Heike Ruhland Peacebuilding in Pakistan

Heike Ruhland

Peacebuilding in Pakistan A Study on the Religious Minorities and Initiatives for Interfaith Harmony

R E L I G I O N S I N D I A L O G U E | 1 7

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Religions in DialogueSeries

edited by Prof. Dr. Wolfram Weisse Academy of World Religions,

University of Hamburg

No. 17


Heike Ruhland

Peacebuilding in Pakistan

Waxmann 2019 Münster • New York

A Study on the Religious Minoritiesand Initiatives for Interfaith Harmony


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Preface by Prof. Wolfram Weisse

The question of interreligious dialogue and understanding between people of different

religions and cultures has become a central issue in Western societies in the last 20

years. Previously, prevailing opinion in both academic and public discourse was that the

topic of religion would resolve itself as a result of increasing secularization. This has

proved not to be the case. In addition to what has actually been continuing seculariza-

tion in Europe, the pluralization of religion is of crucial significance. And so, the focus

on religion and the need for greater understanding between people of different religions

and ideologies has increased considerably. In view of this analysis of the times, the

study by Heike Ruhland presented here, on interreligious peacebuilding in Pakistan,

appears all the more important. It offers a most impressive insight into Pakistan’s multi-

religious situation and opens up the possibility of a discussion that differs considerably

from standard European approaches. It is well worth reading to gain an understanding of

the completely different context and discourse underlying interreligious dialogue in

Pakistan, and at the same time to bring our priorities in Europe into sharper focus.

Heike Ruhland’s study represents an innovative project that makes a major contribu-

tion to opening up a previously neglected area of research. The great merit of the study

lies in the fact that it can provide a nuanced insight into the structure, possibilities and

limits of interreligious dialogue in Pakistan, and the motivation and thought processes

behind it, through large-scale field research. By conducting research over a period of

nearly two years, living in the Punjab, Heike Ruhland laid the foundations for building

knowledge and trust so as to be in a position to meticulously describe the largely unex-

plored field of religious minorities, to provide a historical context and, using the results

of her own field research, to raise questions about the possibilities and limits of peace-

building-oriented interfaith dialogue, as well as to then evaluate it with reference to

internationally developed theories about dialogue.

The analysis of Pakistan’s religious minorities is an area that has hitherto received

little attention, yet is very enlightening. In addition to a general overview, groundbreak-

ing information has been gathered on Christians (subdivided into Catholics and

Protestants), Hindus, Scheduled Castes, Ahmadis, Sikhs, Parsis, Baha’i, and Kalasha,

but also on the Muslim minority of the Shiites (especially Hazara and Ismailis). Build-

ing on this, the study focuses on the problems faced by these minorities in Pakistan. It

emerges that their difficulties are anchored in a network of factors of which religion is

only one, alongside historical, political and economic parameters.

The presentation of the various institutional initiatives in Pakistan that deal with

interreligious dialogue or peacebuilding, about which little was hitherto known, is of

particular value. Given the previously mentioned difficulties regarding interreligious

dialogue in Pakistan, it is astonishing that more than three dozen such initiatives should

have been discovered in Pakistan. Heike Ruhland asks in particular about their

approaches and their scope. As far as the establishment of interreligious respect is

concerned, the school and university environments are also analysed, taking into


6 Preface by Prof. Wolfram Weisse

account productive approaches, especially in the school sector, as well as failings and

religion-based prejudices that need to be overcome.

Using the interviews conducted by Heike Ruhland as a basis, the modalities of inter-

religious dialogue in Pakistan are discussed in a highly productive and nuanced analy-

sis. As far as the motivation for dialogue is concerned, this ranges from conflict preven-

tion on the one hand to proselytism and economic aspirations on the other. The various

approaches to interreligious dialogue reveal tendencies toward both participation and

exclusion. In the light of the background analyses on Pakistan, it seems significant that

strong elements of religious and social identity formation emerge in interreligious

dialogue – mostly with a tendency towards segregation. Heike Ruhland also points out

where her interview partners see stumbling blocks and obstacles in the field of interreli-

gious understanding and asks in particular about the limits of an institutionalized

interreligious dialogue.

She emphasises that the dialogue in Pakistan is essentially a dialogue of good neigh-

bours, with the aim of achieving peaceful coexistence. Although this kind of dialogue

places much emphasis on commonalities, the idea is not to change or transform people’s

own religiosity, but rather to preserve their sense of identity while retaining clear

distinctions between the different religions.

Heike Ruhland’s analysis shows that in other contexts – in this case, Pakistan – our

understanding of interreligious dialogue need not be as open and as focused on joint

learning processes as is overwhelmingly the case in Germany. However, this could also

sharpen the focus on possible factors in and consequences of interreligious dialogue in

Europe. In the context of Western states, too, interreligious dialogue can increase

awareness of the otherness of others, in addition to improving mutual understanding.

That this need not go hand in hand with segregation is not a matter of course in Europe

either, but must be achieved socially by the religious communities participating in the

process and by the stakeholders who are involved politically. This could be an im-

portant impact of the present study by Heike Ruhland, which offers an extremely

valuable, scientifically outstanding analysis with regard to Pakistan, thanks to the

complexity in its presentation and its analytical incisiveness.

