wfn.org | Afghan events could affect Pakistan's Christians

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 1, 2001   News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-33-71B{434}

By United Methodist News Service

Christians in Pakistan could be among those affected by whatever action the
United States takes against Afghanistan.

The Rev. Aslam Barkat, a United Methodist pastor in West Virginia who grew
up in Pakistan, said he doesn't see much of a threat to Christians in the
Islamic country at the moment. However, he said, the situation "is going to
be fluid, depending on who does what."

The United States has demanded that the Taliban, Afghanistan's ruling party,
hand over Osama bin Laden, who is considered the chief suspect in the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The Taliban has said that
bin Laden is in its control at a secure location, and the government had
refused to surrender him as of Oct. 1.

Tensions already had flared in neighboring Pakistan in recent years, when
laws were used against Christians and Hindus accused of blasphemy against
Mohammed and the Koran, according to Sarla Chand, an executive with the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in New York.

"I think it's a very precarious position for Christians in Pakistan right
now," she said, adding that cities along the border with Afghanistan, such
as Peshawar, could be especially volatile.

Although they account for less than 2 percent of Pakistan's 152 million
people, Christians are active in social service work there. The United
Methodist Church, for example, still supports United Christian Hospital in
Lahore. It also helps fund scholarships for theological education, disaster
relief for floods and earthquakes, community-based health care programs, and
physical and mental rehabilitation programs for children, according to
Chand.

In the late 1800s, the Methodist Church was established in the cities of
Karachi, Quetta and Lahore, initially as a ministry to English-speaking
communities of Anglo-Indians and some British army and civilian personnel.
The ministry was turned over to the British Wesleyan Methodist Church in
1900 and grew to 15,000 members by 1915.

The government granted a plot of land in the Multan area to the Methodist
Church in 1930 for the establishment of four Christian villages. This area
was divided in two in 1947, after the partition agreement between Pakistan
and India, with the largest portion becoming part of India. The church also
had several educational projects, including the Lucie Harrison High School
for Girls in Lahore, which was nationalized in 1972; a teacher-training
institute in Raiwind; and a cooperative effort in running two colleges and a
hospital in Lahore.

When the Methodist Church joined with the Anglicans and Scottish
Presbyterians to become part of the Church of Pakistan in 1970, it had about
60,000 members. A separate Presbyterian denomination, connected to the
Presbyterian Church USA, also exists in Pakistan.

Today, Chand said, the Church of Pakistan has eight dioceses, each with its
own bishops. The Multan and Raiwind dioceses are those considered formerly
Methodist.

Church World Service, the development and relief agency of the U.S. National
Council of Churches, also works in Pakistan in both urban and rural
settings. Programs include community health, food security development,
legal assistance and drug rehabilitation.

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United Methodist News Service
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