Pakistan enforces Islamic education as compulsory in school curriculum; Rights campaigner urges re-think on country's aid

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell urged the United Kingdom to rethink Pakistani financial aid after the predominantly Muslim country made Quran compulsory in school curriculum amid rising Christian persecution.

The British director of the human rights organization, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, reacted Wednesday, July 6 against the recent announcement made by the Pakistani government that decreed Quranic education compulsory in all levels for public schools.

"The British government should make overseas aid to Pakistan conditional on Islamabad's protection of the human rights of Christians and other minorities," said Tatchell. "If Pakistan's rulers do not comply, the UK should switch aid from the government to NGOs that do not discriminate."

He noted that persecution among Pakistani Christians continues to escalate in the forms of kidnapping, forced marriages, forced conversion to Islam, charges of blasphemy, as well as violent assaults. The Muslim country's failure to protect its Christian population and other religious minorities, Tatchell pointed out, is in violation of several human rights agreements, namely the Commonwealth Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Tatchell also presented a report by Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) which he considered revealing.

"It reveals shocking inequalities, disadvantages and outright oppression of Christians and other minority faiths in Pakistan, such as Hindus and Sikhs. Atheists, secularists and humanists are also persecuted," he said.

The BPCA attached a link to the article by the Daily Times that reported the announcement made by Minister of State Engineer Baligh-ur-Rehman to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Trainings at the Parliament House, Islamabad on June 28 that Quranic education would be compulsory from grades one to 12.

The BPCA's report also highlighted the ease of how Christian girls as young as 12 are abducted and forced into marriages and consequently into a life of "sexual violence, rape, forced prostitution, human trafficking and sale, or other domestic abuse."

On top of these, about seven percent of Pakistani Christians are considered literate while 86 percent are subjected to bonded labor, modern time's version of slavery.

Since the U.K. spends a substantial budget on Pakistani aid, the BPCA's Chair considers the country as liable for the rising tide of state persecution.

"This places Britain internationally as a de facto funder of state-sponsored hatred towards Pakistani Christians," Chowdhry said.