PERSECU ION International Christian Concern | July 2014
Sending Light Into The Darkness: The Life of the Underground Pastor
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PA K I S TA N
Doubly Persecuted Pakistani Christian Women Struggle to Survive By William Stark, Regional Manager
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n Pakistan, Christian women are among the country’s poorest and most despised citizens due to the fact that they are both the “wrong religion” and the “wrong gender.” Christian women are abducted from their families, converted to Islam, married to a Muslim man, and raped – all by force. Christian women face these attacks because of their gender and their religious identity. Forced to live on one of the lowest rungs in Pakistan’s Islamic society, Christian women have their lives destroyed by this form of “double persecution” that is visited upon them because of their faith and gender.
A Disturbingly Organized & Established Form of Persecution
The Movement for Solidarity and Peace (MSP) estimates that up to 700 Christian women between the ages of 12 and 25 are kidnapped and forcefully converted to Islam every year in Pakistan. The figure presented in the report was only taken from major newspaper sources and NGOs working 12
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on the issue, making it likely that the actual number of Christian women being forcefully converted to Islam every year is much higher; many cases go unreported due to threats against victims and their families. These attacks on Christian women are, disturbingly, both well organized and well established. Muslims perpetrating these attacks coerce their captives into signing documents stating they have embraced Islam by their own free will and then force them into changing their names to Muslim names. After the forced conversion, forced marriage (often they are essentially servants) to a Muslim man and rape are used as tools Rozi Munir was abducted from her family in May 2013 to trap the victim. Pakistan is a very traditional society and a good marriage is one of the few ways in which women are able to advance themselves. The shame and stigma associated with being a victim of rape destroys a Christian woman’s potential to find a good marriage and thus leaves her feeling trapped and married to her rapist. The women also can’t escape their captors due to the fact that they and their families are threatened with violence if they resist from the perpetrators and their accomplices, the police and the justice system. Police officials will counsel the victim that she is better off just living as a Muslim, or, worse still, will threaten the victim’s family. Even if a complaint is actually registered and the matter is brought to court, a sham verdict is usually the result. Incredibly, throughout court proceedings, Christian abductees are forced to stay in the custody of their abductor/ rapist instead of being returned to their families, or with an independent third party. This puts the victims in an extremely vulnerable position and usually leads to most women giving forced statements that they have converted to Islam by their own free will and that they are happily married to their abductor/rapist.
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PA K I S TA N
A Father Protects His Daughter While traveling in Pakistan, I witnessed this form of “double persecution” first-hand when I met with Zoya Mary and her family. Zoya, a 14-year-old Christian girl, is one of the estimated 700 Christian women taken in 2013. Meeting in secret at Zoya’s family’s home in Pakistan, Zoya and her father told me about what it was like for her to be abducted, forcefully converted and then married to one of her Muslim abductors. On May 4, 2013, Zoya’s life was radically changed when Muslim radicals armed with guns and grenades broke down the door of her family’s home. Led by Zoya’s own uncle, the group of radicals abducted Zoya from her home and held her captive for 12 days. Months earlier, Zoya’s uncle, no longer able to deal with the poverty and stigma associated with being a Christian in Pakistan, converted to Islam. Unfortunately, the imam he converted under was a radical. As part of his conversion to Islam, Zoya’s uncle was pressured by the imam to kidnap Zoya and forcefully convert her and her family to Islam as well. With Zoya in their custody, her uncle and his radical counterparts called Zoya’s family, threatening to kill Zoya unless the entire family converted to Islam. During her 12 days of captivity, Zoya was raped by her captors, forcefully married to a Muslim man as a second wife and forcefully converted to Islam. Due to stress and a congenital heart condition, she suffered a major heart attack. In the ultimate display of disregard for Zoya, her captors dumped her on the side of the road where she was discovered by passersby who took her to a nearby hospital. After recovering from her heart attack, Zoya was able to reunite with her family. After returning home from the hospital, the family was contacted by her Muslim “husband,” “A,” who was demanding his “wife” be returned. When the family refused, “A” initiated a court case against Zoya’s father for kidnapping his wife. To date, Zoya and her family continue to fight “A” in court. Zoya’s father has extensive documentation regarding her case proving that the marriage and conversion were illegal. Outside the court, “A” has approached Zoya’s family, offering them bribes to concede. That strategy did not work and now he is threatening Zoya’s family with attack. Despite these efforts, 14
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Zoya’s father has been steadfast in his protection for his beloved daughter.
Zoya and her family
Hope Remains
Unfortunately, the attack endured by Zoya is only one example of the horrific pandemic of abduction, rape, and forced marriage of Christian women in Pakistan. Christian women are considered “soft targets” due to their low social status. With a society and a legal system that is biased both against non-Muslims and females, pursuing justice in many of these cases is near impossible, especially for Christian women who often come from meager social and financial settings. Because of stories like these, International Christian Concern (ICC) has made it a priority to help Christian women in Pakistan through its Save Our Sisters Fund. From projects aimed at empowering Christian women to pursue justice, to assisting Christian women achieve a higher social and financial standing, ICC hopes it can help make stories like Zoya’s become part of a horrific past for Christians in Pakistan. If you are interested in assisting Christian women in Pakistan, please check out and donate to ICC’s Save Our Sisters Fund at www.persecution.org. You can help today! 800-ICC-5441
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