Hamburg, July 2019

Prof. Wolfram Weisse

Editor of the publication series Religions in Dialogue

Academy of World Religions, University of Hamburg


Acknowledgements of the author

It was during the final phase of my master’s in Islamic Studies at the University of

Zurich, Switzerland in autumn 2010 that I learned about a two-year stipend offered by

the Swiss Jesuit Mission in Zurich, in cooperation with the Institute for Social and

Development Studies (Institut für Gesellschaftspolitik, IGP) at the Munich School of

Philosophy, itself an institution of the Society of Jesus. The task involved staying at the

Jesuit centre Loyola Hall in Lahore for two years (except for the hottest three summer

months) and actively engaging in interfaith dialogue there while also doing field re-

search for a doctoral thesis on the religious minorities of Pakistan. Working in the field

of religious plurality suited my personal interests and expertise well.1 Therefore, I

applied for the scholarship and was accepted. I am grateful to Father Toni Kurmann

S.J., Father Prof. Johannes Müller S.J. and Dr Thomas Würtz for granting me this great

opportunity. I am also much indebted to the Jesuit priests at Loyola Hall, Lahore who

hosted and supported me well during these two years, particularly Father Renato Zec-

chin S.J., the then superior of the Jesuit centre.

My fieldwork in Lahore lasted from April 2011 to March 2013, including two sum-

mer breaks in Europe that once turned out to be twice as long as desired due to the delay

of my study visa, which I had applied for on the basis of a one-year Urdu course for

foreigners at the Department of Oriental Studies at Punjab University, Lahore. Although

its coordinator, Dr Muhammad Kamran, did all he could to help me with the visa

formalities, it took 9 months until this visa was finally granted. Hence, I entered Paki-

stan twice on a tourist visa and postponed the Urdu course to the next year (autumn

2012 to autumn 2013). However, further complications prevented me from completing

this course:

Unfortunately, on the morning of 6 March 2013 (about two weeks after I had facili-

tated a Muslim–Christian symposium at Loyola Hall), when I stepped out of the Jesuit

compound in order to attend my Urdu course at Punjab University, I was intercepted by

two armed men who took away my bag. Besides being quite perturbing, this attack also

raised questions as to its real nature. Several indicators – especially the fact that within

two hours of the assault, all my emails had been forwarded from my mobile phone to a

certain other email address, led me to ponder whether perhaps the Pakistani intelligence

service was behind this operation. The Jesuits in Lahore and Zurich urged me to leave

Pakistan after this incident – for my and their security.

1 The Jesuits were looking for a young Western academic from the field of Islamic Studies or

Religious Studies with an interest in interfaith dialogue. In my Islamic Studies course in

Zurich, my main focus was on Sufism, but in my previous studies of International Infor-

mation Management at the University of Hildesheim, interfaith dialogue was at the focus of

my master’s thesis (Kulturelle und religiöse Identität im Dialog der Weltreligionen, 2005).

The Indian subcontinent was also fascinating for me, especially since I had once volunteered

at a school and healthcare centre in a slum area of Delhi (The Hope Project, summer 2005).


8 Acknowledgements of the author

In the following two years (September 2013 to August 2015) I worked as an aca-

demic assistant at the Academy of World Religions of Hamburg University, Germany,

which was then headed by Prof. Wolfram Weisse (director) and Prof. Katajun Amirpur

(deputy director). I am grateful to them both for their supervision of my thesis, especial-

ly their encouragement to complete this thesis despite the many changes in my private

life that followed my stay in Hamburg. At this point, I would also like to thank my

wonderful husband Josef for his support and patience, our two small children Elias and

Inaya, who are my constant source of inspiration, and our many babysitters.

Of course, the list of people to whom I owe thanks is too long to spell out here, but I

have to mention Fr Prof. Christian Troll S.J. from Frankfurt, who visited Loyola Hall

often and supported me in the organization of the First Loyola Hall Symposium. Also, I

received many valuable insights from Ikram Chaghatai, Fr Dr John O’Brien C.S.Sp. and

Peter Jacob. Practical help was extended by my voluntary assistant, driver and inter-

preter Muhammad Sabir, who – stemming from a gypsy community in a slum area of

Lahore – is himself an encouraging example of social mobility thanks to education and

a positive attitude towards life. My sincere gratitude also extends to my able proof-

reader, Bryony Pierce, and to Prof. Sallie King for her useful comments on the final

draft. Finally, I also wish to thank Peter Meurer of the Citavi reference management

programme and also Melissa Hauschild of Waxmann-Verlag, my publisher, for their

great help and support.

