Christian Persection Story from Kashmir

Mohammed "Yousef" Bhat

For over 75 years the region of Kashmir has been a place of armed struggle between Hindus & Muslims.  A conflict that began in 1947 when India and Pakistan were partitioned into separate nations, with conflict between Hindus and Muslims ongoing ever since.  However, it has also a region that has seen a growth in Christianity with evangelical Christians seeking to bring the Good News to the conflicted region and to incorporate the teachings of Jesus to bring peace and reconciliation to the region.  Tragically, many Christians in the region, such as Mohammed "Yousef" Bhat, have paid with their lives for this effort.  This story of persecution began in the 1990's when Jihadist militant groups arose to India out of the region and began gathering recruits to their cause.  Among these recruits was 27-year-old Ahmed.  


To Ahmed & some of his fellow Muslims, these men were "freedom fighters," but to others, they were terrorists.  Ahmed & his family were loyal to Islam & Pakistan, and he wanted to fight back against India.  The Jihadists militants began to go around, recruiting Ahmed & his friends, assuring them that they'd go to Paradise if the died in the conflict.  One day, an armed gunfight between the Jihadist militants & the Indian military broke out in the streets.  The following day, Ahmed saw the death & destruction that resulted & he was horrified.  "The streets were filled with dead bodies, you could not count them.  It was difficult to tell who died-army soldiers, militants, or your siblings."  Ahmed lost a close friend that day and from then on, Ahmed lost all desire to fight.  

Despite the fact that Ahmed was not part of the fighting & no longer wanted any part of it, he was arrested along with 25 others two months later by the Indian military.  The experience led Ahmed to turn to smoking & liquor as his coping mechanism, causing him to get very ill both physically & mentally, eventually prompting him & his family to move to Jammu, a predominantly Hindu region, in 1991.  From there, he learned about Jesus from his sister and her pastor.  After opening his heart to the Lord, Ahmed left Islam and followed Christ.  Many members of Ahmed's family as well as his friends turned on him for rejecting Jesus, but Ahmed continued, to share the Gospel for the next seven years.  


Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Over time, Ahmed began to be targeted by the radical Hindu nationalist organization known as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and eventually they began attacking & beating Ahmed & other Christians who spread the Gospel.  Eventually, Ahmed decided to take the message the conflict zone of Kashmir itself and while there, brought a Muslim mand named Mohammed "Yousef" Bhat to Jesus.  The two began an effort to bring Jesus to Muslims, leading to fatwas & other threats being issued on them.  On several occasions, mobs of Muslims attacked Ahmed, but he did not let the Jihadists intimidate him.  



Hizbul Mujahideen
Eventually, the Kashmiri Islamist group Hizbul Mujahideen, a Jihadist terrorist group that seeks to united Kashmir with Pakistan, delivered a threat warning Ahmed that if he did not stop preaching, they would shoot him.  Despite the danger, Ahmed kept preaching, but on July 01, 2015, he received devastating news.  Yousef's wife called and informed him that four Jihadist gunmen had come to his home, & murdered him.  Despite the loss of his dear friend, Ahmed continues to share God's word in the region.  


Yousef's loss was not in vain.  His efforts helped bring many to Jesus, including Mahmud & his family, who in turn brought hundreds of Muslims in the Kashmir Valley to Jesus as well.  Like Ahmed & Yousef, Mahmud endured harsh persecution.  In 2011 Jihadists burned down his house.  This, coupled with Yousef's death four years later, chook Mahmud's faith, but in 2018 he returned to his home village, rebuilt his house, & continued his ministry, even being elected village leader in 2019.   His life, like Ahmed's, is in constant danger.  In a span of 20 years Ahmed had to move his family 185 times, an average of 10 times a year.  Nevertheless, he carries on.  During his ministry in Kashmir Ahmed planted churches in four of the region's districts, living by the teaching that "In the Bible, when persecution comes, the ministry grows."  


Sources: 

"Fighting for Kashmir."  Voice of the Martyrs.  Feb. 2024.  

"Rebuilding a House of Prayer."  Voice of the Martyrs.  Feb. 2024.


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