SRINAGAR, India — Christian workers are fleeing India’s Kashmir Valley after a Shariah (Islamic law) court issued a “guilty” verdict against three Christian leaders, issued a fatwa against Christian schools and allegedly launched a door-to-door campaign to bring converts “back” to Islam.
The court, which has no legal authority, found Pastor Chander Mani Khanna of All Saints Church in Srinagar, Dutch Catholic missionary Jim Borst and Christian worker Gayoor Messah guilty of “luring the valley Muslims to Christianity,” The Times of India reported Dec. 19. The three had already left the region apparently due to rising tensions. Headed by Kashmir Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-din Ahmad, the Shariah court also “directed” the state government to take over the management of all Christian schools in the region, the daily added.
“I fled with my wife and children, as I was not feeling safe in Srinagar,” a Christian worker from Kashmir said on condition of anonymity. “A group of Muslims visited my house twice, threatening my parents with a social boycott if they failed to produce me.”
Another source said some men had visited his family and those of his friends in Srinagar, warning that if they did not “reconvert” to Islam they would be ostracized.
The source added that those who have fled may not be able to return to their homes for at least a year. Besides the “guilty” verdict against Khanna, Borst and Messah, mufti deputy Nasir-ul-Islam reportedly said an investigation against Parvez Samuel Kaul, principal of a local Christian missionary school, was underway. The court also ordered all Christian schools to teach Islam and other faiths.
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