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Fulani Herdsmen Kill 12 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria

Nigeria’s Plateau state Gov. Caleb Muftwang. (Screenshot from video on X)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen attacked residents of a village in central Nigeria’s Plateau state as they slept at 2 a.m. on April 19, killing 12 Christians, sources said.

In the farming community of Mangu County’s Tilengpan Pushit, the Fulanis attacked with “deadly weapons” without provocation, said resident Israel Bamshak.

“Most of the victims are women and children who were unable to escape from the invaders,” Bamshak told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

Resident Monday Mwansat confirmed the attack on the predominantly Christian community, as did John Musa.

“Twelve members of our community have been killed,” Musa said. “We have become targets of attacks from Fulani herdsmen for no just cause.”

Markus Artu, chairman of the Mangu Local Government Council, also said the attacks were carried out by Fulani herdsmen.

Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang expressed sadness that in spite of efforts his government has made to curtail the unprovoked attacks, the assailants have continued to carry out more vicious assaults. Mutfwang appealed to Christians to remain steadfast in the face of unprovoked attacks, saying his government will continue collaborating with security agencies to bring about security.

“I extended my heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the incidents, and pray for the recovery of the injured who are currently being treated in various hospitals,” Mutfwang said.

Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.

Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.

In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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Bill in Pakistan Would Outlaw Child Marriages

Punjab Assembly building in Lahore, Pakistan. (Sunni Person, Creative Commons)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A bill designed to prevent child marriages in Pakistan’s most populated province has raised hope for protection of Christian girls and others from Muslims abducting and forcibly marrying and converting them, sources said.

The Punjab Province government on Thursday (April 25) submitted the draft of the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2024 with the Punjab Home Department, which would raise the legal age for marriage for both boys and girls to 18 years; previously the age for girls was 16.

Introduced by Member of Punjab Assembly Sarah Ahmad, who is also chairperson of the Child Protection & Welfare Bureau (CPWB), the bill would criminalize underage marriages. Anyone who marries a girl or boy under 18 or arranges such a marriage – including parents or guardians – would face two to three years in prison and a fine of between 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US$358) and 200,000 rupees (US$717).

Religious freedom advocates termed the bill a “big gain” in efforts to protect minor girls from sexual exploitation as they are forcibly converted and married, but they called for the law to be equally applied to cases of girls belonging to minority religions in the 96-percent Muslim country.

“It has been a longstanding demand of the civil society to end the gender-based age discrimination in Punjab’s child marriage restraint act,” said Peter Jacob, executive director of research and advocacy organization the Center for Social Justice. “Raising the legal marriage age to 18 years for both boys and girls will help in preventing child marriages, but certain amendments are required to ensure that minority girls also get due coverage of the law.”

A veteran rights activist based in Lahore, Punjab Province, Jacob was awarded the U.S. State Department’s Religious Freedom Award earlier this year for his efforts to uphold human rights in Pakistan. He said the law should override all “special” laws and maxims related to determining of a girl’s age of maturity.

“This is particularly important for the protection of underage minority girls who are victimized through forced conversions and marriages under the cover of ‘special’ laws,” Jacob told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, referring to sharia (Islamic law) allowing girls attaining puberty to be considered adults.

Those who can file charges of child marriage under the bill include parents or guardians, neighbors, community members, teachers, members of local bodies, social workers, friends, imams, Nikah Khawan (marriage solemnizers) and Nikah (Islamic marriage certificate) registrars.

At the time of marriage registration, the marriage solemnizer, secretary of the union council and marriage registrar under the legislation would check the computerized national identity card (CNIC) of the girl or boy, passport, educational certificate or other documents proving both are at least 18 years old. Attested copies of these documents are required to be attached with the application of marriage certificate.

“Violation of law or omission shall constitute an offense punishable under Section 6 of Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2024,” the bill states. “In case of any dispute regarding determination of age of any of the parties to marriage, the court shall determine the age on the basis of birth certificate, educational certificate or other necessary documents after hearing the case.”

In the absence of these documents, the age of both parties would be determined through medical examination, it states.