Lengwil (Switzerland), August 2019

Heike Ruhland, née Stamer


Contents

Preface by Prof. Wolfram Weisse .................................................................................... 5

Acknowledgements of the author .................................................................................... 7

Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................14

1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................16

1.1 Relevance of the topic .........................................................................................16

1.2 State of research...................................................................................................17

1.3 Research objectives .............................................................................................18

1.4 Scope and methodology .......................................................................................19

1.4.1 Open approach using Girtler’s methods of free fieldwork .............................19

1.4.2 Circular process using Grounded Theory ......................................................21

1.4.3 Scope of this study .........................................................................................22

1.4.4 Data processing ..............................................................................................22

1.4.5 Methodological critique .................................................................................23

1.4.6 Interviews: Content and people ......................................................................25

1.5 Outline .................................................................................................................35

2 Pakistan’s historical, political and legal frame ..........................................................36

2.1 Partition from India: a traumatic beginning .........................................................36

2.1.1 The birth of Pakistan based on the “two-nation theory” ................................36

2.1.2 Kashmir – the bone of contention ..................................................................39

2.1.3 Second partition: secession of Pakistan’s east wing (Bangladesh) ...............40

2.2 Political developments in the face of military coups and Islamization ................40

2.2.1 A secular democratic approach under Jinnah .................................................40

2.2.2 Islamization after the early deaths of Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan ................41

2.2.3 The military dictatorship of General Ayub Khan ...........................................42

2.2.4 The controversial democratic rule of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto .............................43

2.2.5 Further Islamization under General Zia-ul-Haq .............................................44

2.2.6 The unstable democratic decade of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif ........47

2.2.7 Relative stability under General Pervez Musharraf .......................................47

2.2.8 Civilian governments since 2008 ...................................................................48


10 Contents

2.3 Power plays of the military, civilian authorities and extremist forces ................49

2.3.1 The praetorian and predatory nature of Pakistan’s military ...........................49

2.3.2 The intelligence agencies’ support of the Taliban .........................................50

2.3.3 Counter-terrorist strategies and their violent reverberations ..........................52

2.4 Implications of the blasphemy laws.....................................................................55

2.4.1 Frequent abuse of the blasphemy laws ...........................................................55

2.4.2 The suicide of Bishop John Joseph in protest of the blasphemy law ............57

2.4.3 The mob attacks of Shanti Nagar, Sangla Hill and Gojra ..............................58

2.4.4 The case of Asia Bibi and the assassination of two politicians ......................59

2.4.5 The Rimsha Masih case: a turning point? ......................................................60

2.4.6 Joseph Colony: blasphemy or land-grabbing? ...............................................60

2.4.7 Advocate Rashid Rehman and the murder of reason .....................................61

2.4.8 Christian couple burnt in a brick kiln .............................................................61

2.4.9 Signs of hope .................................................................................................62

2.5 Biases and low standards in the education system ...............................................63

2.5.1 Low-quality education ...................................................................................63

2.5.2 Biased curricula and textbooks ......................................................................64

2.6 Government efforts on behalf of the minorities ...................................................67

2.6.1 The ministry for minorities ............................................................................67

2.6.2 Recent policy improvements ..........................................................................69

2.6.3 Contested efficacy of state policies ................................................................71

2.7 Summary and conclusion of chapter 2 .................................................................72

2.7.1 Summary of the historical, political and judicial developments ....................72

2.7.2 Conclusion of chapter 2 .................................................................................76

3 The situation of Pakistan’s religious minorities ........................................................78

3.1 Overview on the religious minorities ...................................................................78

3.1.1 The term ‘religious minority’ .........................................................................78

3.1.2 Introduction to the religious groups ...............................................................78

3.1.3 Census data ....................................................................................................80

3.1.4 Instances of peaceful interaction ....................................................................81


11 Contents

3.2 Description of the minority groups ......................................................................82

3.2.1 Christians .......................................................................................................82

3.2.2 Hindus and Scheduled Castes ........................................................................93

3.2.3 Ahmadis .........................................................................................................97

3.2.4 Sikhs ............................................................................................................101

3.2.5 Parsis ............................................................................................................103

3.2.6 Baha’is .........................................................................................................105

3.2.7 Kalasha.........................................................................................................107

3.2.8 Shias .............................................................................................................108

3.2.9 Gender aspects .............................................................................................115

3.3 Photographic impressions of religious life in Pakistan ......................................118

3.4 Problems of the minorities (survey)...................................................................123

3.4.1 Militant extremism backed by the Establishment and other stakeholders....125

3.4.2 Lack of education and communal self-empowerment .................................128

3.4.3 Caste and class issues ...................................................................................132

3.4.4 Legal and institutional discrimination ..........................................................133

3.4.5 Vulnerability and lack of security ................................................................136

3.4.6 Biases in the education sector ......................................................................139

3.4.7 Discrimination in the employment sector ....................................................141

3.4.8 Positive assessments of the minorities’ situation .........................................142

3.5 Summary and conclusion of chapter 3 ...............................................................144

3.5.1 Summary of the different minority groups ...................................................145

3.5.2 Summary of the minorities’ problems..........................................................146

3.5.3 Conclusion of chapter 3 ...............................................................................148

4 Interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding .....................................................................151

4.1 Theoretical reflections and overview .................................................................151

4.1.1 Global developments in interfaith dialogue .................................................151

4.1.2 Forms, positions and patterns of dialogue ....................................................156

4.1.3 The dialogue potential of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism .......................160

4.1.4 Theories of social interaction .......................................................................170

4.1.5 Interfaith dialogue in the Pakistani context ..................................................171


12 Contents

4.1.6 Peacebuilding in Pakistan ............................................................................179

4.1.7 Selection of interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding organizations ...............184

4.2 Interfaith dialogue initiatives .............................................................................188

4.2.1 Pioneering Christian institutions engaged in dialogue

(est. 1960s to ’80s) .......................................................................................188

