases were indicative of entrenched institutionalised injustice in society.
Local authorities and law enforcement agencies rarely held the culprits and perpetrators of major and minor offences to account in the province. Prevailing attitudes of prejudice and favouritism further discouraged minority Christians and Hindus to speak out, protest, dissent or proactively seek justice. [5]
The US department of state in their 2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Pakistan, wrote:
On August 14, Prime Minister Imran Khan publicly stated, “Those in Pakistan who convert people to Islam by force…are going against Islam.” On November 21, the Senate established a Parliamentary Committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversions. The committee included the minister of religious affairs and interfaith harmony, the minister of human rights, and several Christian and Hindu senators. Religious minorities, however, said they remained concerned that government action to address coerced conversions of religious minorities to Islam was inadequate. Minority rights activists in Sindh cited the province’s failure to enact legislation against forced conversions as an example of the government’s retreating in the face of pressure from religious parties. Sindh Assembly member Nand Kumar Goklani introduced a bill against forced conversions on April 5. The draft updated a similar bill approved by the Sindh Assembly in 2016 that the governor refused to sign, reportedly under pressure from extremist groups. On October 23, the Sindh Assembly voted against the new bill after Islamist parties and religious leaders lobbied against it.[6]
Pakistani laws
Criminal laws:
The MSP report (click here) highlights laws up to that point of time that relate to this persecution:
APPLICABLE CRIMINAL LAWS: The link between abduction, kidnapping, and marriage is recognized and remedies are provided under both personal and criminal laws. Under Section 365-B of the PPC, no valid marriage can take place between the abductor and the person abducted as long as the latter remains in the power or control of her abductor. In such a case where a marriage has been compelled under duress by force, the High Courts have exclusive jurisdiction67. This Section was included through the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act of 2006 (Act VI, 2006). The specific language provides that:
Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel for marriage, etc.: “whoever kidnaps or abducts any woman with intent that she may be compelled, or knowing it to be likely that she will be compelled, to marry any person against her will, or in order that she may be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse, or knowing it to be likely that she will be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine, and whoever by means of criminal intimidation as defined in this Code or of abuse of authority or any other method of compulsion, induces any woman to go from any place with intent that she may be or knowing that it is likely that she will be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person shall also be punishable as aforesaid”.
Section 496-A similarly relates to abduction with criminal intent:
Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a woman: “Whoever takes or entices away any woman with intent that she may have illicit intercourse with any person or conceals or detains with that intent any woman shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to several years, and shall also be liable to a fine”.
Sections 371-A, 375, and 376 — as added to the PPC by the Protection of Women Act of 2006 — provide for remedies for associated crime following forced marriage and forced conversion: 371-A. Selling person for purposes of prostitution, etc.: “Whoever sells, lets to hire, or otherwise disposes of any person with intent that such person shall at any time be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution or illicit intercourse with any person or for any unlawful or immoral purpose, or knowing it to be likely that such person will at any time be employed or used for any such purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to twenty-five years and shall also be liable to a fine”
Rape and punishment for rape: “(1) Whoever commits rape shall be punished with death or imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than ten years or more than twenty-five (25) years and shall also be liable to one; (2) When rape is committed by two or more persons in furtherance of common intention of all, each of such persons shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life.” [7]
Marriage laws:
In the Annual General statement for 2019 the APPGIRF, wrote:
In early 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that Christian marriages will now be officially registered with marriage certificates.
