‘Christian families are not safe in Pakistan’
Twenty-six churches were burnt to the ground in Jaranwala, Punjab Province. But Christians in Pakistan have been persecuted since the nation’s founding.
In 1997, Pastor Salim escaped his homeland of Pakistan and “certain death.” He was helped by the Christian Reformed Church in Canada (“Christians neglected in refugee sponsorship” July 25, 2016). Now, Pastor Salim serves the South Asian Bible Church in Brampton, Ontario which helps resettle asylum seekers from the persecuted church, and helps plant churches in Pakistan.
I interviewed Pastor Salim on the church’s persecution in Pakistan. This August, 76 years after Pakistan was formed, armed mobs were incited by false blasphemy charges against two Christian brothers. They attacked more than twenty churches in a “horrific 10-hour wave of violence and burned [them] down to ashes” in the town of Jaranwala in the Punjab province. As Pastor Salim says, “the sufferings have no end.”
A new nation
Christians in Pakistan are a tiny minority; the country has a 97 percent majority Muslim population with the remaining three percent being shared between Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. According to World Atlas, Christians in Pakistan account for only 1.59 percent of the population.
Yet Pakistan as it is today would not have come into existence without the vote of Christian politicians. Pastor Salim explained that Christians were promised that everyone would be treated equally and would be allowed to worship freely according to their creed with no interference from the state. When Pakistan formed in August 1947, S. P. Singha, a Christian politician, was Speaker of the British Indian Punjab assembly. Singha had been instrumental in bringing the British-controlled province of Punjab into Pakistan, believing in the promise of religious tolerance in the new nation. Within months he was dismissed from his government post after a vote of no confidence. The explanation was that Muslims were the majority and only a Muslim could serve as the Speaker of the Assembly. Due to this, Singha suffered a heart attack and died in 1948. This is the first step that Pakistani Muslims took against Christians.
Blasphemy Laws
Pastor Salim then presented the reported cases year by year; many more cases go unreported. In the early 1960s, Muslims burned the Pakistan Bible Society and the Murray College Sialkot’s reading room. The late General Ayub Kahn also confiscated two acres of land that were given to Christian farmers, leaving Christians to take menial jobs such as cleaners and sweepers. When Christians protested this many of them were killed.
On September 19, 1997, Justice Arif Iqbal Bhatti was assassinated in his chamber at Lahore High Court, allegedly for defending Rehmat and Salamat Masih who were accused of blasphemy. Pastor Anwar stated emphatically, “They killed their own judge who they think is favoring the Christians.”
In 1978, during General Zia Ul-Haq’s regime, the Blasphemy Laws were amended to punish Christians and other non-Muslims. Pastor Salim quoted the modified Law: “any derogatory remarks, in respect of the Holy Prophet [Muhammed] either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, inuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly shall be punished by death, or imprisonment of life and shall be liable to fine.” After the introduction of the Blasphemy Laws, attacks on Christians escalated.
Pastor Salim gave many more accounts of persecution against Christians in Pakistan. The forceful conversion and marriage of underage Christian girls is becoming a common occurrence. His own threat of death came after he was falsely accused of kidnapping and converting Muslims and accused of being an agent for the United States and the United Kingdom. The bottom line, he says, is “Christian families are not safe in Pakistan.”
Pastor Salim asks for the following steps to be taken by Canadian Christians:
- Pray individually and collectively for Christians in Pakistan.
- Write a letter or email to your local member of Parliament to raise awareness for the plights of minorities in Pakistan, particularly Christians.
- Write to the UN to show your concerns for the safety of Christians living in Pakistan.
- Request the UN to declare Christians in Pakistan “as a persecuted minority” like they have declared the Ahmedy, Afghani and Syrian communities. This will help with the cases at the UNCHR for those who are seeking asylum in third countries
- Write to the Canadian government in Ottawa and raise your concerns about the minorities in Pakistan, particularly the heinous attack on churches and Christian homes, villages and towns.
- Donate prayerfully to support the Christian community of the Jaranwala attack. Pastor Salim’s church will provide a tax receipt at the end of the year.