4.2.2 Dialogue councils with religiously mixed leadership ..................................200

4.2.3 Protestant church leaders for dialogue .........................................................206

4.2.4 Muslim dialogue efforts ...............................................................................211

4.3 Peacebuilding work of NGOs ............................................................................217

4.3.1 Long-established peacebuilding organizations (since the 1980s/’90s) ........217

4.3.2 Peacebuilding NGOs founded in the new millennium .................................225

4.4 Educational institutions for interfaith harmony .................................................236

4.4.1 Overview: Private schools and colleges working for interfaith harmony ....236

4.4.2 Minority-run high schools with an inclusive approach ................................237

4.4.3 Peace education at universities ....................................................................240

4.5 Photographic impressions of peacebuilders in Pakistan ....................................244

4.6 Modalities of interfaith dialogue/peacebuilding (survey) ..................................247

4.6.1 The meaning of interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding ................................249

4.6.2 Motivations for interfaith dialogue ..............................................................251

4.6.3 Participation and exclusion in the dialogues ................................................255

4.6.4 Apprehensions toward dialogue ...................................................................260

4.6.5 Issues around religious and social identity ...................................................263

4.6.6 Focus and depth of interfaith dialogue .........................................................268

4.6.7 Doubts about the usefulness of formal dialogue ..........................................275

4.6.8 Dialogue of life – the best way to harmony? ...............................................279

4.6.9 Obstacles in interfaith peacebuilding work ..................................................282

4.6.10 Positive Results ............................................................................................288

4.7 Analysis, summary and conclusion of chapter 4 ...............................................292

4.7.1 Analysis of the empirical findings ...............................................................292

4.7.2 Summary and conclusion of chapter 4 .........................................................312


13 Contents

5 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................316

5.1 Overall summary and conclusion ......................................................................316

5.2 Research implications ........................................................................................319

5.3 Commentary ......................................................................................................320

6 Bibliography ............................................................................................................322

7 Interview reference list ............................................................................................333

8 Index of charts and tables ........................................................................................338

8.1 Index of charts ...................................................................................................338

8.2 Index of tables ...................................................................................................338


Abbreviations

Religious titles (Christian and Muslim name prefixes)

Fr Father (Catholic priest)

Rev. Reverend (Protestant pastor)

Sr Religious sister (belonging to a Catholic order)

Allama ʽAllāma, Scholar of Islamic jurisprudence or philosophy

Hafiz Ḥāfiẓ (lit. ‘keeper’), someone who knows the complete Qur’an by heart

Peer Pῑr (lit. ‘elder’), Muslim Sufi master

Catholic orders (postnominal)

C.S.Sp. Congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers (full title, Congregation of the Ho-

ly Ghost under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or in Latin,

Congregatio Sancti Spiritus sub tutela Immaculati Cordis Beatissimae Vir-

ginis Mariae), Spiritan Order

O.P. Order of Preachers (from Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum), Dominican Order

OFM.Cap. Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (from Latin: Ordo Fratrum Minorum

Capuccinorum), Franciscan Order

P.B.V.M. Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary

S.D.B. Salesians of Don Bosco, Salesian Order

S.J. Society of Jesus (from Latin: Societas Iesu), Jesuit Order

S.S.C. Society of the Holy Cross (from Latin: Societas Sanctae Crucis), Columban

Order

Secular titles

Adv. Advocate, lawyer

Ch. Chaudhry/Chaudhary (part of a name); title of landowners or village chiefs

Dr Doctor (academic title); person who has a attained a doctorate, i.e. PhD

MD Medical Doctor, physician

PhD Doctor of Philosophy (academic title); holder of a doctorate in an academic

discipline

Types of civil society organizations

CBO Community-based organization, small NGO working at local level

DPC District peace committee

FBO Faith-based organization, religiously motivated NGO, e.g. church organiza-

tion

INGO International non-governmental organization

NGO Non-governmental organization, i.e. civil society organization


15 Abbreviations

Names of organizations/institutions

AKDN Agha Khan Development Network

AKES Agha Khan Educational Services

CIA Central Intelligence Agency, foreign intelligence service of the USA

FSC Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan, court of law set up in 1980 by General

Zia-ul-Haq

IS ‘Islamic State’, banned Salafi jihadi terrorist organization

ISI Inter-Services Intelligence, premier intelligence agency of Pakistan

TTP Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan, ‘Taliban Movement of Pakistan’, banned

terrorist organizations

Political parties

PML-N Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Sharif, centre-right conservative party

PML-Q Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e Azam, centre-nationalist party

PPP Pakistan People’s Party, left-wing socialist party

PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, ‘Pakistan Movement for Justice’ led by Imran

Khan

For the list of selected interfaith/peacebuilding organizations and their abbreviations,

see chapter 4.1.7.