As soon as a case of child marriage is reported, police and courts would take notice, and a court can try the case even before marriage takes place, under the bill.

Violators would be subject to arrest by police employing an irrevocable warrant. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, the family court would have powers of Judicial Magistrate of First Class. Those convicted by family courts may appeal to sessions courts.

‘Equal Enforcement’

Christian lawmaker in the Punjab Assembly Ejaz Augustine said that Christian lawmakers will fully support it when it’s presented in the legislature for debate.

“I’ve decided to introduce an amendment in the draft bill to ensure that Christian and other minority underage girls get full protection under this law,” he said.

Augustine, a former minister for minorities affairs and human rights in Punjab during the 2018-2022 government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, said he had submitted a bill seeking to prevent forced conversion and forced marriages of minority girls in 2021, but it was not taken up for discussion under pressure from hardline Muslims.

“The Lahore High Court has now ordered the government to end the gender-based age discrimination in the child marriage laws, and I think it is the best time to make a legislation that protects the girl child irrespective of her faith affiliation,” he told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

He also called for strict enforcement of the bill if it passes into law.

“There’s a lack of implementation of the existing laws that protect women and girls, therefore it’s very important that the government take measures to ensure that all laws are implemented in letter and spirit,” he added.

Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Karim on April 15 declared as “discriminatory” Punjab Province’s Child Marriage Act of 1929, which fixed 18 and 16 years as legal ages for marriage for boys and girls respectively.

The verdict arose from petitioner Azka Wahid seeking amendments to the Child Marriage Act to avert harmful gender distinctions in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan’s guarantee of equal rights for men and women.

Activists say that Pakistan’s Islamic clergy play the biggest role in underage marriages involving minority girls, particularly Christians and Hindus. Islamic clerics have fiercely opposed legislation against forced conversions in Sindh Province, and they also censured a federal bill seeking to curb forced conversions in 2021.

“Forced conversion and child marriages are human rights issues, not religious matters, and it is unfortunate that the progressive laws dealing with child marriage and forced faith conversions are resisted by religious groups,” said Adeel Rehmat of faith-based humanitarian group Pak Mission Society.

He said the government must not leave the complaints of forcible religious conversions of minority girls unaddressed.

“It should prioritize criminalizing the practice of forced conversions without surrendering its political will to religious groups that facilitate child marriage and coerced religious conversions,” Rehmat said.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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Muslim Soldiers Detain, Torture Christians in Sudan

Location of East Darfur state, Sudan. (TUBS, Creative Commons)

JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – Three Christians were detained and tortured for weeks in southern Sudan after soldiers at a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) checkpoint found one of them carrying a Bible, one of the victims said.

Hamza Haroon Ahmed is still recovering from injuries he suffered after SAF soldiers at a military checkpoint in El Daein, East Darfur state, detained him and two other Sudanese refugees as they re-entered Sudan from South Sudan on Jan. 16. The three Sudanese Christians, who had re-entered Sudan in an effort to move their families away from war dangers to safety in South Sudan, were released in March.

“Whose Bible is this?” a Muslim soldier asked them at the checkpoint, Ahmed said.

Ahmed admitted ownership as the Arabic-language Bible was in his bag, but his two companions, both recent converts from Islam, refused to abandon him and went to jail with him, he said.

All three Christians were jailed and tortured under harsh conditions, he said. During interrogations, one of the Muslim soldiers beating them with wooden sticks broke Ahmed’s right hand, he said.

“You have caused confusion in the country because of your book, and now you are going to cause more damage,” the soldier said, according to Ahmed.

He said he prayed for God to help him as he was being tortured by the Muslim solider.

“I was wondering, ‘What did I do to deserve all this persecution,’ I told God in my prayer,” Ahmed told Morning Star News. “They insulted us and said, ‘You have messed up this country with your Bible, and you are still going to Darfur to cause more confusion among the people.’”

Fighting in Sudan between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the SAF broke out in April 2023. The conflict between the RSF and the SAF, which had shared military rule in Sudan following an October 2021 coup, has terrorized civilians in Khartoum and elsewhere, leaving more than 14,600 people dead and displacing an estimated 8 million others inside and outside the country.

