Two Christian Girls Kidnapped and Forced to Pronounce the Shahada

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Multan, Pakistan: December 18, 2008. (The Sikh Times) After a judge placed new financial and social pressure on the captors of a Pakistani girl who was kidnapped and converted to Islam, attorneys have guarded optimism they can return her to custody of her Christian parents, one news from Pakistan has reported. Judge Malik Saeed Ijaz ordered the girl’s husband, Amjad Ali, to pay a dowry of 100,000 rupees (US$1,275) and allow her parents visitation rights, two actions required by typical Pakistani marriage protocol. So far he has done neither.

The judge gave Saba Masih, 13, the opportunity to talk with her family during yesterday’s hearing, but she remained mostly silent behind her veil, offering only blunt replies. “I don’t want to see my parents. They are Christians and I am a Muslim,” she said, according to her parents’ attorney. Her younger sister Aneela Masih, who was also kidnapped but returned to her family three months ago, pleaded with her older sister to return home.

The 10-year-old told her that Christmas was coming and she didn’t want her sister to spend it with those “who are not our people.” Saba Masih appeared at the Multan branch of Lahore’s High Court yesterday along with her Muslim husband and his family. Her parents filed a contempt petition last month against her captors for failing to follow Pakistani marriage protocol. Islamic law (sharia), however, gives a wife the right to relinquish a dowry.

Lawyers said they fear that the Muslim family will pressure Saba Masih to claim this right in order to offset growing financial pressure. Lawyers hope that if her mother can visit her, it will convince her to leave her husband and come home to the family; her family believes he has threatened her with violence if she attempts to rejoin them. At Monday’s hearing, Saba Masih still appeared reluctant to return to her family. Relatives said they were praying that she would change her mind and that the captors would lose their influence over her. “The main thing is Saba must be ready herself to come back,” said her uncle, Khalid Raheel, the family spokesman. “But she isn’t ready to come back yet, and I don’t know how they are convincing her.” On Wednesday (Dec. 17) the judge is expected to adjourn the case and issue a deed requiring Ali to pay the dowry at the convenience of the Masih family.

The judge yesterday threatened Ali with prison time if he failed to carry out this order. Akbar Durrani, attorney for the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), said the attorneys might try to use Aneela Masih’s testimony of kidnapping to take the case to the Supreme Court if other options fail. The Christian family’s lawyer said the attempt to force Ali to pay a dowry was a tactic to mount financial pressure on Saba Masih’s husband and to convince her to return home. Her family and their lawyers believe she has stayed with her Muslim husband because he and his family have issued death threats.

The Christian family’s chances of winning run against the judicial status quo for Pakistani religious minorities, but the new push comes after a Sept. 9 ruling that returned Aneela Masih to her parents, a rare legal victory for non-Muslims. Aneela and Saba Masih were kidnapped on June 26 while travelling to visit their uncle in Sarwar Shaheed, northwest of Multan. Their parents say local fruit vendor Muhammad Arif Bajwa and three others kidnapped them in Chawk Munda, a small town in south Punjab. Saba Masih was married to Ali the next day. Bajwa and Ali registered a case with the police on June 28 for custody of the girls based on their alleged conversion to Islam. Local residents regard the men as serial kidnappers with connections to a human trafficking ring.

The girls’ first defense attorney believed they could have been raped and sold to a brothel. Ironically, attorneys said, the kidnappers’ alleged desire to exploit Saba Masih may now be the best hope of her returning to her parents, as keeping her has become not lucrative but increasingly costly with court hearings continuing and legal fees multiplying. “These [kidnappers] don’t have an emotional link to Saba,” Durrani told Compass by phone. “They are in the business of prostitution and only wanted to use these girls for their business.”

Prosecuting attorneys said they have a growing optimism that they can regain custody of Saba Masih, something they thought unlikely two months ago. In previous hearings, a judge allowed Saba Masih to choose whether or not she would return to her family, even though Pakistan marriage law requires the approval of legal guardians at the age of 16. The judge determined that her age was 17 based on her testimony and a report by a medical board pressured by Muslim groups to inflate her age. He did not accept as evidence her birth certificate and baptismal record that showed her age as 13.

