Three years ago, a Muslim businessman fell in love with a Christian woman. Anywhere else in the world, this would not prompt a news piece, but in Pakistan interfaith relationship are not just taboo, they can pose great risk to the people involved.
Shahid Khursheed Rana and his wife Rukhsana Chaand Masih have been shunned by not just the community but also his family. The two have endured death threats and abductions.
Rana, 40, son of Muhammad Khursheed in an email told the scribe about the threats he has had to put up with after marrying Masih.
Rana said that he fell in love with Rukhsana Chand Masih some three years ago. “I run a transport business in the city and met with Rukhsana. We developed friendly relations and after three years of deliberation we reached the decision that we should get married,” he said.
“On October 15, 2015, I tied knot with Rukhsana, but I forget that I would have to face problems because of not just the society but also my own family,” he added.
“I got engaged to my cousin in my early childhood, but I didn’t want to marry her. Now my relatives and the brothers of my fiancée are forcing me to give Rukhsana a divorce and marry the girl that I was engaged to in my childhood,” he lamented.
Threats are aplenty. The couple has been given death threats and warned that if a child were born then that too would be killed.
“I shifted to a rented house with Rukhsana as we have been forced by my family to leave them after I married a Christian woman,” he said.
“We have no threats from Rukhsana’s family, but her family members were also frightened following the threats from my relatives. Islam allows one to marry a Christian woman and I did not commit a sin. I want protection and for this I will knock the doors of the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Marriage out of choice remains a taboo in our country, particularly when it involves a partner outside one’s own clan or faith.
National Peace Committee for Interfaith Harmony (NPCIH) Vice Chairman (VC) Michael Javed claimed that he witnessed 10 cases himself where the in-laws murdered boys for marrying Christian girls.
“Islam allows one to marry a Christian woman and to respect each other’s faith,” Javed said.
“I have travelled the world and seen many places where Muslims marry Christians and they are happy. However, in Pakistan the society assumes that interfaith marriage is sin,” he asserted.
“We [the Christians] never stop or threaten our community members for marrying Muslim men or women,” Javed added.
“The severity of the issue could be evaluated from the fact that Muslims here in Pakistan look at those who wishes Christians on Christmas with hatred in their eyes,” NPCIH VC noted.
“Illiterate religious scholars in madrassas are imparting hate-based education amongst the children that gives birth to religious extremism in them,” NPCIH VC observed. “The government and the institutions would have to play their role to root out narrow-mindedness in our society by taking action against the elements involved in fanning religious extremism to make Pakistan like one the Quaid-e-Azam envisioned,” Javed stressed.
Sindh Inspector General (IG) Ghulam Hyder Jamali vowed to provide protection to the interfaith couple. Talking to this scribe, Sindh IG directed Rana Khursheed to leave a copy of an application along with the Nikahnama in his office and share a copy of the same with SHO, SSP, and DIG of the zone concerned.
“Our constitution allows interfaith marriages and it is our responsibility to provide protection to interfaith couples,” Sindh IG maintained.
