Christians evicted to make way for Muslims in Pakistan, says bishop

LONDON (CNS) -- Hundreds of Christian families in Pakistan are being kicked out of their homes to make way for Muslims left destitute by the Kashmir earthquake, a Catholic bishop said.

Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Pakistan, said the Pakistani government has evicted Christians to solve the problem of how to house some 3 million people left homeless by the disaster.

The Oct. 8 earthquake killed more than 73,000 people, but those left homeless continue to be threatened with death from exposure to single-digit winter temperatures.

Bishop Lobo told the British branch of Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity, Nov. 29 that Christians in the neighboring Sind province, which was unaffected by the earthquake, might now also perish because they were being turned onto the streets without alternative accommodation provided for them.

He said that he knew of at least 40 families, or about 200 people, who had been evicted around Joharabad, near Karachi.

"All the people are being thrown out, all of them are Christians," he said. "There is a lot of land which the government has at its disposal, but they (government officials) prefer to select a place that is already developed.

"Their mentality is like this: Why plant a sapling and wait for it to bear fruit when you can select another tree that is already bearing fruit?"

The bishop added: "We are the most vulnerable people, we are very poor and we are easy targets."

Bishop Lobo said he feared that across the region the number of Christians evicted under the policy would run into thousands. He said he aimed to challenge the policy in the courts before the government started targeting other Christian communities.

The forced evictions came amid claims that the 5 million-strong Christian minority in Pakistan is being persecuted.

In mid-November three churches in Sangla Hill, near Lahore, were destroyed by a mob of 3,000 people who also attacked two schools, a hostel and a convent after it was alleged that a Christian had burned pages of the Quran, the sacred book of Islam.

The incident prompted the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion who was touring Pakistan in late November, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, England, to call for the repeal of the country's blasphemy laws on the grounds that they were being misused against minorities.

The laws sanction the death penalty for defiling the Quran or insulting Mohammed, but Christians say they are being used against them in disputes over property.

More than $5 billion has been pledged by international donors to the relief operation in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake.

Much of the aid has come from Christians in the West, but Christians in Pakistan also joined the relief effort, channeling thousands of dollars into providing food, blankets, tents and medicine.

Pakistani bishops sent teams of volunteers to search for survivors and have paid for the construction of an orphanage.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm

Pakistani Blasphemy Law

An old blasphemy law, which was written in 1927 during during colonial days, banned insults directed against any religion. In 1986, dictator General Zia-Ul Haw modified the law to protect only Islam. The law require a life imprisonment or a life sentence for anyone who defiled the name of Muhammad or committed other blasphemy. In 1990, a religious court ruled that the penalty for crimes under the law (Section 295-C of the country's Constitution) is execution. 6 The law states: "Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by inputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy prophet Mohammed...shall be punished with death and shall be liable to a fine." The law is being used in Pakistan to discriminate against religious minorities: largely Christians, and Ahmadis. Under the present law, a Muslim may blaspheme Christianity with impunity. But a Christian doing the same against Islam can theoretically be executed.

Iqbal Haider, then the Law Minister, urged reform of the blasphemy law because several individuals had been falsely accused. There was a suspicion that the motivations of their accusers was to settle old scores or to intimidate others. In response, some extreme Fundamentalist Muslim leaders put a price of $40,000 on Haider's head.

On 1994-JUL-28, Amnesty International urged prime minister, Benazir Bhutto to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. 4 The AI press release stated: "Pakistan's blasphemy laws are so vaguely formulated that they encourage, and in fact invite, the persecution of religious minorities or non-conforming members of [the] Muslim majority."

Benazir Bhutto attempted to change the law, but was unsuccessful. She did direct all district magistrates to release any accused persons under this law until their case had first been investigated. A subsequent prime minister, Nawaz Sharif won two thirds of the seats in parliament in 1997-JAN with strong support from Muslim religious fundamentalists. His government has reversed the ruling of the former prime minister. Individuals are now being arrested for blasphemy, and held without bail, while their cases are being investigated. No Christian charged with this crime has every been granted bail. 1

The government is considering appending to the blasphemy law an amendment that will provide heavy penalties in the event of false accusations.

As of mid-2002, only the testimony of a single Muslim is sufficient to prosecute a non-Muslim on blasphemy charges.

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses." Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Mashi's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.

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