Heavy flooding in Pakistan has washed away thousands of homes – and the Pakistani government has responded curiously: It has offered aid to homeless Muslim families, but ignores hundreds of Christians facing the same plight.
As if that were not enough, Muslim charities then stepped up to the plate with an offer they hoped the Christians couldn't refuse: "Convert and we'll help you, or you'll remain homeless and we'll enslave you to boot." Specifically, the Muslims are threatening to turn the homeless Christians into bonded servants, essentially a form of modern-day slavery.
The Clarion Project, whose logo states it "challenges extremism and promotes dialogue," reports that the Pakistani government has apparently decided to ignore the suffering of the country’s Christian communities.
"When it comes to responding to the flooding of Christian communities," Wilson Chowdhry, president of the British Pakistani Christian Association, told The Christian Post, "the government seems to back off. Whereas with Muslim communities they respond immediately, as do the Muslim charities… It is not unusual for the government to overlook helping the Christian communities."
Among the thousands of homes destroyed by flooding this summer in the Kasur region of Pakistan were those belonging to more than 60 Christian families. The Muslims were provided with temporary shelter, clean water and food by the government and Muslim charities – while the Christians were not.
Chowdhry said the Christians were told to renounce their religion and convert to Islam if they wanted to receive aid, but that they rejected this choice. The Muslims then offered them another option by which they could receive aid: "Become our bonded servants."
This offer was not categorically rejected, and in fact, Chowdhry said, "several families have already now signed contracts, which have now made them slaves for their Muslim landlords."
He bemoaned the fact that his organization arrived too late to help these families and save them from becoming slaves.
Clarion reports that though Chowdhry’s organization is stepping in to help the families, it has limited resources, as do the churches in Pakistan.
In other news from Pakistan, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the government appears to be leaning towards the Islamist elements and even facilitating the establishment of an Islamist militia in Karachi. Radicals from the Islamist Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) are moving into secularist strongholds; far from facing any obstacles, the Islamists’ leader, Ahmed Ludhianvi, has police protection, as do other senior ASWJ officials.