Four Christian workers expelled

AUSTRALIA – (ANS)-
Fitna
can be defined as anything that could shake the faith of a Muslim. Islam
regards fitna as persecution that must be eliminated. Indeed, the Qur’an
states that “Fitna is worse than killing” — in other words,
according to Islam, it is morally better to kill Christians than to let their
life, testimony and witness be a source of fitna. Futhermore, the Qur’an
mandates that fighting / jihad continue “until there is no
[more] fitna” in the land and all worship is acknowledged to be for
Allah (Qur’an 2:190-193).

Eliminating Fitna in Indian-administered
Kashmir

Responding to the recent baptism of
seven Christian converts in Srinagar, Kashmir’s apostaphobic dictators of Islam
have committed themselves to eliminating fitna in Kashmir.

Their strategy of choice is the
peddling of disinformation: i.e. false information deliberately and
often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence
public opinion or obscure the truth (Merriam-Webster dictionary).

By peddling disinformation,
Kashmir’s apostaphobic dictators of Islam hope to achieve two ends:

1)
Kashmir’s apostaphobic dictators of Islam are out to incite Islamic indignation
and rage amongst the masses, so that Kashmiri society becomes less tolerant of fitna;
the lives of Christians are made so miserable that they are no longer a source
of fitna; and churches are driven underground where they can no longer
be a source of fitna. If they can eliminate fitna, then the
Islamists will have empowered themselves significantly.

2)
By falsely accusing Christians of hurting religious sentiments, threatening
social harmony and offering monetary inducements for conversion, Kashmir’s
apostaphobic dictators of Islam are deliberately avoiding the language
of repressive Sharia (Islamic law) while deliberately exploiting the language
of the Indian penal code (in particular Article 153A which criminalises “any act
which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious
groups” ); UN reports that assert that
“Christianophobia” is caused by the “aggressive proselytism of
certain evangelical groups”; and even the WCC-PCID-WEA rules for Christian
witness (released June 2011) which focused on “inappropriate
methods of exercising mission”. By exploiting such nationally and
internationally acceptable blame-the-victim, non-Islamic language they hope to
justify and legitimise their repression so as to avoid sanction. If they find
they can repress, persecute and Islamise with impunity — Kashmir’s Islamists
will have empowered themselves sig nificantly.

Seven youths baptised in Srinagar

In August 2011, Pastor Khanna
baptised seven young men — all converts from Islam — in his church, All
Saints Church, Srinagar. The service was open and many people attended; some
with cameras — nothing was done in secret. And why should it? Religious
freedom is the constitutional right of all Indian citizens.

Film of the baptisms made its way to
Facebook and then to Youtube.

After seeing the footage, Kashmir’s
highest official of Islamic Law, Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-din Ahmad, accused Rev
Khanna of “luring” Muslims to Christianity with the offer of money.

According to Pastor Khanna, the
Muslim youths had been coming to the church on their own initiative. When they
wanted to take part in Holy Communion he told them they had to follow a
procedure. The seven young men subsequently expressed their desire to be bapt
ised. Pastor Khanna denies that any incentive was ever offered. “I can’t
convert anyone,” he said.“It is the
work of the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop PK Samantaroy, head of the Amritsar Diocese,
confirmed that he has seen this particular group of young men
attending the All Saints Church for over a year. “These converts had
approached the pastor for baptism by their own freewill”, he said.
“In such cases, the Church cannot deny baptism.”

Despite being arrested and beaten by Indian police,
the seven youths have continued to insist they were never offered any material
incentive. Despite this, some local newspapers have quoted anonymous police
sources saying the converts were given money.

Pasto r Khanna addresses Sharia
Court

The head of the Kahsmir’s Sharia Court,
Mufti Mohd Bashiruddin, summonsed Pastor Khanna to explain himself in front of
15 other Ulemas (scholars of Islamic law). Despite the fact that the
self-appointed Sharia Court has no jurisdiction, Rev Khanna consented and
appeared before it on 17 Nov 2011 in the hope that by clarifying his position,
he might be able to defuse tensions.

Rev Khanna shared his experience with AsiaNews: “I was
alone, surrounded by 30 people. The tension was high and everybody was shouting
insults and false accusations against me. The only confession that I made, was
to admit the baptism. . .” However, the pastor was forced to sign a
document in Urdu, which he did not understand. “I was terrified,” he
explains.

Pastor Khanna arrested

On Saturday 19 November 2011, police in Srinagar arr ested Pastor Khanna on
charges of creating enmity between religious communities and hurting religious
sentiments. The next day, a court in Srinagar remanded Pastor Khanna to
judicial custody for 15 days. Released on bail on 1 Dec 2011, Rev. Khanna has
since fled the Kashmir Valley.

Father Jim Borst charged

Then on 10 Dec 2011 the same Sharia Court laid charges against Father Jim Borst
(79), a Dutch Catholic missionary of the Society of St. Joseph of Mill Hill,
who has been working in Kashmir for almost 50 years.

