Among several such stories, one is of Seher Shafi, who converted to Christianity. Her story appeared also on Pakistan Christian Post of March 12, 2005. When Seher Shafi told her parents that she has accepted Christianity, her life came under constant threats and the members of her family began torturing her. She married Naveed Paul, a Christian. One day, a member of her family saw her coming out of her church. He chased to find her residence where she lived with her husband and her baby Angela. Next day, her home was destroyed, she was tortured and left with threats that her husband and baby would be killed. After that they moved from one place to another, hiding for their safety.

The life of an apostate from Islam is beset with life-threatening perils in Pakistan . Even those who are born in Christian families face persecution at every step. To escape some of those persecutions, they adopt Muslim names and manners. Still, they cannot be entirely out of the clutches of persecutions. Due to the Blasphemy Laws and the climate of hatred, Christians in Pakistan live under the Martial Law of religion.

According to the constitution of Pakistan , conversion from Islam to any other religion is not illegal. However, conversion from Islam is not possible because it is an offence that carries the death penalty according to the Sharia (Islamic) laws. The law enforcement agencies and administration can offer no security because the atmosphere is hostile for apostates from Islam. Even just a rumour would put the life also of a priest in danger. On the other hand, the atmosphere is encouraging for the followers of other religions to accept Islam. Human Rights Monitor 2001 reports one case:

Near Okara, Panjab, a village called Chak 6/4-l, has a Christian high school and a college. Majority of the population in this village is Christian. The school has Muslim students and teachers. In February 2000, a Muslim student came to a priest here to become Christian. The priest told her that she was not an adult. Moreover, she needed more understanding of Christianity. So he refused to baptize her. Islamic clerics of the surrounding villages used loudspeakers on their mosques to instigate them to beat the priest for converting Muslims, destroy the church, and punish the Christians of that village. When those Christians came to know it, they took steps to defend themselves. Meanwhile, the police also stepped in and somehow there was reconciliation.3 There are several such cases. A considerable number of Christians are becoming Muslims because of the marriage of convenience for them. These conversions are often reported in the media to boost the pride of Muslims. But conversion of a Muslim into Christianity is an intolerable offence in Pakistan .

The Bishop of Faisalabad, Pakistan, John Joseph, describes a Muslim convert he met in Rome in February of 1996. He was invited to attend the baptismal ceremony of this convert who was being baptized by a German bishop. The convert told Bishop John Joseph that due to fear no priest was ready to baptize him in Pakistan . He came to Germany and even here no Pakistani Christian dared to introduce him to a priest. Then he took courage and went to a priest himself. He had gathered his knowledge about Christianity long before in Pakistan . He studied Christianity further in Germany and Rome . In Pakistan , his uncle was a member of the parliament and one of his brothers was a bank manager. In Pakistan , he himself was a bank manager. Before becoming Christian, he wrote a letter to his uncle and brother in Pakistan about his decision to become Christian. He never received a reply. On May 6 in 1998, Bishop John Joseph committed suicide to protest against the blasphemy laws and the persecution of Christians in Pakistan.4

Life becomes more difficult if the alleged Christian blasphemer has property or a successful business. Ayub Masih languished in jail for years because of the land grabbers. After years, it was proved in the supreme court that a false case of blasphemy was designed against him to grab his property. There is a long list of similar cases of land grabbing of Christians under false accusations of defiling the name of Prophet Mohammed.

Nearly all those Christians who had been implicated in blasphemy were innocent. All lost their respect, and properties before their arrests. Death punishment is awarded by courts if the matter is able to reach there. In most cases, the alleged blasphemer is either killed by the mob or by members of the family. If through luck the blasphemer is arrested, he is killed in the jail. If blasphemers are freed by the superior courts because of the false charges, they are not able to enjoy freedom in Pakistan . So far, nearly all the alleged blasphemers have sought asylum abroad to live a life of freedom that was not possible in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The case of Mr. Naveed Mughal, an apostate from Islam, is another tragic episode of persecution that was played on the stage of religion in 2004. Even a basic study of Pakistan will convince any individual that Christians in Pakistan face the state-sponsored persecution. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan confirms this when it says "the blasphemy laws encourage citizens to take murderous actions like Farooq Ahmed’s,"5 who savagely stabbed Naimat Ahmar with a knife he picked up from the butcher’s shop of his father. The life of the convert and even the brothers, sisters and parents of the convert are not free from the danger of death. According to the letters and the media report, the Mughals received threats from various sources. There is a fatwa (a religious edict) against Mr. Naveed Mughal. It is much easier to kill apostates from Islam, particularly after a fatwa, because killers in such cases are treated as heroes. As it has been reported by the press, the house of the Mughals in Pakistan was targeted by the fundamentalists. They were accused of being puppets of the United States of America . The presence of converted Christians encourage fundamentalists to earn more points in their eligibility to enter paradise by killing an infidel, and Christians and Jews are infidels to them.

The Sharia laws (Islamic) concerning apostates violate Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It says that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The Universal Declarations clearly states that "this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief." Obviously, apostates from Islam do not enjoy their right to live freely in Pakistan , because apostasy is a spiritual treason in Islam, for which the penalty is death. To go after a Christian, someone from a 3 per cent minority group in Pakistan , Muslims use also the weapon of the blasphemy laws that deny the basic human rights to the citizens of the same country.

=================

WORK CITED 

1 SECTION 295-C ( Pakistan ’s Penal Code) by Jacob Dildar and Aftab Alexander Mughal, Aman o Insaf, Bishop House, Faisalabad , Pakistan , Feb. 1995, page 25

2 Washington Post, 21st of October 1993

3 Human Rights Monitor 2001. National Commision for Justice and Peace, E/64-A, Street 8, Officers Colony, Walton Road, Lahore, Pakistan, May 2001, p. 20

4A Peaceful Struggle by Bishop John Joseph, Bishop’s House, Faisalabad , May 1999, p. 104-5

5 Persecuted Minorities and Writers in Pakistan , Human Rights Watch ( New York ), Sept. 19, 1993, vol. 5 Number 13.

<  back