Catholics in churches in Pakistan, like this one in Hyderabad, have learned to keep a low profile.

Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan, yet there is only one church for the tens of thousands of Catholics who live there, and this church is built in the diplomatic area.

Despite continual requests by the bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi to build more churches where Pakistani Catholics live, the government refuses permission to erect them, because Muslims will get upset.

Pakistan is a nation of more than 160 million people, 97 percent of whom are Muslim with the rest being Christian, Hindu and Buddhist. Christians number about 2 million, and most Christians are Catholic.

Catholics are predominantly Pakistani. In the northern provinces of Punjab and the Northwest Frontier, they belong mostly to the Punjabi ethnic group, while in the provinces of Baluchistan and Sindh, especially in Karachi, they are of different ethnic origins: Punjabi, Madrasi, Goan and, more recently, from the recently converted tribal people of the Sindh Province.

The magnificent Badshahi Mosque, which was built in 1673, is located in Lahore, the eastern Pakistan city in which many Columban missionaries work. About 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim.

Discrimination Against Christians
Christianity has a long history in the Indian subcontinent going back to the first years after the Ascension of Jesus Christ. A sufficient body of historical evidence justifies the claim that St. Thomas the Apostle evangelized both the north of India, where he stayed in the town of Taxila near the modern city of Rawalpindi, and in the south where he preached the Gospel in the present-day province of Kerala along India’s southwestern coast.

Like Christianity, there are many divisions in the Muslim religion of Islam, and much of the current wave of violence in Pakistan is caused by the hostility that adherents of the various Muslim sects have for one another.

Political leaders, in particular Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928-1979) (father of Benazir Bhutto) and the military dictator Muhammad Zia ul-Haq (1924-1988), were zealous Muslims who made being Muslim the basis for being Pakistani. Christians were excluded from the mainstream of political, economic and social activity by these leaders who spoke of Christians as having “rights that had to be protected” rather than as people who were equally Pakistani just like Muslims.

Discrimination against Christians is an everyday part of life and affects education, housing and employment.

Here are just a few examples:

Signs Of Hope
There are, nevertheless, some signs of hope, especially in the attitude of ordinary Muslim Pakistanis. There was enormous respect for Pope John Paul II that was reinforced by his stand against the war in Iraq. It is well known that leprosy prevention and care of lepers throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan is carried out by the Catholic Church. And the good work of Catholic hospitals, which care for the needy and the moral values given to children in Catholic schools, is without question.

Pakistan’s flag is green with a vertical white band (symbolizing the role of religious minorities) on the hoist side. A large white crescent and star are centered in the green field, and the crescent, star and color green are traditional symbols of Islam.

In an Islamic country where Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan, many Muslims respect ordinary Catholics who eat and drink just once every 24 hours during the 40 days of Lent. Priests, Sisters and lay people are making quiet but effective openings.

For example, I am a member of the group of lecturers and speakers used by Bank Alfalah in Karachi for master’s of business administration graduates who join the bank. This is often the first opportunity for most of these young men and women to meet a Catholic priest.

Unfortunately, it seems that what has drawn Pakistanis together, whether they are Muslim, Christian or Hindu, is the culture of violence that has taken hold here in the last 10 years.
We pray that God protect all of those who suffer from this aggression.

Columban Father Robert McCulloch was ordained in 1970 and was among the first Columbans to arrive in Pakistan in 1978. He works in Karachi in southern Pakistan.