On July 10, a Catholic man in Pakistan was gunned down. Marshall Masih, 29, was the father of four children and was targeted by Muslim neighbors after he objected to their harassment of local Christians, his family said.
Masih is one of the latest victims of severe Christian persecution in Pakistan, which is rated 7th on the Global Watch List produced by Open Doors, an organization that monitors global Christian persecution.
According to Open Doors’ 2023 “Pakistan: Full Country Dossier,” Christians in Pakistan were killed for faith-related reasons (including state-sanctioned executions). Churches and other Christian properties (houses, shops, businesses, schools, hospitals, and cemeteries, among others) were attacked, damaged, bombed, looted, destroyed, burned down, closed, or confiscated.
Christians have been detained, sentenced to jail or labor camps, and sent to psychiatric hospitals as punishment. They were otherwise physically or mentally abused (including beatings and death threats). Some were forced to leave their homes, go into hiding, or leave the country because of their faith. They were exposed to all these abuses for the ‘crime’ of being Christian.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan adopted an Islamic Constitution in 1973, and Sharia law is part of its civil code. Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan (ousted in April 2022) stated that the government system utilized by Mohammed should be seen as the perfect governing system for Pakistan.
Pakistan is not fulfilling its international obligations by regularly violating and failing to protect the human rights of the country’s four million Christians, according to the report.
Specific examples of violations of rights that occurred last year include:
On August 16, 2023, after false blasphemy accusations were made against two Christians, a mob attacked the Christian settlement in the city of Jaranwala, Punjab Province. At least 17 (other sources reported 21) churches were attacked and partly burned; more than 100 houses of Christians were attacked, and hundreds of Christians fled for their lives.
On July 16, despite the police taking swift action to protect them, almost half of the population in Sargodha city, a Christian settlement of 4,000 people, fled after a piece of paper containing blasphemous statements and drawings had been found. A mob blocked a nearby road.
On June 6, Shazia Imran, a 40-year-old widow in Lahore, was raped and killed when she refused to marry a Muslim and convert to Islam.
On May 30, a court in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, handed 22-year-old Noman Masih the death sentence for having committed blasphemy.
On May 18, Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem Masih, 18 and 14 years old, from Lahore, were accused of committing blasphemy by a fellow teenager and arrested.
On May 16, two schoolgirls were killed when a school guard opened fire at a Catholic school in Sangota, Khyber Pakhthunkhwa Province.
On April 1, Kashif Masih, a Christian sanitary worker, was killed along with a Sikh businessman in a gun attack in Peshawar. ISKP (Islamic State–Khorasan Province) claimed responsibility.
On February 6, Emmanuel Masih, a Catholic farm laborer, was beaten to death by his Muslim landlord for allegedly stealing oranges from an orchard in Khanewal District, Punjab Province.
On February 1, Sunita Masih, a 19-year-old Christian from Karachi, became the victim of an acid attack when she refused to accept a marriage proposal and convert to Islam.
Open Doors explains:
Islam plays a dominant role in every aspect of life. For example, according to the constitution, every citizen has the right to free speech. However, it is subject to the restrictions necessary in the interest of “the glory of Islam.” Government and army alike have a long history of trying to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ jihadists. It fights the latter and courts the former.
Pakistan is experiencing an increasingly Islamized culture and is home to a plethora of radical Islamic groups … The Christian community feels increasingly trapped between these radical groups, the Islamic culture of Pakistani society, and a government who is appeasing these groups.
Throughout the country, Christians and other religious minorities are seen as impure, mainly for religious reasons. Christians are assumed to take jobs that are considered dishonorable and low because of their faith.
Pakistani politics have always shown a mixture of Islamic oppression and dictatorial paranoia, notes the report. The following are all dangerous for local Christians:
- Speaking about their faith with those other than immediate family,
- Revealing their faith in written forms of personal expression (including online),
- Owning Christian items, even in one’s home, and
- Displaying any kind of Christian image or symbol in any way.
Even dead Christians cannot escape persecution. Burials of Christians are hindered or coercively performed with non-Christian rites.
