Pakistani Christians and the Search for Orientation in an ... Christians and the Search for Orientation in an Overwhelmingly Muslim Society ... Shortly after making his appeal for a politically secular Pakistan, Jinnah


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<ul><li><p>LLLLEAVING THE EAVING THE EAVING THE EAVING THE SSSSHADOWSHADOWSHADOWSHADOWS???? </p><p>Pakistani Christians and the Search for Orientation </p><p>in an Overwhelmingly Muslim Society </p><p>Theodor Hanf </p><p>Charles Amjad-Ali </p><p>German Bishops Conference Research Group on the Universal Tasks of the Church </p><p>BONN 2008 </p></li><li><p>Series Projekte, No. 18 </p><p>edited by the </p><p>German Bishops Conference Research Group on the Universal Tasks of the Church </p></li><li><p>CCCCONTENTSONTENTSONTENTSONTENTS </p><p>INTRODUCTION 5 </p><p>I I I I </p><p>Islam Islam Islam Islam aaaand Politics In Pakistannd Politics In Pakistannd Politics In Pakistannd Politics In Pakistan. . . . On the general On the general On the general On the general cccconditionsonditionsonditionsonditions of non of non of non of non----Muslim minoritiesMuslim minoritiesMuslim minoritiesMuslim minorities 7 </p><p>OOOONENENENE The Trauma of History and the Present 8 </p><p>TTTTWOWOWOWO Two Faces of Islam 11 </p><p>TTTTHREEHREEHREEHREE The Long Road to Islamisation 13 </p><p>FFFFOUROUROUROUR Transition to Democracy: Circle or spiral? 16 </p><p>FFFFIVEIVEIVEIVE Armed Democracy? 19 </p><p>IIIIIIII </p><p>Attitudes and Opinions on Society, Religion and Politics.Attitudes and Opinions on Society, Religion and Politics.Attitudes and Opinions on Society, Religion and Politics.Attitudes and Opinions on Society, Religion and Politics. An eAn eAn eAn empirical surveympirical surveympirical surveympirical survey 22 </p><p>OOOONENENENE Strata and Cleavages: Pakistani society as reflected in a sample 23 </p><p>TTTTWOWOWOWO Fear of the Future, Trust, Caution, Powerlessness: Psycho-social sensitivies 31 </p><p>TTTTHREEHREEHREEHREE A Lower-Class Society in Search of Equality: Perceptions of the economy and society 35 </p><p>FFFFOUROUROUROUR A Religious Society: Religion, ethnicity and identity 42</p></li><li><p>FFFFIVEIVEIVEIVE State and Theocracy: Opinions on the relationship between religion and politics 48 </p><p>SSSSIXIXIXIX Tolerance out of Insight and Conviction: Perceptions of differences and coexistence 52 </p><p>SSSSEVENEVENEVENEVEN Democrats and Others: Attitudes to the political order 56 </p><p>EEEEIGHTIGHTIGHTIGHT Three Political Subcultures: Differences in political perceptions, aspirations and orientations 64 </p><p>IIIIIIIIIIII </p><p>Thoughts about the Scope for Action and Possible Options Thoughts about the Scope for Action and Possible Options Thoughts about the Scope for Action and Possible Options Thoughts about the Scope for Action and Possible Options for Pakistani Christfor Pakistani Christfor Pakistani Christfor Pakistani Christiansiansiansians 73 </p><p>OOOONENENENE A Church of Untouchables 74 </p><p>TTTTWOWOWOWO Education and Settlements: Ways out of inferiority 77 </p><p>TTTTHREEHREEHREEHREE From Outcasts to Scapegoats? On Muslim misperceptions of Pakistani Christians 79 </p><p>FFFFOUROUROUROUR Looking for Allies 81 </p><p>FFFFIVEIVEIVEIVE Looking for New Ways out of the Shadows: Preliminary thoughts for a discussion 82 </p><p>EPILOGUE 85 </p><p>Selected Recent Literature 91 </p></li><li><p> 5 </p><p>IIIINTRODUCTIONNTRODUCTIONNTRODUCTIONNTRODUCTION </p><p>Pakistan's Christians are a minority in the shadow of an overwhelming majority. In </p><p>absolute numbers, two and a half million church members is a good-sized commu-</p><p>nity, more than the number of Christians in Lebanon. But in a country with an es-</p><p>timated total population of 159 million it is tiny. </p><p>The Christians are also kept in the shadows by the social contempt of the </p><p>majority. Most modern-day Christians are descended from "untouchables", literally </p><p>outcasts, a class of people that existed below and outside the Hindu caste system. </p><p>Gandhi called them Harijans. Today they are popularly known as Daliths. Their </p><p>conversion to Christianity was motivated not least by a desire to escape from this </p><p>social stigma. Despite both creeds teaching of equality, almost two thousand years </p><p>of Christianity in South India and a thousand years of Islam in North India includ-</p><p>ing present-day Pakistan have not been able to overcome the Brahmanic caste </p><p>divisions and caste prejudice of Hinduism. Even today no Muslim will do "sanitary </p><p>work", in particular cleaning toilets and similar activities. This attitude offers un-</p><p>touchables an economic niche, be they Christian or Hindu, as will be shown below. </p><p>However, this modest economic livelihood is achieved at the cost of permanent </p><p>social inferiority. Most sanitary workers in the cities and towns of Pakistan are </p><p>Christians. They are only one not negligible part of Christian society, which also </p><p>includes farmers, agricultural labourers, skilled manual workers, white-collar </p><p>workers, teachers and businessmen, even government employees and