AP EXPLAINS: Pakistani Christians, an embattled minority
ISLAMABAD—The uproar surrounding Aasia Bibi—a Pakistani Christian woman who was acquitted of blasphemy charges and released from death row but remains at a secret location for her protection— has drawn attention to the plight of the country's Christians.
The minority, among Pakistan's poorest, has faced an increasingly intolerant atmosphere in this Muslim-majority nation where radical religious and sectarian groups have become more prominent in recent years.
Here is a look at some of the issues involved.
WHY HER RELEASE IGNITED AN UPROAR
Bibi's Oct. 31 acquittal by Pakistan's supreme court triggered large-scale protests, with religious extremists demanding the 54-yearold mother of five be publicly executed—and that the three judges who set her free also be put to death.
Her ordeal started in 2009 after two fellow women farmworkers refused to drink from the same container as a Christian, and later said Bibi had insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The claim led to her arrest and 2010 death sentence on blasphemy charges. In Pakistan, a mere accusation of blasphemy has caused riots, even lynching.
Rights groups have said Pakistan's blasphemy law is often used as an excuse to settle scores, or as a weapon against religious minorities, including Shiite Muslims who are at times targeted by Sunni Muslim militants as heretics.
Bibi has been in hiding in Islamabad since her release earlier this week. Her family says she will leave Pakistan as soon as possible because of death threats against her.
WHO THE PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS ARE
There are about 1.3 million Christians in Pakistan, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country of 204 million people. The Christians are the second-largest minority, after Hindus, and are almost evenly divided between Catholic and Protestant denominations.
The Christian population grew at the time of Pakistan's creation in 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was divided into two nations. At the time, many lower caste Hindus, living in what would become Pakistan, converted to Christianity. They were among the region's poorest and held jobs many others didn't want.
Although some Christians have risen to senior positions, including A.R. Cornelius who served as Pakistan's chief justice, many live in impoverished communities commonly referred to as "sweeper colonies" because residents are employed as domestic and sanitation workers.
HOW PAKISTAN'S GOVERNMENTS HAVE TREATED CHRISTIANS
The rise of Islamic radicalism in Pakistan has left the country's minority religions vulnerable. The blasphemy law, which carries the death penalty for anyone convicted of insulting Islam, has been used at times as a tool against minorities. Christian churches and homes have been attacked by crowds invoking the law.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, elected in July, in part on an Islamic agenda, has vacillated between criticizing religious parties for using religion to enhance their influence, and bowing to their demands, including firing minorities from government-appointed positions.
In Bibi's case, Khan seemingly caved to the Islamists' demand to have her acquittal reviewed in an appeal— though some suspected he was trying to buy time to disperse the protesters.
Analysts say mixed signals from the government only embolden extremists. Minority religious leaders also say the poverty of the Christian minority sharply reduces their political clout.
HOW CHRISTIANS ARE FARING IN OTHER MUSLIM-MAJORITY COUNTRIES
Egypt's Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country's 100 million Muslim-majority population, have long complained of discrimination and under-representation in government. Sectarian violence occasionally erupts in rural communities where Christian churches have been torched. Overwhelmingly, attacks on Egyptian Copts have been carried out by Islamist extremists, mainly the Islamic State group, which has killed scores of Christians in recent the Gaza Strip, the number years. of Christians has dropped Lebanon's Christian community from 3,000 to 1,000 over is the second-largest the past decade of rule by in the Middle East, after the Islamic militant group Egypt's, but has gone from Hamas—a period that has being a majority to ranging been marked by armed between 30 and 35 percent conflict with Israel, border of the population. Despite closures and soaring unemployment. their dwindling numbers, Lebanese Christians Iraq has been seeing still retain relative political a dramatic exodus of its power with multiple Christians since dictator political parties and a Saddam Hussein was president, who must be a ousted in 2003. Muslim Christian Maronite, according extremists, mostly from to an unwritten national the al-Qaida terror network pact. and later the Islamic State Across the Holy Land, group, have bombed churches Christians now make up an and shrines in Baghdad estimated 1 to 2 percent of and the city of Mosul, and the population, a marked assassinated high-level decline over the decades. bishops and priests. There Reasons include a relatively were thought to be over low birth rate and increased 1 million Christians living emigration by Palestinian in Iraq before the Christians, driven by the U.S.-led invasion of 2003; fallout from the long-running today only a fraction conflict with Israel. In remains.