The SAF’s Gen. Abdelfattah al-Burhan and his then-vice president, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, were in power when civilian parties in March 2023 agreed on a framework to re-establish a democratic transition the next month, but disagreements over military structure torpedoed final approval.

Burhan sought to place the RSF – a paramilitary outfit with roots in the Janjaweed militias that had helped former strongman Omar al-Bashir put down rebels – under the regular army’s control within two years, while Dagolo would accept integration within nothing fewer than 10 years. The conflict burst into military fighting on April 15, 2023.

Both military leaders have Islamist backgrounds while trying to portray themselves to the international community as pro-democracy advocates of religious freedom.

Christian sites have been targeted since the conflict began.

In Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Sudan was ranked No. 8, up from No. 10 the previous year, as attacks by non-state actors continued and religious freedom reforms at the national level were not enacted locally.

Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in the 2021 World Watch List.

Following two years of advances in religious freedom in Sudan after the end of the Islamist dictatorship under Bashir in 2019, the specter of state-sponsored persecution returned with the military coup of Oct. 25, 2021.

After Bashir was ousted from 30 years of power in April 2019, the transitional civilian-military government had managed to undo some sharia (Islamic law) provisions. It outlawed the labeling of any religious group “infidels” and thus effectively rescinded apostasy laws that made leaving Islam punishable by death.

With the Oct. 25, 2021 coup, Christians in Sudan feared the return of the most repressive and harsh aspects of Islamic law. Abdalla Hamdok, who had led a transitional government as prime minister starting in September 2019, was detained under house arrest for nearly a month before he was released and reinstated in a tenuous power-sharing agreement in November 2021.

Hamdock had been faced with rooting out longstanding corruption and an Islamist “deep state” from Bashir’s regime – the same deep state that is suspected of rooting out the transitional government in the Oct. 25, 2021 coup.

The U.S. State Department in 2019 removed Sudan from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) that engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom” and upgraded it to a watch list. Sudan had previously been designated as a CPC from 1999 to 2018.

In December 2020, the State Department removed Sudan from its Special Watch List.

The Christian population of Sudan is estimated at 2 million, or 4.5 percent of the total population of more than 43 million.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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Herdsmen Kill at Least Six Christians in Southeast Nigeria

Location of Enugu state, Nigeria. (Uwe Dedering, Creative Commons)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Sunday night (April 28) killed at least six Christians, including children, in an attack in southeastern Nigeria, sources said.

The assailants raided predominantly Christian Ugwujoro Nimbo village, Uzo-Uwani County, in Enugu state at about 11 p.m., area residents said. Seven other Christians were injured, Chijoke Okunna said.

“Seven Christians were wounded during the attack, and they suffered machete cuts,” Okunna told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in a text message.

Michael Obinna, another resident, said Fulani herdsmen were behind the attack.

“The herdsmen invaded the village and opened fire on the villagers as they were sleeping in their houses,” Obinna said in a text message. “At least six Christians have been confirmed dead, including a little child.”

Resident David Ekwueze and Okunna identified five of the slain Christians as Okeh Simon, Ugwu Oruku, Okeh Chukwuebuka, Julius Ogbonna Odiegwu and Gabriel Ugwor Ezea.

“Children were also killed,” Ekwueze told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in a text message. “And we know that Fulani herdsmen are behind the killings.”

Daniel Ndukwe, spokesman for the Enugu State Police Command, confirmed the attack to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

“We have reports from police officers in the area and more personnel have been deployed to the area to investigate and curtail the attack,” Ndukwe said.

On Jan. 17 and Jan. 19, 2023, suspected Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists kidnapped four Christians in Ikem in Enugu state’s Isi-uzo County.

Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.

In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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ECWA Pastor Slain in Kaduna State, Nigeria

The Rev. Manasseh Ibrahim, ECWA pastor killed in Kaduna state, Nigeria on April 23, 2024. (Facebook)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A Christian pastor was killed last week as he traveled to minister to church members in northern Kaduna state, sources said.

While Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists have been active in southern Kaduna state, the Rev. Manasseh Ibrahim was shot to death by “bandits” who ambushed him in a northern part of the state along the Birnin Gwari-Kaduna Highway on Tuesday (April 23), according to the Birnin Gwari chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

“Rev. Manasseh Ibrahim, a pastor with ECWA [Evangelical Church Winning All] Church, Gure, was on his way for a pastoral church ministration in the Kurebe area of Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna state when he was ambushed and killed by the bandits,” the local CAN chairman, the Rev. Yahaya Kinge, said in a press statement.

Pastor Ibrahim was serving with the ECWA Gure congregation under the ECWA Kaduna Central District Church Council (KCDCC), he said. His remains were transferred to the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna city.

“Christians who are direct victims of banditry and insurgency in Kaduna state are fed up with the inability of Nigeria government to find a lasting solution to the incessant killings of innocent Christians,” Kinge said. “The hard push of Christians to the wall through incessant attacks is enough; and we can no longer bear this brunt.”

Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.

In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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Pastor in Indonesia Accused of Blasphemy

Pastor Gilbert Lumoindong of Indonesia Bethel Church in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Screenshot from YouTube)

SURABAYA, Indonesia (Morning Star News) – Muslim leaders have filed complaints of blasphemy against a leading Christian pastor in Indonesia.

After Pastor Gilbert Lumoindong of the Indonesia Bethel Church (Gereja Bethel Indonesia, GBI) mentioned Islamic prayer and alms-giving in comparison with biblical tithing in a video of his comments from a Sunday sermon, attorney Farhat Abbas reportedly filed a complaint with Metro Jaya Police Headquarters in Jakarta on April 16 accusing him of disparaging Islam.

About 1,145 miles (1,842 kilometers) from Jakarta in eastern Indonesia, two attorneys under the leadership of South Sulawesi Arimathea Forum head Jumzar Rahman filed a complaint at South Celebes Regional Police Headquarters in Makasar, South Celebes, also claiming Pastor Gilbert blasphemed against Islam.

“The video hurts us – we Muslims feel offended,” Rahman said, flanked by the two Muslim attorneys, according to suarasulsel.id. “How can he make comments on this matter that seem to make fun of Islamic shariah [Islamic law], something we believe?”

Another complaint against Pastor Gilbert was filed at Metro Jaya Police Headquarters on Friday (April 19) by Sapto Wibowo on behalf of the Jakarta Capital Special Region (Daerah Khusus Ibukota, DKI) Youth Committee organization, according to suara.com.

Sapto termed Pastor Gilbert’s comments as “hate speech” under Article 28 of the Information Technology and Electronic Bill (Undang-undang Informasi Teknologi and Elektronik, UU ITE). Sapto said Pastor Gilbert’s apology was not enough, and that legal action was needed as a deterrent to future incidents.

“As a Muslim, I believe in forgiveness but also think that a deterrent effect on Gilbert Lumoindong could serve as a lesson for the public to be more careful when discussing religious matters,” he reportedly said.

Pastor Gilbert reportedly spoke in his sermon about the Islamic zakat, the 2.5 percent of income that Muslims who earn enough are required to contribute to charity. He has since apologized, saying he had no intention of insulting Muslims, and that Muslims edited the video in an irresponsible way to render his comments offensive.

Wira Satya Triputra of Metro Jaya Police Headquarters told media that following Abbas’s complaint, officers were questioning witnesses, according to Kompas.com. Wira said police must examine evidence in the media and check places of worship.

Following the complaints, Pastor Gilbert visited with former Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, head of the Indonesian Mosque Council (Dewan Masjid Indonesia, DMI), a nationwide organization of mosque leaders, and apologized, suarasulsel.id reported.

“I humbly apologize for the commotion that occurred,” Pastor Gilbert told the press at Jusuf’s residence in Jakarta, on April 16.

He also visited the office of the Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI). Cholil Nafis of the MUI said his organization accepted his apology after hearing Pastor Gilbert’s explanation and heartfelt apology, according to the MUI official website, mui.or.id.