A rising level of concern for the Christian population is the increasing pressure on Christian access to graveyards. Just as the building of new churches is frowned upon, the lack of space for the burial of Christians continues to be a problem. Many graveyards from [British] colonial times remain, but those from the poor class of Christians have a harder time to access space in these graveyards because of the land grabbing that takes place. Christian graveyards are not just in disrepair due to poor maintenance, but they also frequently lack security means, so they can be taken over or sold. This hinders Christians from burying family members on land that belongs officially to the church or the community. Many of the dead are being buried in old graves. The approval for Christian graveyards in the cities is slow, and sometimes there are several people buried in the same grave. Or in the space between graves.
Pakistani parents are hindered in raising their children according to their Christian beliefs. Children of Christians are harassed or discriminated against because of their parents’ faith. Christian children are pressured into attending anti-Christian or Islamic lessons at all levels of education.
The introduction of a ‘Single National Curriculum’ in schools denigrates religious minorities. It enforces the teaching of the Quran and subjects like Mathematics and Science are Islamized. Thus, religion permeates school education, dividing children and families …
Discrimination at school (and elsewhere) is a daily experience for Christian school children. At school, children of Christian parents are often not allowed to use the same water fountain as their Muslim classmates to avoid ‘defiling’ the drinking-water, and they are often bullied. Many Christian children are asked to clean the latrines or sweep the floor as Christians are commonly perceived as being sweepers.
Christian girls (and to a lesser extent boys) are also frequent targets of physical and sexual abuse, as are children from the Hindu minority.
Christians are monitored by their local communities or by private groups (this includes reporting to police, being shadowed, wiretapping, and having emails read and censored).
Abduction and sexual violence against religious minorities are endemic in Pakistan. The Movement for Solidarity and Peace calculates that each year 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls and young women are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and forcibly married to Muslim men. Perpetrators are supported by Islamic religious leaders and enjoy de facto impunity for their actions. Some of the victims are trafficked into slave labor and prostitution. Efforts to protect these children and women are hindered by the government and judiciary. Lower courts follow the claims made by the perpetrators about the victims’ age and free will. Christian (and Hindu) parents are getting increasingly fearful to let their daughters walk outside alone,” adds the report.
Discrimination against Christians occurs in every aspect of their lives.
Many hospitals, pharmacies and other facilities have welfare schemes, which are increasingly denied to Christians. Christians are also often told to pay exorbitant fees for health care or take out loans. Such costs are unpayable and hence block access to medical treatment. In government hospitals, Christians are not allowed to have access to the free medicines which have been supplied through Zakat funding (Islamic donations).
Christians are sidelined constantly – so often, community resources, aid or relief are not given to Christians unless they convert. Christians are under constant pressure to renounce their faith from the age of 4 or when they go to nursery school. Those who are older face more serious challenges when asked to renounce the Christian faith. If a Christian refuses for the third time, that person can be executed, according to Sharia, so people are wary of being asked; it is therefore used as an intimidation tactic.
Christians are hindered in the operation of their businesses for faith-related reasons (e.g., access to loans, subsidies, government contracts, client boycotts).
When doing business, Christians are discriminated against as any money paid to Christians is seen as money not given to the ‘Umma.’ Therefore, the financial/business success of Christians continues to remain elusive, and the Christian community alone is too small to sustain businesses … Government contracts are never given to Christians. Christians are also totally excluded from food businesses as Muslims will not buy meat sold by Christians … When one Christian man started a chicken meat shop, Muslims asked to stop the shop immediately because the meat sold by Christians is ‘haram’ (unclean to eat) for them. When he refused, they attacked and killed him.
Christians are also discriminated against when engaging with the authorities (local administration, government, army, etc.) for religious reasons.
Discrimination and challenges for Christians are prevalent at every level of government and even in secular environments. This is true for the army, the judicial and the administrative services as well (especially at the local level), although Christians continue to serve in these areas.
For instance, Pakistan’s Supreme Court dismissed, on technical grounds, a 2022 plea by a Christian group to increase the number of minority seats in parliament.
Christians are hindered from expressing their views or opinions in public. These restrictions are bolstered by deadly blasphemy laws. Christians are often accused of blasphemy or insulting Islam by state authorities, Islamist groups, or members of society. In Pakistan, the rejection of Islam is a crime punishable by death.
Since the introduction of the blasphemy laws in 1986, Christians have come under increasing pressure and are victims of roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations.
