wfn.org | WCC Pastoral visit to Pakistan

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Update Up-02-34
For Immediate Use
11 November 2002

WCC pastoral delegation to Pakistan learns extent of Christians' trials and
tribulations

Cf. WCC Press Release, PR-02-28, of 1 November 2002
Cf. WCC Press Update, UP-02-30, of 2 October 2002
 
"An extreme kind of terrorism never witnessed before - an execution carried
out by professionals," was how a former officer of Pakistan's airforce
described a recent attack on the offices of a Christian institution in
Karachi. Seven young Christian workers were killed in the 25 September attack
on the Idara-e-Amn-o-Insaf (Committee for Justice and Peace). The officer was
speaking at a 5 November meeting of church leaders with a delegation from the
World Council of Churches (WCC) on a pastoral visit to Pakistan. 

The 2-9 November WCC visit to Karachi and Lahore was intended to express
solidarity with churches and Christians, hear about the effects in Pakistan
of the war in Afghanistan, and learn about the challenges currently facing
Pakistan's churches. The delegation met church and lay leaders, lawyers,
jurists, leaders of non-governmental and Islamic organizations, members of
political parties, families of blasphemy law victims, and the families of the
Idara staff killed in the terrorist attack. They were told that such attacks
against Christians have increased since the war, and that the security of the
Christian community is gravely threatened. 

Grave crisis
The overall message to the delegation was that Pakistan is going through a
grave crisis. Feudalism, corrupt politics and repeated military interventions
in civil and political life have destroyed democratic institutions and
systems of governance. According to members of Pakistan's human rights
commission, injustice, poverty, illiteracy and rapid population growth are
preventing progress and development. These factors, they said, are
responsible for the current environment of religious intolerance, hatred and
sectarian strife in which human rights violations by both the state and
private actors are rampant.  

Other representatives the delegation encountered pointed out that corrupt and
inefficient law enforcement, a complacent judicial system, and lack of
accountability have encouraged a climate of violence and impunity. What some
observers called a "military tyranny" is driving Pakistan towards further
divisions, while the government's preoccupation with military and political
matters leaves it little time to address ordinary people's life-and-death
concerns. Christians, but also other minorities, are trapped in this
situation and subject to discrimination and attacks.

Christian grievances, Muslim grievances
Hearing about two brothers who, charged under blasphemy laws and sentenced to
35 years of imprisonment, have been in jail for four years pending a High
Court appeal, the delegation was moved by their plight and that of their
families. Delegation members were impressed by the faith and Christian
commitment of a group of young Christian girls who had been forced to convert
to Islam.  Meeting the young widows of the Idara victims, they were sharply
aware of the difficulties such women face in Pakistan's cultural context. 
And they were distressed to hear from church leaders that none of the
perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Christians in Taxila, Murree, Islamabad
and Bahwalpur have been apprehended and brought to justice.  

Another set of grievances was voiced at a meeting convened by the recently
formed Muslim-Christian International Federation. Here, the WCC delegation
heard complaints from Muslim leaders about ill-treatment of their compatriots
in the West.  According to the leaders, the Christian West has systematically
targeted Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq, and Muslims
are subjected to racial profiling, discrimination and arbitrary arrests in
the US, the UK and Australia.  This creates resentment and anger in the
Muslim world, the leaders said.  

The delegation assured these leaders that churches in the US, UK and other
western countries do not agree with their governments' policies on the war in
Afghanistan and a possible war against Iraq.  The churches' theological and
ethical position, the delegation explained, is to denounce violence and the
spirit and logic of war, and to insist that differences and disputes be
resolved peacefully through the United Nations and not through war or
military strikes. 

At the close of its visit, the delegation called on the WCC to continue to
monitor the situation of Christians in Pakistan, and to accompany and support
the churches there during this period of trial and tribulation.  

Members of the WCC delegation:
Bishop Roger Sainsbury, moderator of Churches' Commission for Racial Justice,
UK
Rev. Ms Youngsook Charlene Kang, deputy general secretary, Mission Contexts
and
   Relationships/Mission Education, United Methodist Church, USA
Rev. John Moyer, director, Frontier Internship in Mission
Prof. Leo Koffeman, advisor for Ecumenical Relations to the general
secretary, Uniting Churches
  in the Netherlands
Mr Tony Warawantu, International Affairs secretary, Christian Conference of
Asia 
Mr Clement John, Pakistan, Executive Secretary, International Relations,
World Council of
  Churches 

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,   tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which
meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in
1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland