TITLE: India Shariah Court expelled four Christian pastors for converting Muslim youths SLUG: India Christian

pastors REPORTER: Bismillah Geelani DATE: 09/02/2012 INTRO Four Christian pastors have been expelled from India-administered Jammu and Kashmir state by a Sharia court. They were found guilty of converting local Muslims to Christianity.
Following the verdict, Christian groups in India now fear a backlash against the members of their community in Kashmir.

But as Bismillah Geelani reports, Kashmiri Christians are also receiving support from unexpected quarters. TEXT SFX-1 Sounds from the video This is the video taken up by the Sharia court as evidence showing Christian baptism of some local Muslim converts. The video appeared last year on YouTube, sparking a huge public outcry and protests. The Sharia court issued the guilty verdict against four Christian pastors after hearing testimony from Christian missionaries, local Muslims, and some youth who claimed that they were offered money to change their faith. The court was lead by Kashmirs chief cleric Bashiruddin, who uses only one name. Bashiruddin CLIP 1 ( MALE URDU ) We have concrete evidence showing that they have converted Muslim boys and girls to Christianity. They have been using a local church for this where they would first induce them into changing their faith, then they would educate them about Christianity and finally baptize them. Thats why we have told them to leave Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority state where the Sharia court is recognized as an authority on religious matters. But the court does not have any power to enforce its decision that would require action by the state government.

M.C. Khanna is one of the Christian pastors expelled. He admits baptizing a few people but insists that the conversions were voluntary. He has challenged the religious decree in Indias Supreme Court. Khanna CLIP 1 (MALE ENGLISH ) I have not done anything illegal. Whatever I have done, I have done it lawfully. There was no allurement and nothing like what they are saying. We neither have any resources nor have we got any funds to do all this. The issue of Christian conversions has surfaced sporadically since 2003. During aid efforts after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Christian NGOs were accused of using earthquake relief as bribes to convert Kashmiri Muslims. Now Christian groups across India are defending the Pastors. John Dayal from the All India Christian Council says the guilty verdict of forced conversions is irrational. Dayal CLIP 1 ( MALE ENGLISH ) The whole story is bunkum. The canard that has been coming out in the media is inspired, it reads like a Bollywood script. And please understand, there are only 400 Christians in the entire Kashmir valley. Can there be fraudulent conversions? Can there be forcible conversions with 400 terrified people in a valley where everybody seems to either carry a gun or a stone? Dayal says Christians in the valley are living with the fear of persecution and some have even left their homes. Dayal CLIP 2 ( MALE ENGLISH ) Im aghast at not only the utter silence of the civil society and all these various groups which day in and day out ask for human rights of their own people to deny the same human rights to the Christian community. Im also aghast that we have a government which allows extreme groups and non-state actors to come into the picture terrorizing the miniscule Christian community which doesnt even start registering on the census radar. \ But many Muslim locals say Indias national Christian groups are politicizing something which is only a local issue. Professor Hamida Naeem of Kashmir University. Naeem CLIP 1 ( FEMALE ENGLISH ) It is a question of some criminals who have been carrying on forced conversions through money, sex and liquor. That is the whole issue; it is not an onslaught on any community. We have great appreciation for Christian missionary schools that have contributed a lot in the education of the valley and there has never been any question of conversions in those schools.

Not all Kashmiri Muslim leaders are in favour of the ruling. The pastors have received support from a very unexpected source Muslim separatists, who want to break away from Hindu-majority India. Kashmirs separatist leader Sayyid Ali Gilani has openly taken the side of the Christian priests. Gilani CLIP 1 ( MALE URDU ) We are duty bound by our religion to protect the minority communities, be they Hindus, Christians, Sikhs or Buddhists. As Muslims we have to make sure that their life, property and honor is safe and they enjoy full religious freedom without any interference. Forcing them to leave the valley would do just the opposite. It would send the wrong message that we are intolerant and discriminate against religious minorities. From New Delhi, this is Bismillah Geelani for Asia Calling.