In
Pakistan, 1.5%
of the population are Christian. The Pakistani
blasphemy law mandates that any
"blasphemies" of the Quran are to be met
with punishment.
On July 28,
1994, Amnesty
International urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, Benazir
Bhutto to change the law because it was being used to
terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was
unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make
them more moderate.
Her changes were reversed by the
Nawaz
Sharif
administration which was backed by Islamic
Fundamentalists.
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.
On
October 28, 2001 in
Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic
militants killed
fifteen Christians
at a church.
On
September 25, 2002 two terrorists
entered the "Peace and Justice Institute",
Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the
Christians, and then executed
eight Christians by
shooting them in the head. Karachi police chief Tariq
Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their
mouths had been covered with tape.
Pakistani
Christians have alleged that they have "become
increasingly victimized since the launch of the US-led
international war on terror."
In
November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists
attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and
destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United
Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations
of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani
Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely
condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.
However, Pakistani Christians have expressed
disappointment that they have not received
justice.
Samson
Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that
the police have not committed to trial any of the
people who were arrested for committing the assaults,
and that the Pakistani government did not inform the
Christian community that a judicial inquiry was
underway by a local judge. He continued to say that
Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about
Christians" and
"continue insulting
Christians and our faith".
In
February 2006,
churches and Christian schools were
targeted in protests over the publications of the
Jyllands-Posten cartoons in Denmark, leaving two
elderly women injured and many homes and properties
destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.
In
August 2006,
a church and Christian homes were
attacked in a village outside of Lahore, Pakistan in a
land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured
and one missing after some 35 Muslims
burned
buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.
Based,
in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended
by the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
in
May 2006
to be designated as a
"Country of
Particular Concern" (CPC)
by the Department of
State..
