While the Biden administration continues to turn a blind eye – and provide billions in “aid.”

While general elections were held in Pakistan on February 8 amid allegations of fraud, Christians in the country continued suffering from severe persecution and braced themselves for a frightening future – having still been traumatized by last year’s anti-Christian pogrom.

Hundreds of Christians fled their homes on August 16, 2013 when in the Pakistani district of Jaranwala, Muslim mobs launched an anti-Christian riot, vandalizing churches and committing arson against both churches and Christians’ homes — all based just on an accusation that a Quran was desecrated.

At least 20 churches throughout the city were set on fire and more than 400 Christian-owned homes damaged. The rioters attacked and vandalized a Christian cemetery and burned the office of the Christian assistant commissioner of Jaranwala.

This devastating attack was a sobering reminder of the hostile environment facing many Christians in Pakistan, notes the organization Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution worldwide: “The attack on Christians in Jaranwala, in which churches and homes were devastated, and Bibles set alight, has reinforced the dangers facing Christians in Pakistan.”

According to Open Doors, Christians are subject to “extreme persecution” in Pakistan, a country which ranks number seven in the organization’s 2024 World Watch List.

“All Christians suffer from institutionalized discrimination, and occupations that are deemed low, dirty and degrading, such as working as a sewer cleaner or on a brick kiln, are reserved for Christians by the authorities. Many are referred to as ‘chura’, a derogatory term meaning ‘filthy’.”

Faraz Pervaiz, a Christian who fled Pakistan in 2014, remains in contact with Christians in his country of birth. In an interview with Frontpage Magazine, he said:

The Christian community in Pakistan is facing a state of confusion and distress, raising concerns for their freedom, dignity, rights, and security. The recent incidents have left them questioning whether they will ever gain access to justice.

On August 16, the community had to flee their neighborhoods using every means of escape, with some resorting to fleeing on foot to evade the wrath of violent mobs. Many sought refuge in fields, sleeping under the open sky, exposed to the elements and assailants. Upon their return, they found their homes and lives badly damaged, burnt, or stolen, leaving them emotionally shattered.

Despite enduring such a harrowing incident, the Christian community has not erupted in protest. Instead, they exhibit remarkable patience and a commitment to maintaining peace. The walls of Churches bear inscriptions such as ‘God is love,’ ‘God, forgive them,’ ‘We will suffer,’ ‘How much longer?,’ ‘Am I Pakistani?,’ ‘Pakistan is my country,’ and ‘freedom,’ reflecting their solace in scripture.

They draw attention to violent incidents since 1986, including Shanti Nagar, Sangla Hill, Sialkot, Gojra, Corian, Joseph Colony, and various other places, highlighting the absence of long-term solutions to effectively protect minorities in Pakistan. Discrimination against Christian Pakistanis in the socio-political context persists, with Christians bearing a high price amid trumped-up allegations of blasphemy.

The Christian community emphasizes how religious accusations, whether true or false, are exploited to seize property, land, or positions possessed by Christians.

Farzad himself is a victim of the government of Pakistan, which is hostile to Christians:

I had to leave Pakistan with my family in 2014 because it was unsafe, so we decided to flee to Thailand. I’ve received many death threats from Muslim individuals. The Government of Pakistan has also issued perpetual arrest warrants against me. Since 2014, we have sought asylum in Thailand, with no positive response. Until the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Thailand accepts us as refugees, we cannot go anywhere. Hence, it has become very difficult for us to meet our daily needs.

As the government of Pakistan forces many Christians into a life of poverty and uncertainty in exile, the Christians who remain in the country are threatened with arrest, kidnapping, or even murder solely based on their religious identity.

Around 4.2 million Christians reside in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan – representing only 1.8 percent of the country’s population of about 230 million people. Yet Christians are disproportionately affected by Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Approximately a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians. In January 2023, Pakistan`s Senate passed a bill which tightened blasphemy laws by increasing the punishment to ten years’ imprisonment, a sentence that can be extended to life. Hence, according to Open Doors, Christians in the country “live in fear of being the next victim.”

Open Doors quotes “Rehena” as saying: “At work, it is dangerous to discuss my faith in Jesus in any way. We have to hide our identity. We cannot even say the name of Christ.”

Meanwhile, the number of Christian and Hindu girls abducted, abused and forcefully converted to Islam keeps growing in Pakistan. Around 1,000 girls from Christian and Hindu families in Pakistan are forcibly converted to Islam every year, the Associated Press reported in 2020.

A 2022 report entitled “Conversion without Consent: A report on the abductions, forced conversions, and forced marriages of Christian girls and women in Pakistan” issued by the Voice for Justice Organization and the Jubilee Campaign, notes:

Many girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years are abducted, ‘forcibly converted’ to Islam, and then ‘forcibly married’ to their abductors who typically are twice their victims’ ages and are already married with children, though they are presented as bachelors in documents submitted to the courts.

Many cases involving abduction, followed by child/forced marriage and forced conversions of minority girls are not reported to the police due to the stigma attached to the abduction followed by rape…

The minorities face intimidation, harassment and threats from the Muslims that prevent them from following-up the cases in courts of law. Several girls reunited with families after they faced abduction, forced marriage and forced conversion; however, minorities are not likely to file petitions in court to bring perpetrators to justice due to the influence of the actors involved in conversion…

Whilst all citizens in Pakistan face obstacles in accessing justice, minority religious groups face even greater difficulties in the pursuit of justice. The police often turn a blind eye to reports of abduction and forced conversions, thereby creating impunity for perpetrators. The police forces, which are overwhelmingly Muslim, generally sympathize with the goal of converting religious minorities to Islam.

One of those victims was Mehak Afzal, a 12-year-old Christian girl from Punjab who was abducted by a Muslim man and forced to marry her kidnapper. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) reported on January 18,

For two and a half years, the courts and the police failed to free Mehak, even though her abductor and her location were well known. Finally, on December 23, 2023, Mehak freed herself. She managed to slip away from her captor’s home and made her way to her family.

However, her family knew that Mehak wouldn’t be safe at home – her abductor knew where she lived and might come back. Anjum, CSI’s partner in Pakistan, immediately took steps to find a safe place to stay for Mehak and her family.

Despite the severe persecution of Christians and other systematic human rights abuses in Pakistan, the United States has provided Pakistan billions of dollars in aid since 2002.

In 2023, eleven members of the House of Representatives called on the State Department to suspend US assistance to Pakistan over “persistent reports of human rights abuses,” according to a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Nevertheless, US aid to Pakistan remains ongoing. So do the country’s systematic human rights violations. One pastor in Pakistan told Global Christian Relief: “The Mullahs spread a lie, there is violence from the mob, and no justice from the state—this is no longer a country hospitable to the exercise of the Christian faith.”

“Nowhere else in the world are persecuted Christians in more danger of violence from mobs, [and] the violence is always well-organized and strategic,” said another Christian minister in Pakistan.

In his first major speech in 2021, Blinken said the Biden administration’s foreign policy would “reflect American values, including a commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and a belief in the dignity of every individual.”

Do these American values also include doing nothing in the face of Pakistan’s extreme dehumanization and persecution of Christians? One wonders why exactly the US administration has for decades turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s many crimes against Christians, Hindus, and other minority communities.

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist formerly based in Ankara.

Source: Front Page Mag