Actions Against Christian Priests, School Principal
Since the summer of 2011, a series of incidents taking place in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent have led observers to believe religious intolerance is rearing its ugly head there.
Briefly, The Incidents Are As Follows:
- During the summer months, an unspecified number of previously Muslim youths were converted to Christianity. The conversion ceremony was videotaped, and video clips of it were distributed. This caused the Grand Mufti Azam of Kashmir, Bashir-ud-Din to summon Pastor MC Khanna of the All Saints Church in the city of Srinagar for questioning, who was believed to have ‘lured’ the youths into their religious conversion.
- On 19 November 2011, Khanna was arrested by the police on charges of fomenting communal trouble. He was released about two weeks later.
- Pastor Khanna is not alone in this saga. This is because three other people of the Christian faith have also been alleged to have been his accomplices. They comprise two other pastors – Gayoor Messah (an Indian) and Jim Borst (a Dutch national) – and Parvez Sameul Koul, the principal of the local Christian missionary Tyndale Biscoe School.
- About a week ago, a self-styled sharia court in Kashmir issued a fatwa that asks Khanna, Messah and Borst to leave the Kashmir valley. It is known that all three men have left the vicinity since then (despite uncertainty about the fatwa’s legal status). The fatwa is silent on Koul, though. Nonetheless, the Deputy Mufti of Kashmir, Nasir-ul-Islam has disclosed that he remains ‘under investigation’ and the judgment on him will be announced ‘in due course’.
- Besides ordering the expulsion of the three pastors, the sharia court also asks the local government to take over the management of Christian missionary schools in the region, as well as to closely monitor their activities in the future. It also asks the schools to conduct Muslim study classes for students of other faiths. (Again, the legality of these Fatwa ‘orders’ is doubtful.)
- Deputy Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam has gone further. He suggests that the schools’ morning prayers also include Islamic prayers, given “the Muslim majority character of the (Kashmir) valley”.
The Fatwa Is Challenged
The sharia court’s fatwa has caused the All India Christian Council, based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, to express concerns over anti-Christian sentiments that it may cause, which could endanger the personal safety of Kashmiri Christians. It dispatched a fact-finding team to Kashmir after the arrest of Pastor Khanna. After speaking with the police, church personnel and Muslim scholars, the investigators concluded that the youths converted to Christianity out of their personal choice and free will. There were no elements of coercion or deception in the process.
Think About It
Given that India is a democracy (in fact, India is the world’s largest democracy given its huge population size), shouldn’t its citizens be accorded religious freedom? Shouldn’t the sharia court be respectful of this basic human right?
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