AsiaNews reports: “For
some, envy and jealousy of Muslim scholars are behind the charges of
proselytising against Fr Borst. For years, the Mill Hill missionary, who has
been the principal of the prestigious St Joseph’s School, has been the target
of Muslim scholars. [. . .] The schools the Dutch missionary set up, including
St Joseph’s in Baramulla and Burn Hall in Srinagar, are known for the quality
of the education they dispense. What is more, their staff is 99 per cent
Muslim. Many Muslim leaders have attended these schools . . .”

News report on Youtube: J&K: Row over forced conversions
in Valley

Protecting the faith (rather than human rights)

In November 2011, a group of Kashmir’s leading Islamic clerics and scholars got
together and established the Majlis Tahaffuz-e-Imaan (Council for Protection of
Faith). The council will address issues such as Islamic religious education, Islamic
banking, the problem of Christian missionaries, the use of media and Baitul
Maal (fundraising) so that aid might be provided to the poor. Majlis
Tahaffuz-e-Imaan’s media committee has been tasked with raising awareness
through pamphlets, facebook and a separate web portal.

On 26 December 2011, Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, one of the Kashmir Valley’s top Islam ic clerics and separatist
leaders, launched the Tahaffuz-e-Imaan website. Dedicated to the “protection
of faith”, it is specifically aimed at preventing apostasy, in particular
conversions to Christianity.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the site was launched because there was a need to use
technology and modern equipment for countering conversion attempts. “The
site, he said, was aimed to protect and [imbue] Islamic values, besides
checking the conversion of young boys and girls.”

The Tahaffuz-e-Imaan website includes a section on “Knowledge” where visitors can freely
download e-books with titles like:

The Choice Islam and Christianity
Combat Kit Against Bible Thumpers
What Bible Says About Muhummed (p.b.u.h)
Al-Quran – The Miracles of Miracles
Who Moved The Stone?
Muhummed Peace be upon him the Natural Successor to Christ (p.b.u.h)
Resurrection or Resuscitation?
Is the Bible God’s Word?
Crucifixion or Cruci-Fiction?

The Majlis Tahaffuz-e-Imaan (Council for Protection of Faith) hopes the site
will help “to thwart nefarious designs of pervasive forces and the deep
rooted conspiracy of making youth apostate and defectors by giving them
concessions and benefits secretly.”

See: Kashmir’s Top Clergyman Launches
Islamist Website against Apostasy and Conversion of Muslims to Christianity . .
.
MEMRI 30 Dec 2011

Verdict: “GUILTY”

On Wednesday 11 January 2012, at a hearing in Srinagar’s Supreme Court of
Islamic Shariat led by Grand Mufti of Kashmir Bashid-ud-din Ahmad, it was
allegedly “proved beyond doubt” that Pastor Khanna and Fr. Borst had
been involved in religious conversions using “baits and inducements”.

Penalty: “EXPULSION”

On 19 January 2012, Srinagar’s self-appointed Supreme Court of Islamic Shariat
– a court with absolutely no legal jurisdiction — issued a decree mandating
the expulsion of Punjabi Protestant pastor Reverend M C Khanna of All Saints
Church Srinagar, along with his wife, Kanta, and his associate Gayoor Masih; as
well as Dutch Catholic missionary Father Jaap (Jim) Borst. The four were
directed to leave the Kashmir Valley forthwith for th eir involvement in
“unethical” conversions. A case against a fifth Christian, Parvez
Sameul Koul, principal of Tyndale Biscoe School, is under investigation.

According to Deputy Grand Mufti
Nasir-ul-Islam, the decree is not against Christians per se, but
only against the “crimes” of the “convicts”. “The
three priests had been attracting local youth to conversions through monetary
allurement,” he claimed. “The decree has been issued to preserve
harmony between followers of different faiths in the Valley.”

Deputy Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam
cautioned the heads of the missionary schools to refrain from any
anti-Islamic activities in their schools. He told media on Thursday (19 Jan
2012), “We will not tolerate any anti-Islamic activity in Kashmir by
conversing (sic) Muslims to Christianity. Government should issue an order to
ensure that only Islamic Morning Prayer should be allowed because majority
students in Valley’s schools are Muslims.”

According to DailyBhaskar:
“The court also directed Jammu and Kashmir government to take over the
management of the Christian missionary schools” and monitor all their
activities in the future.

Meanwhile Deputy Grand Mufti
Nasir-ul-Islam urged Islamic non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) to provide
monetary support to the down-trodden so that they would not feel any need to
turn to Christianity for aid or assistance. “There are some
non-governmental organizations working in the Valley,” he said,
“which are luring people to apostasy in the garb of assistance. Such NGOs
must be banned in the Valley.”

While Kashmir’s apostaphobic
dictators of Islam might have succeeded i n eliminating, or at least
hamstringing, some Christian ministry, aid, education, testimony and Gospel
witness as sources of fitna, they might yet find that Islamic
repression, lies and deceit, manipulation, intolerance and legalistic
totalitarianism are just effective in terms of being sources of fitna.
This is something to be praying for.

For additional material including prayer points see: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 142,
18 Jan 2012

India: tensions soaring as Christians
charged in Kashmir

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About Elizabeth Kendal

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and
advocate. This prayer bulletin was initially written for the Australian
Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission http://www.ea.org.au/ReligiousLiberty/PrayerPostings.aspx.
Elizabeth Kendal’s Religous Liberty Monitoring blog can be found at http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com/a>.

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