“Gilbert Lumoindong said that he had no intention of insulting Islamic teachings, let alone creating divisions,” Cholil said after the meeting with the pastor on April 16. “We as religious people certainly accept his apology. We all forgive as we ask that this incident be a lesson for him and all of us.”

Indonesia ranked 42^nd on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

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Mother, Baby among Christians Slain in Plateau State, Nigeria

Plateau state, Nigeria. (Uwe Dedering, Creative Commons)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A single bullet killed a young mother and the baby strapped to her back, two of the more than 30 Christians killed in Plateau state, Nigeria in the past two weeks, sources said.

In predominantly Christian Kopnanle village, Bokkos County, more than 50 Fulani herdsmen on April 12 attacked unarmed residents, said community leader Farmasum Fuddang.

“The victims include a 12-month-old girl, Peret Sylvanus, who was brutally killed by the same bullet that killed her mother, Mwanret Sylvanus,” Fuddang said in a press statement. “The bullet pierced through Mrs. Sylvanus’ stomach and hit little Peret, who was strapped to her back, killing both of them instantly.”

They were among 10 Christians killed in the village, he said. The assailants slaughtered about 20 other Christians in Mandung-Mushu and surrounding communities, said Fuddang, an attorney.

“Under the cover of darkness, more than 50 armed Fulani terrorists descended upon the villages of Mandung-Mushu and Kopnanle, targeting innocent, unarmed, and peaceful Christian residents as they slept,” he said.

After the April 12 assaults on Mandung-Mushu village and Kopnanle in Tangur District, the assailants attacked Kopyal village the following day, killing five Christians, Fuddang said.

“The herdsmen carried out these attacks against Christians unchallenged,” he said. “They also attacked Manduk and Njukudel Christian communities, where they injured one Christian, and then proceeded to attack Mandarken village before moving also to Nghahtigut village, where they killed two Christians.”

The attacks also extended to the predominantly Christian communities of Josho village in Daffo District, he said.

“The herdsmen set fire to homes and a place of worship, a church worship building, mercilessly gunning down fleeing Christians while nearby soldiers failed to intervene effectively,” Fuddang said. “These brazen attacks, which predominantly targeted Christians, including women and children, appear to be part of a calculated effort to instill fear and perpetrate further displacement within our communities.”

Fuddang added that in spite of Nigerian authorities “acknowledging that the Fulani were responsible for the six-day attack that claimed the lives of over 300 Christians last Christmas Eve, no effort has been made by Nigeria government to curtail these attacks.”

On Thursday (April 18) in Chikam, another predominantly Christian village, gunmen killed several people, including Christian second-year university student Dading James Jordan, said Yakubu Ayuba, registrar at Plateau State University, Bokkos, in a press statement.

“Gunmen on the night of Thursday, April 18, attacked Chikam, a neighboring Christian community to Plateau State University, Bokkos, killing one of our students, Dading Jordan, a 200-level student and a Christian,” Ayuba said. “In view of this sad development, management has declared a two-day mourning, from Friday, April 19, to Saturday, April 20.”

Ayuba urged officials to increase security around the university in order to secure staff members and students.

Regarding the April 12 attacks, area resident Isaac Makut also stated that “Fulani Muslim militias” killed about 30 Christians in the villages.

In February also in Bokkos County, Fulani herdsmen killed a Christian and kidnapped his wife, said Mai Katako village resident Kefas Mallau. Sule Gwamnati was slain on Feb. 16, and his wife Blessing Gwamnati was kidnapped from Mai Katako.

“In the early hours of Friday, Feb. 16, a Christian by the name of Sule Gwamnati of Mai Katako village was shot twice by armed herdsmen, who also kidnapped his wife, Blessing Sule,” said Mallau, a community leader, in a text message to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The victim, Sule Gwamnati, later died at the Jos University Teaching Hospital after treatment had commenced.”

Luther Dafwang, brother of Blessing Gwamnati, said the couple were members of the Assembly of God Church.