1 Introduction

1.1 Relevance of the topic

In today’s globalized world, the parallel existence of a variety of different religions with

competing truth claims and promises of salvation is an obvious fact, and this can at

times be confusing for people. Moreover, religions are usually interwoven with cultural

traditions and often instrumentalized for political purposes. In this way, religion can be

heavy baggage, but despite the predicted decline of religiosity in our post-modern

information era, it seems that people all over the world tend to cling to religion more

than ever. Particularly since the rise of international Islamic terrorism, the question of

how to bring about interreligious peace is of vital importance. One possible approach is

the practice of interfaith dialogue, i.e. meetings between people of different religions

and denominations in order to increase mutual understanding and acceptance. Of

course, the modalities of interfaith dialogue are always shaped by local parameters,

notably the dominant religion and the state policies of the country.

This thesis endeavours to explore the dynamics of interfaith dialogue and other

measures for peacebuilding in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan – a country with dismal

human rights standards, a strong caste-and-class divide, draconic blasphemy laws and

growing religious and sectarian violence. Pakistan’s strong emphasis on Islam as the

basis for its foundation and as a vision for the future stands in contrast to the modern

concern about religious pluralism and cultural relativism. Yet historically, the Indian

subcontinent has always been characterized by religious plurality, and at many times

throughout the centuries, adherents of the two biggest and rivalling religions found

pragmatic ways of coexistence. The Hindu religion, which is an amalgamation or

collection of various religious traditions of India (Hindustan) and derives its name from

this location, is pluralistic in itself. Islam became an intrinsic part of the subcontinent’s

religious landscape by way of Muslim conquests (8th

and 12th

–16th

century CE) and,

during the rule of various Muslim dynasties such as the Mamluks of Delhi (1206–1290)

and the Mughal Empire (1526–1857), it arose to be the politically dominant religion

while always remaining in numerical minority as compared to Hinduism.

However, the historic events that led to the religious-based partition of the subconti-

nent into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan in 1947 and the

subsequent Islamization of all areas of public life in the newly established Islamic

republic made the “mingling of the two oceans” (majmā’-ul-baḥrayn), i.e. of Hinduism

and Islam, as once promoted by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh and various Bhakti and

Sufi traditions, a thing of the past. The formerly suppressed Muslim minority, having

regained their dignity and power in a country made especially for them, in turn started

to suppress the religious minorities among their midst, including the small and down-

trodden, yet quite vocal Christian minority. Their situation has never been more dire

than at present, and this thesis will place a special focus on them.

Today, Pakistan ranks as the fourth most unsafe country in the world, given the con-

tinuous violence against certain religious groups, the limits to freedom of speech, and


17 Introduction

the barred access for foreigners to numerous places throughout the country (World

Economic Forum, 2017). It is also the fourth most dangerous country in the world for

Christians (Open Doors UK, 2017). According to the former CIA Station Chief in

Islamabad, Kevin Hulbert, Pakistan – while it is not the most dangerous country in the

world – is the most dangerous country for the world, considering its “failing economy,

rampant terrorism, the fastest growing nuclear arsenal, the sixth largest population and

one of the highest birthrates in the world” (The Indian Express, 2017).

Certainly, the dangerous side of Pakistan is not the whole reality of its more than

200 million inhabitants, who are not all involved with religious extremism, the Taliban,

the military or the nuclear programme. The average Pakistani is more concerned with

the necessities of livelihood and everyday customs and culture in society and in fami-

lies. If the hierarchy of needs allows it, some people also engage in interfaith dialogue

(mukalima bayn-ul-madhāhib) and other, broader methods for peacebuilding (amānsazī)

– although both terms are often used interchangeably in Pakistan. Such civil society

actors and their different strategies toward increasing peace and harmony between the

religious communities are at the focus of this study and will complement the general

(usually negative) global image of Pakistan.

1.2 State of research

This thesis touches upon many different but interrelated topics, such as the various

religious minorities of Pakistan, interfaith dialogue, peacebuilding, the partition of India

and Pakistan and the latter’s subsequent political developments, including the role of the

Pakistani army and intelligence agencies; the dynamics of terrorism and counter-

terrorism; educational policies and their required reforms; and Pakistan’s international

relations. The relevant state of research is mentioned in the corresponding chapters, only

the most basic information in the present chapter.

As to my knowledge, there is no other qualitative empirical study apart from this

present one which offers an overview of interfaith dialogue initiatives in Pakistan and

which analyses their significance and scope within the wider context of peacebuilding

and politics in the country.

Frans Wijsen (2013, p. 192) points out the general need for empirical studies of

popular religiosity and interreligious relations, and this study should be considered a

contribution of the required kind:

The study of interreligious relations is not short of historical studies of the sources (sacred

scriptures) or systematic treatises on the philosophies and theologies of religions, but em-

pirical studies of the practitioners of religion or ‘everyday religion’ are few and far

between.