A move to reduce kidnap and forced Islamic marriages of married Christian women.[8]
However, in the 2020 HRCP report the new law they described how the new law confer even more benefit to marginalised Christians:
In Shanti Nagar, district Khanewal, the issue of Christian marriages and divorce came under discussion. The corresponding Acts of Christian Marriage (1872) and Divorce (1869) were observed to be unhelpful, being religiously orthodox, obsolete and, in particular, not allowing them the right to divorce unless one of the spouses, particularly the man, suspects or accuses one partner (even without grounds) of adultery or illicit relations outside marriage. The community stressed that there was a need for one localised law ensuring them the civil right to marriage and divorce. The community was also aware of the proposed Christian Marriage and Divorce Act 2019. Although they were unfamiliar with the details, they hoped the law was going to be progressive and would confer the rights to marriage and divorce as applied to other citizens of the country. Traditionally and as per the above-mentioned pre-Partition British law, women do not have the right to divorce. As a result, the Christian community was worried because the British civil law was outdated and the Zia-ul-Haq regime abolition of the already flawed section 7 caused further difficulties. Under the present laws conversion to Islam or accusing one partner of adultery without any basis was a means of seeking a divorce. Therefore, the proposed law needed to be adopted by parliament in the wider public interest.[9]
Forced marriages and conversion
A Muslim NGO’s report on ‘Forced marriages and forced conversions in the Christian community of Pakistan’ has become the go to resource for human rights groups. The 2014 report by Movement and Solidarity and Peace (click here), states:
Cases for forced marriages and conversions can be distinguished by a specific pattern or process: Christian girls — usually between the ages of 12 and 25 — are abducted, converted to Islam, and married to the abductor or third party. The victim’s family usually files a First Information Report (FIR) for abduction or rape with the local police station. The abductor, on behalf of the victim girl, files a counter FIR, accusing the Christian family of harassing the wilfully converted and married girl, and for conspiring to convert the girl back to Christianity. Upon production in the courts or before the magistrate, the victim girl is asked to testify whether she converted and married of her own free will or if she was abducted. In most cases, the girl remains in custody of the abductor while judicial proceedings are carried out. Upon the girl’s pronouncement that she wilfully converted and consented to the marriage, the case is settled without relief for the family. Once in the custody of the abductor, the victim girl may be subjected to sexual violence, rape, forced prostitution, human trafficking and sale, or other domestic abuse. These patterns of violence and miscarriages of justice are explored later in the report through an examination of illustrative cases. The prevalence and incidence of forced conversion and marriage are difficult to accurately estimate due to reporting deficiencies and the complex nature of the crime. Estimates therefore range from 1004 to 7005 victim Christian girls per year. For the Hindu community, the most conservative estimates put the number of victims at 300 per year6 . Minority advocacy groups have attempted to extrapolate figures from conversion cases and media reports. These methods are also inadequate, since the intensity and scale of conversion are far greater than as reported by the media.[10]
Gender:
In 2019, The UK Government enacted a global review of Christian Persecution, headed by the Bishop of Truro. In the BISHOP OF TRURO’S INDEPENDENT REVIEW FOR THE FOREIGN SECRETARY OF FCO SUPPORT FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS FINAL REPORT and RECOMMENDATIONS, they wrote:
There is a particular intersection between the denial of FoRB and gender equality. Again, put simply, in global terms, Christian women are more likely to be a victims of discrimination and persecution (including people trafficking, gender-based violence, kidnapping and forced marriage) than men. In the last 10 years anecdotal evidence has begun to emerge from persecuted Christians that women were suffering violent attacks, targeted abuses and restrictions in the face of ‘double marginalisation’. They were marginalised and abused because of being both a woman and Christian. Reporting on Christian women can be minimalised by the fact that they are often invisible to society and poorly represented by stakeholders and civil society.
In 2018 and 2019 analysis from the Open Doors World Watch list included gender profiles confirming that persecution was indeed gender specific. It correlates well with the previous reports and has validated numerous case studies that organisations such as Release International, Open Doors and Christian Solidarity Worldwide have presented in the last five years.
Thus there is evidence from Pakistan of Christian girls being groomed and trafficked into sham marriages, and suffering forced conversion, often with the aim of bringing shame and dishonour on the family. In Parliament on 21st May 2019 Lord Alton asked, ‘Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the human rights and freedom of religion or belief implications of the case of the 16 year old Pakistani Christian girl Sheeza Riasat who was abducted from her parents’ home near Gujranwala, Pakistan on 12 February and forcibly converted and married; and what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about that case’.[11]
Poverty and illiteracy
Poverty is one of the many reasons why Christians are persecuted against. In the MSP report it says:
‘In rural areas, seventy (70) percent of Christians work on jagirs – for landowners – as landless laborers and, as a result, are highly vulnerable to social stigmatization and religious crimes. Minorities account for a large part of labor in informal sectors, agriculture, brick kilns and domestic work. According to the National Commission of Justice and Peace (NCJP), eighty (80) percent of the minority community is poor while forty (40) percent lives below the poverty line.’
