Written by: Jovita Alvares
Posted on: December 22, 2020 | 
| 中文
Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore
Christians make up roughly 1.6% of the current Pakistani population, a percentage that has been steadily declining in recent years due to emigration. As a minority in Pakistan, one notices that the Christian community is often lumped together under one generic classification, despite coming from different backgrounds, ancestries and with different beliefs.
The Christians are divided into predominately two denominations in Pakistan, namely, the Protestants and Catholics, which can be further classified, depending on historical origins. For example, 75% of all Christians in Pakistan are from rural Punjab, while the remainder are Goan Christians or Anglo-Indians. Some trace their ancestry back to towns in India, such as Kerala, Madras and Goa, and accordingly identify themselves as Keralite, Madrasi and Goan Catholics, though they are largely labeled as Goan Christians. Anglo-Indians, on the other hand, are the offspring of Europeans that came to the Subcontinent and married local people.
It is believed that one of the first instances of the spread of Christianity in the region came during a visit by one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, St. Thomas, to the Subcontinent in 52 A.D. However, Christian culture drastically transformed when the Europeans arrived in India around the Mughal Era in the 1500’s. Portuguese Jesuit missionaries traveled from Goa, India to the Punjab to build churches after receiving permission from Emperor Akbar. Priests came to teach and convert locals to the faith, and once baptized, the new Catholics were given the names of their European religious sponsors. Captain Pedro Alvares Cabral was one of the Portuguese explorers to reach India, and possibly gave my family our name. Thus the various communities of Indian Catholics were born, and emerged as a unique blend of Indian-Hindu and European-Christian cultures.
The nativity scene, organised and prepared by Christians in Peshawar
During the 1800’s, Goa and other cities saw a large emigration of its populations to Bombay and Karachi when the British annexed Sindh. The migrants travelled in hopes of an improvement of their economic prospects, and settled in Pakistan well before Partition. Immigration to Pakistan continued post-Partition, and today the majority of the Catholic population can be found in Karachi, with some prominent communities in Hyderabad, Quetta and Lahore. In 1954, it was estimated that 30,000 Catholics were living in Pakistan, but as a result of various factors including discriminations, many have since left the country to live abroad. This was especially commonplace during the General Zia era of Pakistan in the late 1970s, and today only a handful of this community continues to live in the country.
As they came to Pakistan, Christian migrants brought their culture, which has been passed down the generations and which is the bond holding together the community. These include unique food recipes (Goan cuisine often utilizes fish, coconuts, tamarind and jaggery), drinks, festivals, and wedding traditions. Though many of these activities are tied to their Catholic beliefs such as Christmas and Easter festivities, each community brings with them their own blend of Indian culture, that separates their traditions from those of their European counterparts.
Fried Fish and Prawn Curry (photo credits to Basil Andrews)
Another very important factor for the communities are the Tamil and Konkani languages which they continue to speak. Konkani is the native language of Konkan, a rugged section of the Western Indian coastline, but the language is also spoken in Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala and even Gujrat. It is interesting to note that during the era of Portuguese control, Konkani was banned, literature in the local language was burned and Catholic-converts were made to learn Portuguese instead. Today in India, only Hindus of that region refer to themselves as Konkano, as Goan-Catholics were forbidden from doing so. Despite the attempts of the Portuguese, the language survived with the converts and was passed down to their children. Today, Konkani is still spoken by the elder generations of Goan-Catholics in Pakistan, and some prefer it over Urdu or English. Since much of the literature was not preserved, those fluent in Konkani also adopted words from English and Urdu script, adding a new Pakistani layer to this linguistic history.
There is not much information about the Christian communities in the state archives of Pakistan, so the community has taken it on themselves to preserve their history as much as possible. Christians have been an important part of Pakistan’s cultural scene for years: Colin David was one of Pakistan’s most eminent painters, while the Benjamin Sisters, Shallum Xavier and Louis ‘Gumby’ Pinto excelled and continue to work as musicians. Among others, Wallis Mathias was the first Catholic to play for the Pakistan cricket team in 1955, and Jack Britto was an Olympic Hockey player who represented Pakistan in 1952.
Hockey Player, Jack Britto and Wallis Mathias and Painter Colin David
However, unfortunately the community has been marked by violence and tragedy. Shahbaz Bhatti was a prominent Christian politician who spoke against discrimination, and was tragically assassinated in 2011. False accusations have continued to destroy many Christian lives, and in one instance, an expectant couple was tragically burned alive on false accusations. Forced conversions continue to happen, with the latest case as that of 13-year-old Arzoo Raja, who was kidnapped, converted and forcibly married to her captor. Numerous churches have been targeted and destroyed, instilling fear in the community. I still remember how my family and many others sat home, and avoided churches a few years ago due to a fear for their safety.
A Commemoration ceremony held at a local church in Karachi
When Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah pushed for a new homeland, he wanted a place of freedom and equality for all minorities, still a distant goal. Despite that, minorities still celebrate and continue to serve their country, extending their community spaces for anyone who is curious to learn or wishes to be a part of the festivities. But it is time for our country to push for religious tolerance and protect minorities on a national level.
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