Pakistan's Christians Only Seek Fair Treatment

For the year 2023 the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated Pakistan as a "Country of Particular Concern," which is the worst rating when it comes to violations of religious freedom.  The problems that Pakistan faces in regards to religious freedom are not new ones, the problems are the same as they have been for years: a blend of state-sanctioned religious discrimination coupled with long-standing societal persecution.  

As of today, Christians account for between 1.5-2% of the Pakistani population, though the number may be higher as ongoing persecution leads many Christian converts from Islam to hide their faith.  Many Christians have fallen victim to Pakistan's infamous Blasphemy Laws, which invoke serious prison sentences, and in some cases, the death penalty, for any who blaspheme the Islamic faith.  Human rights activists complained that for decades, these laws have been abused and used by individuals to settle personal scores against anybody that they run afoul with.  Even if the authorities chose not to take action against any such accusations, Islamists often use the PA systems in local mosques to broadcast the accusation to the local populace and encourage "mob justice" in which local Muslims will carry out viscous pogroms against the accused Christians.  Most of the time, the police and local government officials are intimidated by these mobs and take no action to stop them.  The most notorious case was that of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy who spent 10 years on death row before the Pakistani Supreme Court acquitted her, mainly in response to massive International outrage.  However, Asia Bibi was forced to flee the country as mobs threatened to carry out the sentence themselves, especially after Islamist leaders placed a $10,000 bounty on her head.  

Father Emmanuel Yousaf (featured above), serves as Director of the Justice and Peace Commission.  In a recent report he gave to the Aid to the Church in Need, he stated that Pakistani Christians are also continually facing forced conversion to Islam.  The most common cases of forced conversion involved the kidnapping of Christian girls.  These girls, typically age 12-16, are kidnapped against their will, forcibly married off to Muslim men, and then taken to court with phony documents stating that they willingly converted and married their husbands.  Often, the courts take the word of the Muslims over the Christian girls family, and take no action.  The only way that this may change is if human rights organizations manage to obtain International attention to the case and raise enough pressure of the courts the invalidate the marriage, but this is seldom done.  

Christians who are fortunate enough to avoid blasphemy laws and abduction still faced societal discrimination.  Many Christians are forced to perform the most menial jobs such as street sweepers, sewer cleaners, brick makers, and maids.  Due to this, many families cannot afford to send their children to school, leaving them illiterate and giving them no chance to advance out of poverty.  Even those who are fortunate to go to school are often denied access to good jobs by prejudicial employers and the state takes no action to stop this.  Christians in Pakistan don't seek special treatment, only fair treatment.  They seek to be treated as citizens with full civil rights, to be free to go to school and obtain fair jobs, and to not be wrongly accused of blasphemy or kidnapped against their will while the state does nothing.  Unfortunately, as long as Pakistan continues their path of embracing Sharia Law as to the Laws set for by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, equal rights for Christians in Pakistan will not be possible.  

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