military of-</p><p>ficers. Not all Christians are sanitary workers, but most sanitary workers are </p><p>Christians. Yet, Muslims tend to view all Christians the whole defined by a part </p><p>with social disdain. This prejudice is a considerable barrier to social advancement </p><p>and social recognition. </p><p>Finally, Pakistan's Christians stand in the shadow of an Islamist threat. For a </p><p>good century they were spared the ravages of persecution, faced neither pogroms </p><p>nor were involved in armed conflict. They were an irrelevant minority, irrelevant for </p><p>the British colonial rulers and irrelevant for the elites of the independent Pakistan </p><p>that succeeded the former in 1947. And they remained irrelevant till recent </p><p>decades, when their position began to grow steadily more difficult. This occurred as </p><p>a by-product of inner-Muslim clashes, rather than purposely directed against the </p><p>Christians. In the 1970s, along with many other privately run primary schools in the </p><p>country, Christian schools were nationalized. At the same time, admission policies </p><p>at state schools continued to discriminate against Christian children. Nationaliza-</p><p>tion has been partially rolled back since the 1980s. However, in that decade, </p><p>Islamisation of the state made great strides: the constitution and all laws had to </p><p>comply with the shari'a and the sunna; a shari'a bench of the Supreme Court was </p><p>created with the competence to examine this compliance; and, finally, a blasphemy </p><p>law that is unique in the Islamic world constitutes not least owing to imprecise </p><p>wording and questionable procedures of presenting evidence a constant threat </p><p>not only to ostensible and real Muslim dissidents, but also, and increasingly, to </p><p>members of the Christian and other minorities. </p></li><li><p> 6 </p><p>In addition to the threat of an Islamising state, since the beginning of the Allied invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 there has been a threat from Islamist or-ganisations. They identify local Christians with the hated West and hold them responsible for its policies. This may seem grotesque, but it has led to the destruc-tion of Christian settlements and churches, attacks on individuals and murder. When the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, Christians feared the worst, especially as an Islamist leader had announced that ten Pakistani Christians would be killed for every Muslim killed. In Bishop Anthony Lobo's opinion, the pope's clear state-ment on Iraq prevented such acts. Despite this, the Islamist threat is as acute as ever. There is a clear paradox which has highly devastating effects on the Christians of Pakistan: On the one hand, they are untouchable, unclean and irrele-vant, and on the other, they are quickly associated with the actions and power of the West, and they have to bear the brunt of all problems generated in the West vis--vis the Islamic world. Since the parliamentary elections of 2002, when previ-ously splintered Islamist parties campaigned as a single group for the first time, the Islamists are the third strongest political force in parliament. In the North-West Frontier Province they won a majority and in Baluchistan they are part of a coalition government. Under these conditions it is difficult to imagine the Islamisation of the constitution being rescinded or even the blasphemy law being amended. </p><p>The shadows have grown darker. Whether the Islamist menace grows worse will probably depend, first, on the result of the confrontation between the Pakistani state and the armed Islamists threatening the current government and, second, on developments in Afghanistan. Pakistan's Christians have no influence on either. </p><p>Whether they can escape from the shadows of social inferiority depends, pri-marily, on intellectual, social and political developments in Pakistani society as a whole. How satisfied is this society, how does it express its religiosity, how tolerant is it and, when all is said and done, how democratic may it become? Which social and political forces are most likely to give a minority breathing space not neces-sarily for the sake of, or as a favour to, these minorities, but because they want some breathing space for themselves? This study will focus primarily on empirical investigations of these questions. </p><p>Pakistan's Christians can also play their part in removing the stigma of social inferiority through self-help, education and occupational advancement. The steps they have already taken will be briefly outlined. Finally, the way out of inferiority can be eased by support from the church in the rest of the world. </p></li><li><p> 7 </p><p>IIII </p><p>Islam and Politics in Pakistan </p><p>On the general conditions of non-Muslim minorities </p><p>"You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state. We are starting this busi-ness with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state. You will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state." </p><p>Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly, 11 August 1947 </p><p>It