ACCORDING to the census of 2017 Christians are the biggest non-Muslim community of Pakistan and are about 1.27% of the total population out of these half are catholic and half protestant with a small number of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Almost 75% of them are rural Punjabis while a few speak Sindhi and Gujrati, very few still surviving Pakistani Christians belong to the upper and middle class Goan Christians and Anglo Indians. Christians in Pakistan have always been a small minority but they have managed to cast a strong imprint on state and society. Some of the finest educational institutes in the country like the Presentation Convent Schools, Saint Mary’s, Convent of Jesus and Mary, Saint Patrick’s school were all founded by Christian missionaries. For generations, Christian educational institutions have taught and nurtured innumerable Pakistani leaders, civil servants, military officers and civil society luminaries. Similarly, scores of Christian hospitals have given the healing touch to millions, again mostly Muslims, across the country.
The soft spoken, law abiding and peaceful Christian community of Pakistan is now faced with the horrors of religious extremism. Hatred and genocide just because they are not Muslim. The massacre of Shantinagar in 1997, The horrors of Gojra in 2009, the cruelties of Joseph Colony in 2013 and now the onslaught of Jaranwala where Churches were set on fire and dozens of houses belonging to Christians were burnt to the ground. Pakistani Christians are discriminated against at state level because sadly our constitution has laid down that a Christian cannot be the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan and at a social level they are pariahs in society. Many Christians in uniform have laid down their lives in defense of the country some notable examples are Wing Commander Mervyn Leslie Middlecoat (SJ) Squadron Leader Peter Christy (SJ). Some others who served the PAF with distinction are AVM Eric Gordon Hall, AVM Michael John O’Brian, Group Captain Cecil Chowdry (SJ) .A total of 8 Christians in the Navy have been martyred thus far. One noteworthy person was Rear-Admiral Leslie Norman Mungavin who commanded the PNS Alamgir and PNS Babur. He participated in the 1965 War and in 1971 took up command as Commandment of the Pakistani Marines on the Western Front. Pakistani Christians have also made significant contributions in the army as well with one of the greatest examples being of Second Lt. Daniel Utarid Shaheed who led his men to the front in the Bangladesh War on 1971 and was fatally injured. Though he died from blood loss his famous last words to his army doctor were “give this bullet to my mother as a souvenir and tell her that I took it in my chest while defending my homeland”.
76 years after independence Christians living in the urban areas of Pakistan are consigned to low paid jobs mostly in the sanitation industry or the janitorial services. The Govt. has deliberately designed a state policy of reserving sanitation jobs for the Christian community. Newspaper Ads for the job of sanitation workers by the Govt. Departments and agencies explicitly call for non-Muslims to apply UCANews, reported that in May 2017, the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation issued a call for 450 sanitation workers, offering contracts that required employees to be non-Muslim and to take this oath: “I swear by my faith that I will only work in the position of a sanitary worker and not refuse any work.” In Peshawar, as many as 80% of Christians are sanitation workers. According to the 2022 census, 3.27% of urban Pakistanis living in Punjab province are Christian. However, in Lahore, Punjab’s capital city, Christians account for 76% of sanitation workers. Subject to widespread discrimination, Christians are often refused other work. Confined to low-wage jobs, Christians experience widespread poverty, even in the relatively prosperous Punjab.
A 2012 survey in Lahore found that, for Christian families of five, the average monthly income was US$138 — a per capita daily income of 92 cents – which is well below the poverty line defined by the World Bank. In contrast, during the same year, the average monthly income for all Pakistanis was US$255. In October 2020, the Pakistani High Court upheld the validity of a forced marriage between 44-year-old Ali Azhar and 13-year-old Christian Arzoo Raja. Raja was abducted by Azhar, forcibly wed to Azhar and then forcibly converted to Islam by Azhar. Human rights organizations estimate that upwards of 1,000 Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls are abducted each year.
A large portion of them are then forced to convert to Islam. It is taking a long time for the Pakistani government to understand this problem, which is causing huge damage to the country’s reputation. Also Pakistan has failed to ensure the safety and dignity of women from religious minorities, a situation experts have described as a national and international tragedy.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
Email: tariq.aqil@headstart.edu.pk