The same report talks about how there is a lack in education for Christians. ‘The capture and nationalization of Christian educational institutions under Martial Law Orders 167 and 168 in 1972 removed the safeguard that had allowed minorities to compete in key sectors.’ This makes Christians easy targets for persecution and is one of the main leading factors why Christian girls are kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriage. [12]
- [1] Information on Pakistan – https://www.britannica.com/place/Pakistan saw on 13th April 2021
- [2] Open Doors – https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/pakistan/ accessed on 16th march 2021
- [3] Freedom religious belief – https://appgfreedomofreligionorbelief.org/pakistan/ accessed on 16th March 2021
- [4] Forced marriages and forced conversions – written by The Movement For Solidarity and Peace published in April 2014 – opened on the 24th Feb 2021
- [5] Human Rights Commission – http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Faith-Based-Discrimination-in-Southern-Punjab_2019.pdf accessed on 16th March 2021
- [6] International religious freedom – https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/pakistan/ accessed on 16th March 2021
- [7] Forced marriages and forced conversions – written by The Movement For Solidarity and Peace published in April 2014 – opened on the 24th Feb 2021 (click here)
- [8] APPGIRF – https://appgfreedomofreligionorbelief.org/pakistan/ accessed on 16th March
- [9] HRCP report – http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Faith-Based-Discrimination-in-Southern-Punjab_2019.pdf accessed on 16th March
- [10] Forced marriages and forced conversions – written by The Movement For Solidarity and Peace published in April 2014 – opened on the 24th Feb 2021
- [11] Gender and discrimination – https://christianpersecutionreview.org.uk/interim-report/ accessed on 16th March 2021
- [12] Forced marriages and forced conversions – written by The Movement For Solidarity and Peace published in April 2014 – opened on the 24th Feb 2021
Discussion
Why are Christian girls/women abducted, raped and forced into Islamic Marriage in Pakistan?
When I selected this subject for my EPQ it was due a desire for something to be done about the appalling number of Christian girls subjected to violent rape and worse due to their vulnerability in Pakistan. My research quickly highlighted a raft of issues pertaining to the situation and I try to make some sense of the many intrinsic factors that make this persecution so widespread and difficult to annihilate.
Before we start let me explain that I am focusing on Christians as I am of Pakistani Christian origin myself and have been heavily involved in campaigning for justice for these victims. However, there is definitely an argument that Sikh, Hindu and other minority girls are affected to the similar persecution but factors such as being more educated or wealthy and in larger protective enclaves has meant they are affected to a lesser extent.
For instance, in 2014 a group named Movement of Solidarity and Peace (MSP) estimated 300 Hindu girls are abducted raped and forced into Islamic marriage every year, at a time when the Hindu demographic would have constituted near 4,444,437 persons or 2.14% of the population of Pakistan (as per the Pakistan Census of 2017). Whereas the MSP estimated that 700 Christian girls were kidnapped around the same period from a demographic of 2,637,587 persons around 1.27% of the total population of Pakistan.
Christian girls/women are more than twice as likely as their Hindu counterparts to be subjected to such persecution, despite coming from a demographic that is just over half that of Hindus. I believe this is because Christian communities are smaller and more widely dispersed geographically, are generally poorer and less literate than other minorities because many would have converted from the lowest social levels of the caste system (system of defining social status by a birth right) which still pervades in Pakistan and India.
Christians also have an incorrectly perceived link with Western Christians and their past history of crusades and colonisation that emanates in hatred towards them. An example of this is the arson attack on a church in Mardan over an anti-Islam film released in America.
Also two churches were attacked in Pakistan after a threat by an American Pastor in Florida to burn a Koran (which he did not pursue), despite no known link between the churches and the Pastor.
These three factors ensure that Pakistani Christians are more vulnerable, disempower them and make them targets for various persecution.
So where do I start with the abductions and forced marriages? A good place would be the culture of Pakistan which stems from the Islamic faith. Pakistan itself as a nation was formed in 1947 after a partition was sought by Muslim leaders to safeguard their religious community (Ummah). The name Pakistan was first coined by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali and comes from Persian and means ‘land where the pure abound’ and the name also provides an acronym that includes many of the states incorporated within the country Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan.