About the religious minorities of Pakistan and the many hardships they face, diverse

reports have been published. I would like to particularly mention the status report of

2011 by the Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad-based think-tank, but also the regularly

conducted surveys by the Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP), the National

Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) and the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). The

main purpose of all these studies is, firstly, to raise awareness of the difficulties these


18 Introduction

communities are subjected to, and secondly, to give recommendations to the Govern-

ment of Pakistan about necessary policy changes and reforms in order to improve the

situation of the minorities. They urge the government to repeal the blasphemy law, or at

least take appropriate measures in order to prevent its misuse, to ensure internationally

recognized human-rights standards and to make punishable those who incite religious

hatred and discrimination. Such studies further appeal to the government to review the

effect of constitutional clauses that discriminate on the basis of religion, and also to

address bigotry and complicity in hate crimes within the ranks of the police and judi-

ciary. Moreover, they highlight the importance of affordable quality education and more

inclusive teaching materials and curricula that promote equality and respect for diversi-

ty. For the Pakistani Christian minority in particular, especially their identity and their

shared history with the lower class Hindus and Scheduled Castes (outcastes), I rely on

the extensive studies of the Irish Spiritan priest Fr Dr John O’Brien (2006), which

explain their marginalized status in Pakistani society by referring to the persistent caste-

and-class divide.

About interfaith dialogue in Pakistan, relevant articles can be found in the two theo-

logical magazines Al-Mushir (The Counselor), published by the Christian Study Centre

in Rawalpindi, and Focus, published by the Pastoral Institute of Multan. These articles –

authored mainly but not solely by Christians – contain reviews of dialogue events as

well as theological reflections of interfaith dialogue and the role of the Church in

Pakistan. Many such articles are authored by the Catholic Dominican priest Fr Dr James

Channan who is among the pioneers and most prominent promoters of interfaith dia-

logue in Pakistan. He and his Muslim counterparts, Peer Shafaat Rasool and Dr Naeem

Mushtaq, invariably point to the commonalities between Islam and Christianity and the

importance of peace and harmony. They illustrate that interfaith dialogue in Pakistan is

mainly about building bridges between the estranged faith communities.

As for peacebuilding in Pakistan, two recent studies by the Centre for Social Justice

which appraise the functions, capacity and needs of peacebuilding NGOs (Suleman and

Jacob, 2016) and of District Peace Committees in Punjab and Sindh (Jacob et al., 2017)

are summarized in chapter 4.1.6.3. These studies, which found both positives and

negatives in the workings of these organizations and committees, commonly express a

need for more government support.

These explanations and also the reference list at the end of this thesis furthermore

reveal that the relevant discourses about this field of research are less to be found in

monographies, or books in general, but rather in reports, magazines and newspaper

articles, many of them being available online. The reason could be a faster and less

expensive way of publishing and a wider audience, given that reading books is not very

popular in Pakistan and there are hardly any accessible public libraries.

1.3 Research objectives

Based on a large fundus of qualitative interviews, this study first explores the problems

of the religious minorities and secondly the many measures taken from the side of civil

society (bottom-up approach) which seek to improve the non-Muslims’ situation and/or


19 Introduction

raise the level of interfaith harmony in Pakistan, particularly in the province of Punjab,

with a special emphasis on interfaith dialogue as a possible tool for peacebuilding. In

order to establish the background for this study, first of all the following three research

questions arise:

1) What is the historical, political and legal background to the strained interreligious

relations in Pakistan?

2) To what extent is the political and legal framework of Pakistan conducive to inter-

religious peace and social harmony?

3) Who are the religious minorities of Pakistan and what problems do they face?

After reviewing the relevant literature and completing my first round of interviews in

Pakistan, I devised three premises on which to base my empirical research:

a) The minorities cannot solely rely on the peacebuilding efforts of the Pakistani

Establishment; hence their primary hope lies in what NGOs and other civil

society actors do for them (bottom-up approach).

b) Interfaith dialogue improves communal harmony in Pakistan and raises the

acceptance of minorities within the larger society.

c) In order to ensure sustainable peace and social harmony, the dialogue efforts

must be complemented by other peacebuilding approaches which help to uplift

and protect the minorities.

In order to explore the validity of these three premises, the scope and effectivity of

interfaith dialogue and other peacebuilding approaches will be examined by way of

seven more research questions:

4) By which local parameters is interfaith dialogue shaped?

5) What types of interfaith dialogue are being practised in Pakistan?

6) Who initiates the dialogue, who partakes in it and what motivates them to do this?

7) What is the effect of interfaith dialogue and to what extent can it help to solve the

problems of the minorities?

8) What kind of other civil society measures besides interfaith dialogue are there

which help to improve the welfare of the minorities as well as interreligious peace?

9) What are the strategies, goals, obstacles and achievements of these other peace-

building approaches?

10) How are the interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding efforts funded?

11) Is the Pakistani government/Establishment supportive of such efforts or rather

hindering them?

1.4 Scope and methodology

1.4.1 Open approach using Girtler’s methods of free fieldwork

This study is of a very explorative nature. Since my main academic discipline, Islamic

Studies, has no empirical research method of its own, I had to pragmatically adopt

methods from the field of social studies, especially social anthropology and sociology of

religions – which befits the interdisciplinary nature of this dissertation. I applied qualita-


20 Introduction

tive research methods such as informal interviews and content analysis, but also field

notes and participant observation.

