Attacks on Christians

In the closing days of 2002 another atrocity was committed against Christian missionaries, this time in the southern Yemeni city of Jibla, by a self serving, Muslim-in-name-only militant. According to his statement he did that to get close to God. By killing innocent people he has violated the very core of his own religion and thus distanced himself from God.

While religious zealots in many parts of the world, including India, Pakistan and some African countries have selectively targeted Christian missionaries, it is the local Christian population in those countries that has borne the brunt of these attacks. In Pakistan for example religious intolerance and communal strife has torn the fabric of a society where, in not too distant a past, religious accommodation and acceptance was a norm.

Christians constitute 12% of Pakistan’s population of 140 million. Since 9/11 there have been thirty-six Christians killed in 6 separate attacks against Christians and their schools, churches and villages. A rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism amongst the uneducated poor and their frustration at the plight of Muslims elsewhere in the world leads these militants to lash out against the easy targets within their own country who happen to profess the same religion that is professed by their avowed enemy- the West.

Muslim fundamentalists are angered by the policies of the Christian West that have resulted in suffering of Muslims around the world. Included in their laundry list of grievances are the festering problem in the Middle East, Kashmir, East Timor and Chechneya. In their simplistic interpretation of the events they consider the perpetrators

of those injustices to be either Christians or those supported by Christians. Thus the global issues are reduced to struggle between Islam and Christianity.

The fundamentalists are incapable of changing the events or to ameliorate the suffering of their fellow Muslims. But they find it convenient to retaliate against those who happen to be within their reach even though killing Christians and foreign missionaries does not address their grievances or help their cause. The Pakistani Christians have nothing to do with injustices against Muslims in the world. If anything they have been upright citizens of the country and have made significant contributions to the country both in public and private sector.

What Pakistan (and other countries in the same situation) needs to do is to come down hard on the fundamentalists, dismantle their institutions and at the same time bring religious leaders on board to proclaim a unity of purpose with all the minorities in the country. In the aftermath of attack on a church in Islamabad in March 2002 there was spontaneous public demonstration in the capital against the sacrilegious act. There have been demonstrations in other cities as well. There is a groundswell of opposition to such acts in the general population.

The Christian missionaries have done a commendable job in bringing education and health care to the needy in some of the most inaccessible areas in Asia and Africa. Their schools and colleges provide quality education in places where public education is either non-existent or in shambles. Many of the current and past leaders in Pakistan were educated at missionary schools.

The hospitals and medical facilities run by the missionaries bring necessary health care to those who have no access to health care or are unable to afford private care if one is available. Having worked as a volunteer surgeon in Mission Hospital in Peshawar in 1971 and having done short stints in other mission hospitals in Pakistan and Afghanistan I know the impact these missions have had on local population. While I disagree with proselytizing to the poor when they are most vulnerable and under duress, I have all the respect and admiration for the selfless work and dedication of missionaries. The names like Christie, Holland, Pinnel and Bavington are part of the history of the British India and post independence India and Pakistan. Their selfless service to humanity is legendary.

While the people of conscience the world over have taken note of atrocities against helpless Christians in Pakistan (and elsewhere) the expatriate Pakistani community in America has remained more or less silent. In private they talk incessantly about the plight of Christian and other minorities in Pakistan.

As members of Americans society, Pakistani expatriates are in a unique position to take the Government of Pakistan to task, either directly or indirectly through their congressional representatives, for not doing enough to protect the lives of Pakistani Christians and other minorities. They have not made strong protests by writing to politicians, religious leaders or to the media in Pakistan. Their collective indifference flies in the face of their vocal protests about the killing of Muslims in Indian Gujrat or in Kashmir.

Killing of innocent people is wrong no matter what side of the religious divide the victims come from.