would take the Constituent Assembly nine years to conclude its deliberations. Shortly after making his appeal for a politically secular Pakistan, Jinnah revised it under pressure of fundamentalist demonstrators. In January 1948 he promised that legislation would comply with the shari'a. </p><p>The authority of the Father of Pakistan a Shi'a (an Ismaili Bohra, to be exact) and religious moderate by personal inclination was not strong enough to realise the state he dreamed of, a state for the Muslim minority of India, not an Islamic state. </p><p>Religious minorities played a role in these initial debates in the Constituent As-sembly only with regard to the question of whether the interpretation of God's word was reserved to Muslim clerics or whether deputies elected by the people could also pronounce on this matter. In response to reformist Muslims, the Fundamen-talist supporters of the former view objected that an assembly in which non-Mus-lims were also represented could not make laws that would bind Muslims. In fact, the minorities meant little to either side; rather they served only as a cudgel for both sides in their confrontation over who had the power to interpret Islam. </p><p>From the start, secular or reformist Muslims were on the defensive against those who claimed to represent the true teachings. For fear of losing political support, neither the secular nor the reformist Muslims wanted to appear as less faithful than others. In this way the fundamentalists acquired an influence that far exceeded their numerical strength; often enough they held the balance of power between competing political views. </p><p>Why did all political groups compete for Islamic legitimation? One important reason is the historic trauma of the Pakistani Muslims. </p></li><li><p> 8 </p><p>OOOONENENENE </p><p>The Trauma of History and the Present </p><p>The history of Islam in the territory of modern-day Pakistan goes back to the eighth century and the Umayyad caliphate. From the 13th century onward it took the form of hegemony: Muslims ruled large parts of India almost continuously from 1206 A.D., the date of the founding of the Sultanate of Delhi, to 1858, when the last Mogul emperor abdicated under pressure from British colonial rulers. </p><p>The end of this empire signalled not only the beginning of a century of European domination but also, for the Muslims in particular, a change from being a ruling minority to being a minority ruled by foreigners a very large minority, but a minority nonetheless. When the independence movement was launched with the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885, Muslims had reservations about joining, because they saw it as representing a largely Hindu and upper class interest. In 1906, the Muslim League was founded to represent the specific interests of this large minority. Three decades later Jinnah drew up his "Two Nations Theory" be-cause he believed that Muslims would not be able to preserve their way of life under Hindu rule. They needed to carve their own state out of the predominantly Muslim parts of the country. </p><p>In 1947, Jinnah achieved his goal. On independence British India was parti-tioned between India and Pakistan. The costs were enormous: Between 194748 expulsion, flight and religious cleansing caused the deaths of over 800.000 people and the resettlement of 24 million in both directions. The Muslim state was made up of two provinces 1,600 kilometres apart: West Pakistan comprising the western part of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and East Pakistan comprising the eastern part of Bengal. Kashmir, a principality with a predominantly Muslim population and a Hindu maharajah, was, and remains, a disputed territory. The first war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir broke out in the year of independence and ended two years later with the division of the territory along the ceasefire line or Line of Control (LOC), which neither of the states recognizes as their respective state frontier. Neither a second war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir in 1965, nor the Kargil conflict of 1999, or the on-going guerrilla warfare of recent years has altered this situation. </p><p>In 1971 East Pakistan launched a war of secession. Although the majority of the population lived in the east, the west insisted on political parity. Five provinces were created four in the west each with equal seats in the Upper House of Parliament. The Lower House was to represent each province's share of the population. While in the Upper House West Pakistan would outnumber East Pakistan by four to one, the latter would have a small majority in the Lower House. But both houses were to have equal power. What was presented as parity, amounted to clear West Pakistani domination. To add insult to injury, despite the fact that Bengali was spoken by a majority of the population, Urdu was made the national language. Enforced with increasing harshness these policies provoked </p></li><li><p> 9 </p><p>open resistance which received military support from India. Pakistan r...</p></li></ul>


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