“Sule Gwamnati died, but we can’t trace the whereabouts of his wife,” Dafwang said. “Please, help us pray.”

Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.

In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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Court in Pakistan Orders Change in Legal Marriage Age

Lahore High Court. (MariyamAftab, Creative Commons)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A high court in Pakistan last week ordered a provincial government to remove gender-based age distinction in its child marriage law, a move aimed at deterring forced conversions and forced marriages of girls, sources said.

Justice Karim wrote in his five-page verdict that the different ages for marriage for male and females, “being unconstitutional, are held to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect. They are struck down.”

He directed the government of Punjab Province to “issue the revised version of 1929 Act (based on this judgment) within the next 15 days and shall also upload that version on its website for information.”

Though the aforementioned law has been replaced by the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 2015 to criminalize child marriage in Punjab, girls and women in Pakistan are often forced to marry against their will, in some cases even before reaching the legal age for marriage. This is especially true for minorities such as Christians and Hindus.

Christian and Hindu women and girls are particularly vulnerable as they belong to marginalized minority groups and are routinely targeted for sexual exploitation in the guise of forced marriages and forced religious conversions, activists say.

The judge observed there was a need to take effective steps against child marriages as Pakistan’s marriage laws were meant to primarily keep in view the “social, economic and educational factors rather than religious.”

Referring to Article 25 of the constitution, the judge stated that all citizens were equal before the law and were entitled to equal legal protection.

“The definition of ‘child’ in the 1929 Act while making a distinction on the basis of age, is not based on an intelligible criteria,” Justice Karim ruled. “The definition is indeed a special provision for the protection of women, but in the process it tends to afford greater protection to males by keeping their age of marriage higher than females.”

The judge noted that a brief filed by the Punjab advocate general’s office made a reference to Islamic jurisprudence regarding the age of puberty as the traditional interpretative toolkit. The report by the advocate general stated several factors behind the legislation, saying that in Pakistan, many children are victims of child marriage, and the burden of child marriage is disproportionately borne by girls as opposed to boys.

The report says that early marriage excludes children from education and makes them vulnerable to various health complications. It points out that as many as 21 percent of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18, and 3 percent before reaching 15, according to Unicef database 2016, based on Demographic Health Survey of Pakistan 2012-2013.

The report also quotes the recent Demographic Health Survey of Pakistan (2017-2018), which shows on average an increase in the age of girls marrying, but also that child marriage at the age of 15 years has increased from 1.6 to 1.8 percent. Justice Karim observed that this made a compelling case to take effective measures to counter the debilitating effects of child marriage.

“We, as a nation, woefully lag behind in all major indicators, and half of our population cannot be lost to child-bearing at an early age while its potential remains untapped,” the judge lamented.

He maintained that equal opportunities for females means equal restraint on marriage as for males. The judge further said the 1929 Act and its amendments help fulfill state duties under Article 35, which provides that it shall protect marriage, family, mother and child.

‘Right Direction’

Church leaders and rights activists welcomed the high court’s judgment, saying it had resolved the age difference issue and would help in achieving a deterrent against forced faith conversions and forced marriages of underage minority girls, including Christians.

Church of Pakistan President Bishop Azad Marshall lauded the verdict, saying the Punjab government must amend the Child Marriage Restraint Act through the Punjab Assembly to enforce the ruling.

“This verdict is the first step towards recognition of the severity of the issues related to child marriages, especially those belonging to the minority Christian and Hindu communities,” Marshall told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

He said the church had been demanding the enforcement of a uniform minimum age for marriage for both boys and girls to be set at 18 years across Pakistan as a deterrent against forced conversions of underage Christian girls in guise of Islamic marriage.

Punjab Provincial Assembly’s Christian member Ejaz Alam Augustine said it was unlikely that the Punjab government would appeal against the court’s decision.

“I don’t think the provincial government will challenge this decision as the amended Act will provide protection to all women and girls irrespective of their faith affiliations,” he said.