This is the beginning of the problem however, because in their desire to make a land of the pure, the founders have created a land of the intolerant. This is illustrated through Open Doors International, who calculate incidents of persecution that involve, death, injury, lack of religious freedom or financial loss to Christians. Annually the compare all countries across the globe and have for the last 3 years placed Pakistan on their list as the fifth worst nation for Christians to live.
- Christians are often looked at as anathema and as subhuman factors that make the nation of Pakistan ritually impure. The internet is littered with blasphemy allegations, murders, and workplace/school bullying of minority Christians, often for drinking from the same water source or washing using the same well as Muslims as ritual-impurity-based neuroticism pervades society.
In nearly every case the victim is given the chance to convert to Islam or die/suffer attack. Christians commonly report that they are being bullied and harassed to change faith to Islam at school
workplaces.
Though Christians live in their own enclaves they will be surrounded by Muslim neighbours who will live in peace with them till triggered to violence by the accusation of a blasphemy or a case of ritual impurity which then leads to violent attacks on Christian communities.
These acts of persecution have resulted in very timid Christian communities who often fail to speak out when their daughters are kidnapped for fear of repercussions especially through use of Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws as a weapon of subjugation.
The blasphemy laws and many other discriminatory laws in Pakistan are based on Sharia Law (Islam’s legal system). It is derived from the Koran, Islam’s central text, and fatwas the rulings of Islamic scholars. The very nature of them being Islamic means that they will negatively impact on minorities. One of the ways that this manifested itself is the higher value placed on a Muslim witness over a Christian when taking forced marriages to court.
“The rules of evidence in Sharia courts traditionally prioritize oral testimony, and witnesses must be Muslim. Male Muslim witnesses are deemed more reliable than female Muslim witnesses, and non-Muslim witnesses considered unreliable and receive no priority in a Sharia court. In civil cases in some countries, a Muslim woman witness is considered half the worth and reliability than a Muslim man.”
Despairingly, this has meant Christian girls/women who challenge their rape and abduction are ignored, though most are beaten into submission before they even get to court. Brutalised frightened women have often been seen testifying that marriage are of their own volition while sobbing incessantly. Moreover, courts often ignore the pleas of the girls’ families as the testimony of Christians is deemed worthless.
In addition to this, for many Christians in rural communities officially registered churches are not available to them due to geographical distance, cost and status. A local pastor solemnises the marriage without registering them properly which causes huge problems in establishing previously marriages at time of challenging an abduction.
Under Pakistan’s Marriage Act of 1867, marriages have to be undertaken within registered churches and the marriages themselves need to be registered with the Registrar General. Poor illiterate families neither understand the process nor can they afford the costs. This has meant that married Christian girls/women have been unable to prove they are married to someone prior to the rape and remain stuck with their abductors in forced marriages.
Worse still there is immense corruption in both the police authorities and courts of Pakistan and wealthy Muslims are often able to bribe their way out of trouble. Moreover, easily secured bail undermines the law and allows perpetrators to show strength to their accusers. They threaten frighten Christians of severe consequences resulting in many legal cases being dropped.
Even when threats fail the perpetrators can evade justice via the infamous sharia-based Qisas and Diyat Laws, which allows them to buy their escape from justice by paying off the families of the victims (who will normally have been threatened to take the money or face the murder of a family member). Such impunity for the wealthy contributes to the proliferation of crime.
All of the factors above are of course exacerbated by the number of judges and police who are themselves prejudiced against Christians and refuse to help them or worse still, interfere with investigations to thwart justice.
In particular judges in District courts have been known to implement Sharia Law over the existing statute laws. Children aged 14 and younger have been accepted as having qualified for an Islamic marriage despite being under age. To add to these woes these courts with extremely biased judges accept false proofs-of-age to qualify marriages.
The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 states that girls must have reached 16 before they can be married, which in 2019 was increased to 18 under Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018. The 2018 bill was opposed by the current Prime Minister Imran Khan who was supported by extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and other far right groups. The bill was meant to end child marriage in Pakistan but like most other laws in the country is rarely implemented. With a maximum sentence of 1 month and a maximum fine of 1000 rupees (£9.67) the law is rather toothless.
