Amid recent violence against Christians in Pakistan, a leading bishop
says that the attacks are deeply rooted in the political situation of
the country and how it relates to both the West and surrounding areas.
Bishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi interprets the terrorist bombing in late
September of a Christian church in Peshawar which killed nearly 100
people as a retaliative move against the U.S. military.
The group that claimed responsibility for the attack, he said, stated
that it was done because “the Americans are using Drone attacks,” and
“unless the Americans stop the Drone attacks” they “will continue to
attack more churches.”
“This threat is not coming from just any group,” the bishop told CNA in
an Oct. 11 interview. “It’s coming from a very powerful extremist group
that has already been causing problems and is causing problems to our
government.”
The group has also attacked both military bases as well as the police,
he said, and is “strong enough to challenge the government. They are a
threat to the whole of society, not just the Christians.”
Bishop Coutts explained that the number of Christians in the country,
including both Catholics and Protestants, total about “2.5 percent of
the population,” and that being an Islamic country, roughly “95-96
percent” of the population is Muslim, with the rest being composed of
other religious minorities.
“According to our constitution we have religious freedom,” he said “and
if you come to Pakistan you will see many churches.” However, “in recent
years we have been facing and experiencing intolerance to such an
extent that it has reached the point we are being attacked.”
“There are a number of factors that have contributed to this,” he
stated, stressing that the first is the ongoing war in Pakistan’s
neighboring country Afghanistan, which is a “one-hundred percent Muslim
country.”
“First was the fight against the Soviet Union with the United States,
and Saudi Arabia helped our government, and then the Taliban developed
to fight against the Soviets,” the bishop recalled, “But now what is
happening is we have our own brand of Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban.”
Bishop Coutts revealed that in previous years Pakistan identified the
Taliban only with those who fought within Afghanistan for the freedom of
the country, but that now a “Pakistani Taliban” has developed who “want
to make Pakistan a purely Islamic state.”
The bishop emphasized that although the country is primarily Muslim, it
is “at the moment a democratic country” with a newly elected government,
and that “extremist Islamic groups who are not the majority at all.”
However, he stressed that although the radical groups are a small
minority, they “are very strong because of the methods they use.”
“They use the methods of violence and even suicide bombing,” which is,
he noted “a new phenomenon in Pakistan. They do not believe in
democracy. They want an Islamic state. They want all Islamic laws.”
“So that is the basic struggle at the moment, the background to
understand how a small minority like the Christians or the Hindus are
suffering within that overall new form of Islam, a militant, violent
form of Islam promoting Jihad or Holy War.”
Referring to the Peshawar attack, the bishop urged that the situation
“is dangerous” because “there is a perception here that the whole west,
Europe or America are all Christians.”
In other words, they believe that “Christians are attacking the Muslim
countries. Iraq, now Afghanistan. And so you are Pakistani Christians.
We are not immigrants.”
“The perception is that if they attack the Christians, Americans will
stop the drone attacks. It’s not just a local problem. It has drawn us
into global politics. It is something much wider.”