As a foreign visitor to Pakistan, my focus was – especially in the beginning – natu-

rally wide, and I was eager to learn as much I could about this fascinating, yet problem-

stricken country, particularly about the life-world of people from various religious

groups and the modalities of peacebuilding in Pakistan. Hence, I opted for the ‘methods

of free fieldwork’ as devised by the Austrian social anthropologist Roland Girtler

(2001), originally in the 1970s. This involves unstructured participant observation and a

non-standardized qualitative interview style which Girtler calls ‘ero-epic conversations’

(ero-epische Gespräche).

In ero-epic conversations2, contrary to standard interviews, the researcher not only

poses questions, but engages in a give-and-take style of mutual conversation. While

telling the other about oneself and one’s own views and experiences, he or she is given

incentives to reply and talk freely from his or her own perspective. In such a natural,

free-flowing conversation, the interview partner is not passively waiting for the next

question, but is actively engaging in the conversation, bringing up his or her own topics

of interest – issues which the researcher might not have known about or taken into

consideration before. The researcher must constantly be open to new perspectives. His

or her aim should not just be to generate or to verify hypotheses. Rather, he or she

should aim to understand the interview partner’s social realities and codes of conduct in

a most comprehensive and unbiased way. For this study, I conducted more than a

hundred such free-flowing, non-standardized interviews, namely ero-epic conversations

(see list of interviews below, chapter 1.4.6). The interview language was English. I had

learned some Urdu myself, but as English is the widely known official language of

Pakistan, English was almost always more convenient to use. A mix of Urdu and

English or the help of an interpreter was used whenever necessary. The interpreter was

often the person who had established the contact between me and the interview partner.

My affiliation with the long-established and well-reputed Jesuit centre Loyola Hall

opened many doors for me, not only within the Christian community but also when

dealing with Muslims. With its good credentials and large network, it proved a very

good starting point for my research, and establishing a basic level of trust was relatively

easy. After the experiences I had in the field, I agree with Girtler when he stresses the

importance of good contact persons, and also when he states that it is by who one is

rather than by what kind of research one does that acceptance is gained (Girtler, 2001,

p. 94). Certainly, I have gained valuable insights not only from my interviews but also

from the many natural interactions with my Pakistani friends and with the various other

people in my environment while I went about my daily routines – this includes my Urdu

2 Girtler (2001, pp. 150–151) created this term from the Ancient Greek words erotema (ques-

tion, research) and epos (narration, report), taken from Homer’s magnum opus Odyssey. The

term implies that, in a research conversation, question and narration must be interwoven in

an artistic and poetic way.


21 Introduction

studies at the University of the Punjab as well as my problems with the Ministry of

Interior and the intelligence agencies.

1.4.2 Circular process using Grounded Theory

My first months in Pakistan, especially, were marked by intense curiosity, maximum

openness, and a strong sense of adventure. I entered the field without having read much

about my own field of study, and this initial ignorance proved useful and perfectly in

line with the recommendations of Girtler and also with the “Grounded Theory Method”,

as developed by the American sociologists Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss

(2010). Like Girtler’s method, the Grounded Theory Method dates back to the 1970s

and recommends that the fieldwork should not only begin after reading a whole lot of

literature and defining a clear research objective. Here, the process of collecting empiri-

cal data is always based on the ground reality that one finds in the field, not on

preconceived concepts. By going about in a circular rather than linear way, theories are

inductively derived from the empirical data. The experiences and insights gained in the

field are processed and reflected upon at intervals and determine one’s further course of

action when setting out for more data collection. Hence, while keeping certain core

questions in mind, I let the conversation flow without constraint in order to see what

kind of points might arise which I had not considered before and which would help me

to base my approach on an empirical ground.

My research objectives were also adjusted over the course of time: Initially, I had

planned to focus especially on the work of peacebuilding NGOs, assessing a selected

number of them as well as possible. But in the course of time, I realized that aiming at

objective evaluations of their efficacy was too ambitious and could not easily be done

by an academic researcher who did not have a relevant mandate (as donor agencies

might have) to probe into their business details. Since they could not be sure about my

credentials and agenda, they were naturally vague when it came to their budget and

other confidential issues. Therefore, I shifted the emphasis toward people’s subjective

perceptions and narratives of interfaith harmony measures in Pakistan, with a special

focus on interfaith dialogue. But here I was confronted with a similar vagueness on the

part of my interview partners. Also, my hope to be able to personally witness enough

interfaith dialogue sessions in order to base my study on these, including interviews

with the participants there, was not fulfilled. Within two years I only got to witness a

couple of them – mainly lecture-type events with a strong media presence. Sometimes it

was seen as disruptive if I, as a white and Western person, partook in their workshops,

especially if it was a closed group that met up several times per year and touched on

sensitive topics and personal issues. Or they had their seminars in conflict-ridden areas,

hotbeds of extremism, and they deemed it too dangerous to take me there – for me and

for them as well, as they wanted to avoid speculation about their being agents of the

West. Or they only had interfaith meetings once or twice per year, and I had just missed

one. Or the event was by invitation only, due to VIP speakers, non-public locations and

the necessary security measures.


22 Introduction

In the Grounded Theory Method, the circular process continues until a saturation of

answers is reached, i.e. until no new aspects come up. Whether this condition of satura-

tion was fulfilled in my study, I dare not claim in a general sense or with respect to the

whole of Pakistan, but within my range and scope of work in Pakistan, I am confident

that saturation was reached.