For example, in November 2014, a married Christian couple, Sajjad Maseeh, 27, and Shama Bibi, 24, who was pregnant, were attacked by a mob of around 1,200 people after rumors that they had burned verses from the Quran. After their legs were broken to prevent them from running away, they were set alight and thrown in a kiln. As is often the case, the origin of the rumors has subsequently been linked to an interpersonal conflict, in this case, “revenge for unpaid bills.”
The blasphemy laws in Pakistan are well known for being used for settling personal scores, making personal gains, or satisfying grudges one neighbor may have against another, according to a 2023 report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
In January 2023, Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill. It increased the penalties for blasphemy and extended them to include Muhammad’s companions, 11 wives, and family members. The new law increased the minimum punishment from three years of imprisonment to ten years or even life and added a fine of one million Pakistani rupees ($3,600).
The widening of the scope of blasphemy laws and the increase in penalties on conviction show the level of importance politics and society give this topic. According to Open Doors’ report,
Speaking out against injustice or simply expressing views is possible for Christians but comes at a very high personal risk. Along with high levels of self-censoring among Christians (and withdrawal from the public sphere), Christian views are commonly ignored since they are seen as opposing or even just questioning Islamic teachings and values and are hence unacceptable.
Even traveling across the country is a severe challenge for Christians.
Traveling within the country is often limited for Christians and there are grave security risks connected with it … Even with the option of government security and support from the local bishop, it has been judged unwise to travel to certain parts of the country, such as Peshawar, with religious hatred cited as one of the causes for concern. For Christian women, especially those traveling on their own, the risks are especially acute, particularly in areas with strong Islamist influence where the notion of travel by unaccompanied females is anathema.
Churches are hindered from openly integrating converts in Pakistan.
Since conversion from Islam to Christianity is so strongly opposed and fought against by family, society, government and radical groups, it would be highly dangerous if a church would dare to accept converts onto their premises. If a convert does attend a church service, this needs to happen without anyone, including the church, knowing that he or she is a convert. Another illustration for the strictness of this view is the fact that the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) has no option for changing the religious affiliation from Muslim to another religion (or to no religion).
Christian preaching, teaching, and published materials are also constantly monitored.
Government and radical Islamic groups alike monitor church teaching for any content perceived as anti-government or anti-Islam. One means of monitoring is through providing guards for church buildings. While they may indeed be offering protection, they also listen, monitor and report. It is suspected that such intelligence is being passed on to radical Islamic organizations and militants.
Churches check that their materials contain no content which could be perceived as blasphemous; to be on the safe side, many churches decide only to share books and literature internally. Bibles are not provided by churches to the general public. Likewise, churches are cautious about what and how to post and share material and information on social media.
Pastors and other Christian leaders (or their family members) are special targets of harassment due to their faith. Many pastors and Christian workers have received warnings that their activities are watched by the authorities and pressure groups in the neighborhood.
Churches are hindered in establishing, managing, maintaining, and conducting schools or charitable, humanitarian, medical, social, or cultural organizations, institutions, and associations.
Churches require registration and permission to proceed with new building projects. This is a long process as churches often have to wait for more than ten years to receive registration and get discouraged from proceeding with their building plans. There is [a] high demand for bribes, and letters from influential members of parliament and governing bodies are needed. While there is no law against the building of churches as such, the process is made hard in order to discourage Christians … Apart from the Bible Society of Pakistan, all other Christian organizations are strongly discouraged from owning printing presses. Also, the work of the Bible Society is closely monitored, and each Bible has a serial number that can be tracked.
Despite all these severe human rights abuses, advocacy for oppressed minorities is highly dangerous in Pakistan, notes Open Doors.
Such advocacy not only irritates the government, but it also angers many drivers of persecution, discrimination and intolerance in society. Many Christian human rights organizations and activists have been silenced, others had to flee the country and some [have] simply disappeared. One example from the previous reporting period was the action the Interior Ministry took against the Catholic ‘Center for Social Justice’ because of ‘anti-state activities.’ The Center had sent reports to the UN on topics such as forced conversions or the blasphemy laws.
Pakistan is an Islamic hell for Christians. They are treated by society and the government as less than humans. Given the high amount of Muslim migration from Pakistan and other Islamic nations to the West, it would not be wrong to assume that the present situation of Christians in Pakistan could be the future awaiting Christians in an increasingly Islamized West.