Younis Masih and his wife first saw their daughters after their kidnapping at a July hearing. The girls were in the company of 16 Muslims and were said to be under pressure to claim they had converted to Islam. After Aneela Masih returned to her family in September, she claimed that their captors threatened to kill them and their family if they did not do everything asked of them. Previously it had been reported that she was raped while in captivity, but there was no medical evidence that she was sexually abused or manhandled, lawyers said. Her sister appears to be suffering, Durrani said.

“The family has told us that Saba Masih is not in good condition – most of the time she cries and is not satisfied there,” Durrani said. Kidnapping of Christians in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million is not uncommon. Many captors believe they will not be convicted if caught due to the penal code’s influence by sharia, which grants non-Muslims second-class status in society. Every year there are cases of Pakistani Christian children kidnapped, killed or exploited by those who believe their parents are powerless. Last month a Muslim family in Nankan kidnapped the 7-year-old son of Pakistani Christian Binyamin Yusef, 30, over a land dispute.

Two days later police found his son’s body, which showed signs of torture and rape. Police did not register the case when Yusef initially approached them. CLAAS representatives hope to open court action against the alleged perpetrators.

Gujrat Community Seeks to Lessen Harship through Art

The Christian community of Gujrat, Pakistan, is bursting forth with both a dire need for steady income and with creativity. Many people in Gujrat, both men and women, have excellent skills in knitting, sewing and textiles, painting, toy-making, and much more. The community, under the guidance of Nadeem Feroze, a novitiate in the Tertiary lay order of St. Benedict of the Roman Catholic Church, and with the assistance of an American liaison in the United States, Kristen Pantle, are attempting to organize the community into a network of artisans.

"Due to this discrimination," Nadeem explained, "Christians do not have many opportunities to acquire jobs in Pakistan. Most days we struggle to earn a living wage simply to feed our children or care for aging parents. It is very hard."

Nadeem is very involved in his community, and when he isn't doing odd jobs along with the rest of his poor neighborhoods, he spends his time in service to them. Teaching catechism or helping children with homework, making rosaries and bringing the Eucharist to shut-ins, partaking in peace conferences and organizing church events, are just a glimpse into the daily efforts Nadeem exercises in order to uplift his community of faith. "Nadeem wants to live out the Gospel message the best he can," Kristen, student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH, explains. "He is compelled by something deep within to bring hope, dignity, and self-sufficiency to all his persecuted brethren. He wishes so much to help them, but he also has a family of his own to care for." Nadeem has a wife and a daughter with another child on the way, as well as two elderly parents for whom he cares.

Sewing Hope

The pride of the community's artistic work is their tapestries. Taught by the members from the religious order Sisters of the Cross, the community hand-sews tapestries of religious images from strips of fabric. One of the sisters is pictured (left) with their Resurrection Tapestry. "It takes almost twelve hours to make, depending on the skill of the artist," Nadeem explains. "Most of the artists don't have sewing machines and so have to do everything by hand."

They sell religious cards made by the sisters, as well as cards made by the little children in Sunday school. They make animal statues out of jewels and street tar. "Necessity is the mother of invention," Kristen says. There is also an artist who paints pastoral scenes on stretches of velvet (pictured below).

Nadeem and Kristen are hoping to establish a dependable source of income. "This may take awhile," sighs Kristen. "I don't know a lot about these things, but I would love to be able to create a Fair Trade market for this community. For them to be able to produce things that people want to buy will not only give them a sense of pride, it will put food on the table and provide much-needed medical care. It is going to take a lot of work and ingenuity. I hope to find some help with this."

If you wish to purchase one of the items made by the Christians of Gujrat, help with this ministry, or simply would like to donate, please email Kristen at k.louise77@gmail.com.