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Pressure on Kashmir Christians as Sharia court asks for pastor's expulsion
Religious tension in India occasionally ends in violence
An Islamic court in the Indian state of Kashmir has issued a decree seeking the expulsion of four Christian clergymen and asked the government to monitor the activities of Christian schools.
A self-styled Sharia court has issued a decree calling for the expulsion of a Christian pastor from the divided Muslim-majority state of Kashmir over claims he was converting young Muslims by enticing them with money.
"We will not tolerate any anti-Islamic activity in Kashmir by converting Muslims to Christianity. The state government should issue an order to ensure that only Islamic morning prayers should be allowed because the majority of students in the valley's schools are Muslims," deputy grand cleric Nasir-ul-Islam told Deutsche Welle.
With approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3 percent of India's 1.2 billion population, the Christian clergy says their community is facing persecution in Kashmir. Father Babu Jospeh of the Catholic Bishop Conference of India says the Sharia court has no legal authority.
"We do not believe in these kangaroo court pronouncements. There is a law in this country which says various communities need to co-exist. This verdict is illegal, because it has no authority in our country," he told Deutsche Welle.
John Dayal, a spokesman for the Kashmir Christian community, rejected the suggestion of forced conversions having taken place, saying "each baptism has been proved to be voluntary."
Some 13 percent of Indians are thought to be Muslim
The controversy began in December last year when a video surfaced showing pastor Chander Mani Khanna baptizing young Muslim boys. Khanna was arrested for disturbing the peace but was freed on bail. Now, the Sharia court is seeking his expulsion.
Fatwa against Christian schools
To add to tensions in the Kashmir Valley, three other Catholic missionaries were expelled by the same body on the grounds they were guilty of "luring the valley's Muslims to Christianity."
The fast flow of events has put pressure on the 400-odd Christians in the Kashmir Valley, many of whom feel their community may face retribution for challenging the Sharia court.
Two missionary schools in Srinagar are now facing calls to include Islamic prayers as part of the curriculum. The decree by the Sharia court also asked the state government to monitor the activities of the local missionary schools where a majority of the students are Muslims.
"In this entire drama being played out, the silence of the political class is disturbing. They have kept quiet and allowed some radicals to run riot. It is pitiable," said one foreigner from Srinagar, who has been living in the valley for nearly a decade and did not want his identity disclosed as he felt a "climate of fear" was being created for Christians there.
There have been calls for only Muslim morning prayers to be allowed in Kashmir
Controversial conversions
Religious conversions have long been a hot issue in India. Several states have laws to prevent "forced" conversions, or conversions for money or other inducements. Anti-Christian riots have rocked several parts of India such as a series of attacks on Christians in the states of Karnataka and Orissa in 2008.
Following that uproar, a fact finding team went to Srinagar and interviewed Church personnel, the Ulema educated class of Muslim legal scholars, school authorities and the police. But the team found no evidence of forced or fraudulent baptisms.
For years, Christians coexisted peacefully with India's 80 percent Hindu majority, but the growth of fringe fundamentalism has begun to tear at India's largely secular fabric. Hindus have often accused Christian groups of forcing low-caste people to convert. But Christians say they often convert willingly because of their treatment as outcasts.
Извор:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15685455,00.html