U.N. human rights experts on April 11 called on Pakistan to make legal changes in light of continued vulnerability of women and girls of minority faiths to forced marriages and religious conversions. The U.N. special rapporteurs called on Pakistan to raise the legal age for girls to marry to 18 as a deterrent against exploitation in the 96-percent Muslim country.

“The exposure of young women and girls belonging to religious minority communities to such heinous human rights violations, and the impunity of such crimes, can no longer be tolerated or justified,” they said in a statement issued in Geneva.

The experts stressed that child, early and forced marriages could not be justified on religious or cultural grounds. They underscored that, under international law, consent was irrelevant when the victim was a child under the age of 18.

At present Sindh Province is the only one in Pakistan where the legal marriage age for both girls and boys is 18 years, while in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, the minimum for girls is still 16 years.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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Vietnamese Churches Demand Investigation of Christian’s Death

Police and other officials intrude into home of Y Krot Bya during worship in Buon Don District, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam on Nov. 15, 2023. (Morning Star News)

(Morning Star News) – Relatives of Y Bum Bya, a member of the Evangelical Church of Christ of the Western Highlands (ECCWH), on March 8 found his battered body hanging from a tree with a rope around his neck.

Police, saying they were coming to return a cell phone that they had confiscated from him, had ordered him to be at home that morning to meet him. At the appointed time, however, officers sent word that he should meet them at another location about half a kilometer away.

He set out for the place but never returned. Relatives searching for him found his lifeless body hours later in a nearby stand of trees.

Police had first arrested and badly beaten Y Bum Bya in August 2023, and then publicly humiliated him before forcibly assembled fellow villagers. Officers charged him with trying to “destroy the great national unity,” under Article 116 of the criminal code. Merely expressing a controversial idea in Vietnam can trigger this charge.

In April 2023, a pastor of his congregation, Y Krec Bya, was also arrested and held a year for investigation before his trial on March 28. He also was accused of “destroying the great national unity.” On the flimsiest evidence he was sentenced to an outrageous 13 years in prison to be followed by five years of house arrest.

In a bold and unusual move, the ECCWH recruited 31 congregations to sign a petition demanding a full and transparent government investigation of the murder of Y Bum Bya, given its proximity to the site of the police summons. They also demand a review of the preposterous sentence for Pastor Y Krec Bya.

These churches show great courage in presenting the petition, providing full information about their identities and locations. The preparer of the petition also bravely provided his name, location, phone number and email.

The ECCWH is an independent denomination of E-De ethnic minority churches in Dak Lak Province. The other signatories represent two additional mostly E-De denominations and some independent congregations.

What these churches have in common is the temerity to publicly appeal to the international covenants promising religious freedom to which Vietnam is signatory, and to appeal to Vietnam’s own law that ostensibly provides some religious freedom. This takes courage. Any appeal or even mention of natural human rights, and Vietnam’s having signed international conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, can be turned into criminal offenses.

These churches are told they must be registered with the government to operate, but at the same time they are deemed ineligible to register.

Morning Star News has also received a 22-page document detailing 13 cases of police oppression and harassment of E-De Christians in 2023. Each case records exactly what took place and identifies the offending police officers and other government officials involved and also provides names the victims.

Common to the cases is acute pressure to leave the ECCWH and join the largest registered church, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam-South. Working sessions with the police or other officials last many hours and include threats and sometimes brutality.

A goal of the government appears to be the dissolution of the ECCWH. The authorities decide which evangelical groups are eligible for Vietnam’s version of religious freedom and which are not. Officials can then use any objections to violations of human rights to file charges for crimes such as “destroying the great national unity.”

Such government practices and incidents have contributed to the United States placing Vietnam on its Special Watch List (SWL) of violators of religious liberty for the last two years – a major irritant in U.S.-Vietnam relations. Such ongoing oppression of Christians will make it difficult for Vietnam to get off the SWL.

Harassment, threats, and some severe brutality have also spread an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear over Vietnam’s estimated 400,000 ethnic minority Christians, collectively called Montagnards, in the Central Highlands. And these practices starkly belie the progress Vietnam claims it is making toward religious freedom.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

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