Pakistan: Faces of Persecution in Pakistan, Page 3

[ Home | Concern Index | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 ]

"Persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Cor. 4:9

	Because of her testimony of Christ, 14-year-old Naira Nadia was kidnapped, raped and forced to marry a Muslim

Faces of Persecution in Pakistan

Naira Nadia loved the Lord and she wasn't afraid to show it. The 14-year-old school girl often shared the Gospel with classmates at her Catholic school. While Naira's Christian parents undoubtedly felt proud of their daughter's eagerness to tell others about Christ, the father of one of her female classmates was enraged. How could Naira have known that her friend's father, Maqsood Ahmed, was a member of an Islamic extremist group?

On the night of February 11, 2001, Maqsood Ahmed and several other militant Muslims forced their way into Naira's home in Mariam-a-bad, Shiekhupura district, and kidnapped her. Later they brutally raped the Christian girl. In spite of pleas by Naira's family to locate their daughter, local police did not take the case seriously. They were reportedly receiving bribes from Maqsood Ahmed and his family to hush up the incident. CLF, a Pakistani human rights group, then stepped in to help Naira's family to register her rape and abduction with higher police authorities on February 15, 2001.

In order to excuse his crime, Maqsood Ahmed soon sent Naira's parents a certificate of conversion, claiming that Naira had now become a Muslim. Next came a certificate claiming Naira had married her 40-year-old abductor. This document was proven to be invalid for three major reasons. First, though Naira is a literate girl, the certificate was marked by a thumbprint, a practice employed only by the illiterate. Second, according to Pakistani law, a minor cannot marry without her parents' consent. Lastly, it was found that Maqsood Ahmed's wife had not authorized her husband to marry another woman. According to the law the first wife's permission is needed before a man may marry again.

Since the official registration of the case in February, several search parties have been employed to locate Naira and bring her home. To date none of these searches have been successful and the whereabouts of Naira and her abductors remain unknown.

While Naira's case remains unresolved, so does the legal case of 8 Christian young women who were raped last May by Muslim coworkers. Though this case has been in the courts for many months, the judge has been reluctant to convict the Muslim rapists. The men's lawyer continues to insist that the Christian women are using the rape charges to settle a religious grudge. However, the facts all point to the guilt of the Muslim men. Even a Muslim eyewitness testified against them in court.

These Christian families have been forced into hiding since their daughters brought rape charges against Muslim co-workers.

So why haven't the rapists been convicted? Perhaps the judge is remembering what happened to Justice Ariq Iqbal Bhatti of the Lahore High Court. Justice Bhatti was murdered by Islamic extremists in 1996 after acquitting three Christians of blasphemy. Or perhaps it is the presence of armed militant Muslims who appear for every hearing of the case. Maybe the judge is hoping that if he stalls long enough he can find some technicality on which to acquit the guilty men. Whatever the judge's reasoning may be, the women and their families remain in fear of their lives as threats from Islamic fundamentalist groups continue. Two community leaders, including the uncle of one of the rape victims, have been physically abused and their lives have been threatened. All eight rape victims and their families as well as these two community leaders have been forced into hiding.

In addition to kidnapping and raping Christian women, Muslim extremists in Pakistan continue to abuse the country's blasphemy laws to settle personal grudges. The latest victim of such abuse is Mr. Pervez Masih. Mr. Masih was arrested on April 1, 2001 and charged with blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad. He was thus booked under section 295/C of the Blasphemy Act, the minimum penalty of which, according to the Penal Code of Pakistan, is death.

(Click here for more information on Pakistan.)

Continued on Page 4... 

POSTED:  June 16, 2001

[ Home | Concern Index | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 ]