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 eshawar,
Pakistan — Pakistan is our close ally, or so we are told. But
the stares that greet Westerners are sometimes cold even at the
capital's airport. They turn to icy in more distant locations. A
burka-clad resident of Peshawar, which lies near the Afghan border,
scolded her male relatives for allowing me and two other Westerners
to approach their homes. "They are not Muslims, they are bad
people," she said.
Pakistan styles
itself an "Islamic Republic." Yet the elite pays only
lip service to Muslim values: Pakistanis in suits and jeans glide
by on the streets and head for overseas for vacations; most workers
ignore the call to prayer when it blares across neighborhoods and
into businesses. In sharp contrast is the hard face of Islam represented
by Osama bin Laden. Women in burkas cross busy streets. Men wear
traditional baggy pants and a long shirt; many sport beards and
hats.
There are Christians,
too, but Pakistan's beleaguered Christian community accounts for
barely two percent of the population. Religious persecution has
worsened since September 11. Emanuel S. Khokha, the 41-year-old
pastor of a small Methodist congregation in Lahore, explains: "They
blame us because Christians are linked to America."
"Discrimination
is everywhere," the resident of one poor neighborhood told
me. Christian children are often ostracized in public school, where,
as one twelve-year-old explained, other students "don't want
to be friends with Christians." A young bank employee was fired
by a Muslim supervisor because of her faith. Jobs and other opportunities
are offered to Muslims first.
Muslims restrict
charity to Muslims. Aid must therefore come either from within the
impoverished Christian community itself or from outside groups,
such as Christian
Freedom International, with which I traveled.
More serious
is pervasive government discrimination. "If a Christian wants
a service in a government office, he can't get it," complains
Khokha. Moreover, the very poverty of the Pakistani state encourages
discrimination. "Our government is also poor, so it doesn't
supply Christian people," said one impoverished Christian.
One small Christian community in Lahore sits astride electrical
transmission lines. Nearby lie well-served Muslim neighborhoods.
"We have applied for electricity many times," one resident
told me. But the government told the 70 families that connecting
would cost $7,000 — an impossible sum.
Some Christian
children find themselves barred from school by local officials.
"We can't get in," one squatter on government land told
me, even though "they provide for the Muslims." Even in
school, Christian children must learn and pass the subject "Islamia,"
which teaches the tenets of Islam. "You can't graduate without
it," explains Shagufta Irene Samuel, general manager of the
Technical Services Association (TSA), a Christian rehabilitation
group.
Pakistan's
poor also enjoy little security of land tenure; most at risk are
Christians. One community of about 50 families in Lahore has spent
35 years in makeshift homes on army land; some inherited their dwellings
from their parents. The government refuses to release the land,
and destroyed a small church the locals had built. Yet the Muslim
neighborhood next door is also on army property, and its members
were allowed to lease their land and construct a mosque. Moreover,
access to government employment — sadly the best option in
a grossly over-politicized economy — is also limited. "We
apply for the jobs," even menial ones, and "we can't get
them," one poor resident told me.
The government
similarly skews foreign aid, directing the benefits to Muslims.
There being so few countervailing private opportunities in a state-dominated
economy, the mass of Christians are locked into poverty. Although
Christians are largely left alone in their own areas, this is not
the case where the faiths mix. "Muslims call if we have a meeting,
and we get persecuted," complains Khokha. Even worse is criminal
prosecution. For instance, Pervez Masih, a Christian teacher, was
imprisoned last year after honestly answering a student's questions
about Mohammed's life (his marriage to a young girl, for instance).
"A lot of blasphemy cases are brought against Christians,"
complains TSA's Samuel. Converts in Islamic Pakistan face death;
for this reason, Yousaf Masih, a member of Khokha's congregation,
has received political asylum in America. Nor is violence limited
to apostates. On October 28, gunmen stormed a church in Bahawalpur
and slaughtered 15 Christians. According to Khokha, just two days
before we arrived in mid-January, Muslims beat a pastor and his
family in a village near Lahore. Since September 11 it's been "very
tense," said Khokha.
The oppression
of Christians is morally offensive. (One poor Christian complained
to me: "We are human beings like Muslims.") Such discrimination
also hinders the development of a more secular political culture,
which would provide a stronger barrier to Islamic fundamentalism.
Of course, the Musharraf government is better than a fundamentalist
alternative. But he deserves support only if he helps to contain
the murderous impulses of a medieval theology hostile to human life
and dignity.
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