Christian women in Pakistan are converting to Islam to escape abusive marriages

Many Christian women in Pakistan are considering converting to Islam so that they could get away from their abusive husbands because the current law makes it difficult for them to finalize their divorce as Christians.

Shameela Masih, who recently filed a divorce from her husband, said that her only two choices were to prove adultery allegations against him or to convert to Islam. She said that her husband frequently beats her and that her mother-in-law burned her leg with a coal.

The 34-year-old mother of two is now reluctantly planning to renounce her faith because the law requires her to produce a witness who would testify to committing adultery with her husband.

"Converting is the easiest way out," Masih said, as reported by Religion News Service. "My family tells me that they will disown me as a Muslim, but I don't have a choice," she added.

Masih is just one of thousands of Christians who have converted to Islam in order to divorce their spouses.

Emanuel Anthony, a 29-year-old Christian vendor in Lahore, said that he wanted to divorce his wife amicably without accusing her of adultery. "She is the mother of my child. Why should I assassinate her character in public?" he asked.

Under current law, Christian couples in Pakistan may only divorce on grounds of adultery, conversion, marriage to another, and cruelty. However, proving adultery or cruelty presents difficulties in Pakisan, where adultery is a crime, and the stigma against domestic violence is weak in many parts of the country.

In January, the Lahore High Court reserved judgment in a case challenging an amendment to the Christian Divorce Act 1869, which provided that the only ground for divorce in a Christian marriage was adultery.

Some church representatives contended that the law is in accordance with the Old Testament, and agreed that no changes should be made to it.

Mary Gill, a member of the Punjab Assembly, said that the law was not only against Christian women, but it also goes against the Constitution of Pakistan. She pointed out that the Christian Divorce Act has compelled some to change their religion to end their marriage and has lead to forced conversions.

Kamran Michael, the federal minister for human rights, is now leading the efforts to amend the law to make it easier for couples to separate.

"There are so many things in the existing 19th-century Christian Marriage Act that need to be revised and updated to stop the exploitation of people and protect the human rights," Michael said.

The proposal, which would expand the grounds for divorce and separate it from the Christian religion, is expected to be unveiled in the Parliament in the coming weeks. The measure would allow couples to marry by registering with the government and have the choice to solemnize their nuptials in a church, according to human rights ministry officials.

"Pakistani Christian couples would be able to divorce amicably without hurtling adultery accusations or converting to another religion," said Haroon Sulaiman, a family lawyer in Lahore. "This will give the persecuted minority some relief," he added.