February 01, 2010

On January 8, Stephanie Hackenburg, Political Officer of the United States Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan, visited the Community Development Initiative (CDI) office for ECLJ’s legal aid program in Pakistan. John Samuel, bishop of Gojra, was also among the prominent guests at the program. CDI’s Executive Director, Asif Aqeel, gave a presentation regarding the program. The presentation included CDI’s assistance in Kasur and Gojra, and some notable cases handled by the CDI. Following the presentation, Hackenburg interacted with participants and provided her response and impressions.

The CDI informed Hackenburg about its contributions in helping the victims of persecution in Kasur, where 110 houses of Christians were burned in June 2009. The CDI also explained its assistance in Gojra, where seven Christians were burned to death and at least 85 Christian houses were burned and looted by Muslim mobs in August 2009, on an allegation of desecration of the Qur’an. CDI’s attorney assisted witnesses in the judicial inquiry done by Justice Hameed-ur-Rehman. The CDI also played an important role in an incident related to the Gojra burnings. Naveed Masih, a young Christian, was falsely accused of killing one of the mobsters. Masih was implicated because he was one of the two eye-witnesses in the case against the mobsters. Here, CDI explained how the police misled the court. The police investigation found Christians to be the aggressors who had provoked Muslims during an alleged “peaceful” rally being held by the Muslims on August 1, 2009.

The CDI also informed Hanckenburg about a recent case handled by the CDI in Lahore, involving some influential people. The police illegally detained Nasreen Bibi in a spurious case of theft. Due to CDI’s timely intervention through the court, she was rescued. Without CDI’s services, Nasreen would have been tortured by the police to force her to falsely confess to the crime she did not commit. Deputy Inspector General (DIG), the second highest ranking police official in Lahore, making the case difficult, had accused Nasreen. However, CDI successfully persuaded the court. Nasreen stood up and spoke about her case during the presentation, explaining how she was respectfully reinstated to her job and the real culprits were arrested.

The CDI noted that the courts are unsympathetic to pleas of Christian victims. Sometimes the courts even exhibit partiality against victims when religion is involved. For example,  Hanckenburg heard about a forced conversion in which a 12-year-old was converted to Islam and forced to marry a Muslim. The court hearing date was changed without informing the mother or her counsel. The bench of judges, headed by the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, decided the case in favor of the defendant on the first hearing never having listened to side of the complainant mother.

After the presentation, the CDI invited Hackenburg to share her thoughts with the participants, victims of persecution, and students from the English language class conducted by the CDI. A participant inquired how Hackenburg felt being with Pakistani Christians. Hackenburg replied that it was wonderful to meet them. A schoolteacher, and a mother of four, shared with the Political Officer how she spends her days teaching other people’s children but she herself was too poor to provide education for her own children. Responding to another question, Hackenbug remarked that Pakistan is a unique country with many problems. She expressed her awareness of Christian suffering in Pakistan. Following the Kasur incident, Hackenburg had wanted to visit Kasur, but she decided against it so that Christians in the area would not be identified as being supported by the U.S. Such an association would be dangerous for the local Christians.

Adding his expertise to the presentation, the Bishop of Gojra shared that the Pakistani Christian community had high expectations of the U.S. Consulate. He also discussed the reality that Pakistani Christians were usually identified as agents and spies of the United States. He also explained that Muslims have a contemptuous term for Christians: choohra (traditionally Hindu untouchables, most of whom converted to Christianity). Sometimes Muslims refer to the Bishop as the “Bishop of choohras.” CDI’s attorney, Haroon Suleman Khokhar, also raised a similar issue: untouchability. Khokhar has faced discrimination in the courts, though lawyers were thought to be an educated class in the country, expected not to discriminate.

CDI also presented the data of a survey it conducted in 2008. The data, collected from both government and private institutions, revealed that more than 95 percent of janitors in these institutions were Christians. Janitors in Pakistan are called choohras with contempt and they are the lowest of the low in society. In response to this information, Hackenburg responded that she never realized Christians were treated like this in Pakistan.

At the end of the program, Hackenburg spent additional time with the victims of persecution who had been helped by the CDI. She said she enjoyed meeting them and praised the work that CDI was doing in Pakistan.