Pakistan - Seher Shafi, a Muslim convert on run for safety with her baby Angela and husband

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
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Saturday, March 12, 2005

CHRISTIAN FAMILY STAYS ON THE RUN TO SAVE THEIR LIVES

By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

KARACHI, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- When a former Pakistani Muslim became a Christian her life changed overnight.

Spiritually, Seher Shafi was a new person. She told the Pakistani Christian Post (www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsdetails.php?newsid=569) “I ... prayed that Jesus (take) me out from the darkness and place (me) in everlasting light.”

But as a result of that decision,Shafi could no longer take part in typical happy family activities in her community. She now lived the life of a fugitive.

Shafi told the Post (www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsdetails.php?newsid=569) that when she informed her family of her new found faith, “My life came under constant threat and my family members tortured me day and night.”

The Post reported that when one of Shafi’s family members saw her coming out of church one day she was followed to find out where she was living. “Next day, all my family members attacked my home,” she said. “They tortured me and left with threat that they shall be back and kill my husband and baby.”

Along with her husband Naveed Paul and their daughter Angela, Shafi left her home and began a new life on the run – constantly moving from one location to another to avoid detection.

(Pictured: Naveed Paul, Seher Shafi and daughter Angela. (Photo through Pakistani Christian Post).

Shafi told the Post that she and her family are in constant fear for their lives. She said that no one is really willing to help them and her husband’s relatives, fearing her Muslim family, are not offering any assistance either.

When a Post correspondent went to Shafee’s former residence it was burned. He was told by neighbors that someone torched the house a week ago.

According to the Post, Shafi, her husband and daughter need to keep running. If they’re caught they’ll either be killed or jailed as conversion is “blasphemous” (or an “apostate” act),and hence illegal, according to the Islamic law of Pakistan.

According to the Barnabas Fund – which makes known the needs of persecuted Christians worldwide – (www.barnabasfund.org/Apostasy/application.htm), some Muslim nations are concerned about the unwelcome attention brought by charging an individual with apostasy.

Consequently they let the family or others deal unofficially with the issue, or frame the “apostate” for other alleged crimes.

“Converts face enormous social pressure from their families and communities who see their conversion as a betrayal of Islam and as bringing great shame on family and community,” the Barnabas Fund wrote. “Families exert pressure by threats, violence and tearful pleading, urging them to return to Islam. Relatives sometimes prefer to ‘wash away’ the shame of apostasy by casting offenders out of the family, driving them out of the country, or killing them. Relatives will sometimes try and get the apostate to be officially declared insane, as the insane are not held accountable for their actions.”

As a result, the Barnabas Fund commented, a number of people accused of being apostates have been murdered by enraged family members and friends in countries such as Pakistan and Egypt. Many times the perpetrators are never prosecuted by the authorities.

For additional information about the Barnabas Fund go to

www.barnabasfund.org

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A black and white JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.

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