It should be noted that the Sindh Province of Pakistan has the highest percentage of underage marriages and a law increasing the minimum age was introduced there as early as 2013. However, in 2018 a newspaper article bemoaned the limited implementation of the law, a symptom of Pakistani culture that has repeated itself across the nation.
Even worse one of the main detractors is the current leader of Thereek-e-Insaaf, Prime Minister Imran Khan. He is aligned to many of the Islamist groups in Pakistan, despite his many years playing international cricket and living a very western life for himself. In the West, the election of Imran Khan was seen as an opportunity to change the years of dominance of the previous incumbent political powers the Pakistan People’s Party and Muslim-League-N. Hopes for a more modern and equal Pakistan however are rapidly reducing.
There is a small slither of hope however. As PM Imran Khan had recently turned against extremist leaders and arrested a number of them in the run up to releasing Asia Bibi, a long-term blasphemy convict who galvanised international support for her release.
Pressure applied by countries in the West which included a visit from the European Union Special Envoy for international religious Freedom who threaten to removed their GSP+ status (agreement that allows for tariff- free trade with European nations) is believed to have contributed to his decision. Loss of such status would have resulted in 3 billion dollars worth of lost trade and had a catastrophic effect on Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Special Envoy Mr Jan Figel who I have met, explained to me in the EU Parliament that he based his threat on a desire to see Asia Bibi set free and palpable improvement in the poor human rights exhibited in Pakistan.
It is believed that Pakistan’s Army were also involved in this reaction. They have a history of ruling the nation by consecutive military dictatorships, following a period of democratic rule. This pattern was only reversed recently as Pakistan has finally entered a period of three democratically elected Governments.
Many commentators suggest that the military intervened and pressured Imran Khan, to arrest and detain the extremist leaders or face a new coup d’état. The acquittal of Asia Bibi would have benefitted the army who desired to garner favour with the US who at the time had blocked Foreign Aid to the extent of $1 billion dollars. The aid suspension was based on a perceived foot in both camps for the Pak-army who were ostensibly were an ally in the war against terror.
The arrest of the extremist leaders certainly curbed the strikes and protests that had brought the country of Pakistan to a standstill and was thwarting justice for Asia Bibi. Delays which caused chagrin to leaders and humanitarian groups in the west, resulting in global negative publicity for the nation of Pakistan.
So it would seem extremism and fundamentalism can be challenged in Pakistan through the pressure from international groups and the powerful Pak-Military dependent on international funding. Moreover, in introducing the new Child Marriage Restraint Amendment Bill it is evidenced that outside of an election campaigning political parties vying for power can defeat the incumbents (who generally share power due to hung parliaments), resulting in positive changes to the law. It is arguable that when in power it is these same parties that capitulate to the whim of extremists.
In conclusion, considering the raft of different factors which cause the current vulnerability of Pakistani Christian women it is hard to say there is any one overwhelming area of concern. To me it seems that the country is riven with socio-political factors that determine the current human rights malaise. It will require a huge sea change ubiquitously in all these areas for Pakistan to emerge as an egalitarian nation, from its current human rights nadir.
Fundamentalist preachers who foment hatred against minorities must face prosecution when they lead attacks against Christian communities, enact false blasphemy allegations and in some cases extol the virtues of abduction and rape as a mechanism for converting kaffir women/girls.
For that to happen the Justice system in Pakistan must be overhauled. Pakistani Judges who exhibit discriminatory bias must be removed from post, there should be improved monitoring of the results of hearings of minority cases.
Furthermore, the practice of placing Christian women who fight for justice into courts without witness protection must be abolished. Women should not be sent to Dar ul Aslam while the court decides where they should go, they should be asked in privacy and protection if they want to return to their families and should be allowed to do so. It is proven that more of them would seek to be with their families if they knew that they and their families would be safe.
Rapists and murderers should not be allowed pre-arrest bail or any form of bail at all. Even more essentially, Pakistan should repeal the Qisas and Diyat laws that permits the paying of a bribe to victim families to offset their crimes and buy an acquittal. This law is barbaric and and has no place in any justice system.
The insouciance of police authorities investigating abductions and forced marriages must be addressed. Police should face investigation and their employment be terminated where they fail to identify a concern until a solicitor, politician or humanitarian group intervenes. A pattern analysis is required to ascertain whether it is corruption or discrimination that is the primary trigger for this lackadaisical approaches to investigation. Both of these should be eradicated but whichever is most pressing prioritised with new monitoring and punitive measures introduced to bring change.
Attempts should be made to improve literacy levels of Pak-Christians and their economic standards. This will empower Christian families and enable them to challenge for and understand their rights. Moreover it would reduce their vulnerability.
An end to bullying of Christians in schools and better security measures to protect Christian girls being kidnapped outside school gates, will help build confidence in the education system. Polices and practices that enable this improvement must be defined and actioned.
Stronger attempts to alter the stereotyping and caricaturing of Christians in Pakistani textbooks highlighted first in 2013 by the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), must be implemented. An early amendment was later castigated as it removed 50% of offensive material and replaced it with an equivalent amount of new defamatory material.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1252451
Pakistan must be made to resolve this ongoing evidence of national intolerance. Worse still the national curriculum is bereft of any contribution made by minorities in Pakistan, despite many notable war heroes i.e Cecil Chaudhry , Olympians i.e. John Permal , politicians i.e. Shahbaz Bhatti and academics i.e. Bernadette Dean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Pakistan
Incorporating successes of Christian predecessors who contributed to the development of Pakistan, will inspire the next generation of Christians.
Removal of Pakistan’s aggressive blasphemy laws would enable Christians to challenge for their rights and after an abduction, for the return of their daughters without threat of being counter-threatened through this unjust law. It is believed over 95% of blasphemy allegations in Pakistan are false, a figure set based on the number of cases overturned on appeal.
Pakistan must continue on it’s current trajectory of consecutive parliamentary elections a return to the pattern of military coup followed by an election, hinders true democracy and disenfranchises minorities. This is best evidenced by the islamization in the 1970’s by dictator General Zia, of originally light blasphemy laws. Nascent laws were introduced by the British in 1860 under the Pakistan Penal Code and involved a small fine or maximum two year sentence. The current laws carry a woefully excessive death or life sentence and have become a blatant tool for discrimination and oppression. The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill is a perfect example of a law introduced through more thoughtful democracy – long may it continue.
The Pakistani Constitution, Article 2, states ‘Islam shall be the State Religion of Pakistan’ and should be removed. It serves no purpose in a nation with a demographic population of over 95% and was not desired by the founder of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who at the Lahore Convention on 12th August 1947, only days before independence said: “You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State.” Article 2 is taught is schools and creates a feeling of second-class citizenship amongst minorities and a sense of superiority amongst Muslims. It is a precursor to impunity for crimes against Christians.
There is a raft of concerns that contribute to the vulnerability of Christian women/girls in Pakistan who are alarmingly abducted, raped and forced into Islamic Marriage at an estimated rate of 700 per year.
It is clear that there is no one standalone factor that can remedy this situation. A holistic approach to resolving this matter must ensue, but I fear passion for change does not exist amongst the elite in the nation. Politicians who seem to capitulate to the whim of extremists when in power are simply maintaining the status quo.
Dynamic change will only happen with the influence of wider partners such as the US (who pump billions of dollars into Pakistan), the UK (for whom Pakistan is the largest recipient of foreign aid) and the EU. Pakistan depends on their funding to survive – their corrupt tax system results in only 1% of the population contributing. The west must continue to persevere in dialogue to make Pakistan abide by the international laws they have subscribed to, foreign aid must be a lever towards improvement.
For now fundamentalists are able to preach hatred throughout a nation that has become more intolerant through its state-sponsored curriculum and it will take decades to improve this situation. Simply changing laws without any real desire to enforce them is futile.
The future for Christian girls/women in Pakistan continues to look bleak – they will remain dependent on humanitarian agencies in Pakistan over the next few decades. For now Pakistan should prioritise a grassroots education system that is free of religious bias and intolerance so that their next generation grow up with less apprehension of the diverse faiths within their communities. This curriculum should also extol the contribution made to Pakistani Society by minorities and by women. Schooling via madrassas should be outlawed in favour of a better monitored government system.