1.4.3 Scope of this study

My network of contacts in the field of religious minorities and interfaith dialogue

derived from a Catholic perspective, although my own religious denomination is actual-

ly Protestant (Lutheran). As I stayed at the Jesuit centre Loyola Hall in Lahore, in the

province of Punjab, it is from there – religiously and geographically – that my network

of contacts developed. Hence, my interview partners were not randomly chosen; they

were mostly members of a minority group, among them many church leaders, and/or

peace activists. My religious perspective was somewhat balanced thanks to the fact that

I also had a large circle of Muslim friends. These wonderful people helped me have a

great time and enjoy diverse experiences, but it did not help me much with my research,

as most of them were not actively partaking in interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding.

Well aware of my possible Catholic bias, I actively established contacts drawn from

within all religious communities represented in Pakistan, including Sikhs, Hindus,

Parsis, Ahmadis, Baha’is and Kalasha. When I soon got the impression that interfaith

dialogues and to a lesser extent also other peacebuilding efforts were mainly initiated by

the Christians, I made sure to ask every expert in this field if they knew of any non-

Christian initiative. In this way, I did get relevant hints which I was largely able to

follow up on.

Geographically, I also expanded my network, wherever possible, taking every op-

portunity to travel within Pakistan. I was able to conduct interviews not only in Lahore,

but also in the capital Islamabad and its neighbouring twin city Rawalpindi and in other

places within Punjab like Rabwah, Sangla Hill, Nankana Sahib and Multan, as well as

in Karachi and Hyderabad in the province of Sindh. Clearly, the region I know best is

Punjab, and this is reflected in my study. If I had been stationed in Sindh or Balochistan

or the Northern Areas, I might have come to different conclusions.

In Punjab, the biggest religious minority is by far the Christian community. There-

fore, interfaith dialogue in Punjab basically means Muslim–Christian dialogue – often

with a token Hindu and/or Sikh. I personally had very little contact with Hindus and

Sikhs, which is why my study does not cover them in detail.

1.4.4 Data processing

After my return from Pakistan I transcribed the audio-recorded interviews and typed up

the handwritten notes. Then I filtered and structured the information from the inter-

views, extracting only the parts that were relevant for my research interest. Most of my

interview partners had very good English, although it was not their mother tongue. Of

course, some had better English than others. The purpose of this study is not to evaluate

people’s language skills, therefore in the transcriptions and the typing up of notes I have


23 Introduction

corrected grammatical mistakes and omitted filler words and sounds like “um” and “er”

and “you know”. In this way, linguistic mistakes and habits were not exposed, and no

basis was created for the comparison of people’s English. In Pakistan, one’s command

of English is usually seen as an indicator of one’s level of education and hence also of

one’s social class. In a study where class differences are a sensitive topic, I considered it

important to not highlight any such given differences among my interview partners. In

any case, I was generally impressed by people’s level of English. However, this is not a

linguistic study; rather, attention was paid to the content of what people said.

For the interview analysis, I was geared to Mayring’s method of ‘qualitative content

analysis’ (2010), with an inductive approach: What the interview partners said was not

fitted into thematic groups that had previously been drawn from the literature, but

relevant themes – converted into headings and sub-headings – were directly inserted

from people’s narratives. However, as my research questions are highly open-ended and

explorative, it would have been a restriction to work with narrow categories and to

encode the whole of the interview material for this purpose. Therefore, a manual way of

data processing was preferred over the original intention to use the MAXQDA software.

What is left is a discourse analysis without linguistic interest and a qualitative content

analysis based on hermeneutics and themes, not on a tight grid of categories. The

individual narratives are presented in a shortened and summarized form including literal

quotes. In the analysis part, they are compared to the other narratives on the same

themes in order to find common denominators. From the gist of their statements, con-

clusions are drawn and then theories formed inductively.

When writing this thesis, I consciously chose to express myself in a way that could

be easily understood, also by those who did not have the privilege of intellectual study.

Like Girtler (2001, pp. 27–31, 169–170), I am of the opinion that the language of a

research work should be readable by those about whom it is written. That is also one

reason why I decided to write in (British) English, not in German; another more prag-

matic reason is that my interviews and most of the other material used were in English.

For referencing, the literature administration programme Citavi was used. As a formal

guideline, the Harvard style was chosen, but with some modifications. For the spelling

of Urdu words in Roman letters, I used a transliteration style commonly used for Ara-

bic, since nearly all the mentioned Urdu terms are of Arabic or Persian origin. Only in

word combinations which have the Arabic definite article “al-” in the middle, was the

common Pakistani style of rendering this with two hyphens chosen, as in the name Zia-

ul-Haq. Names in general are spelled as the person him-/herself prefers; hence there can

be variations like ‘Chaudhry’ or ‘Chaudhary’, etc.

1.4.5 Methodological critique

Firstly, I would like to point out to what extent the language used influences the re-

search results: I am aware that conversing with my interview partners in English, even if

they spoke the language well and with ease, is problematic in the sense that using

English terms also brings up Western concepts, and it is questionable how far they

mirror the Pakistani life realities. On the other hand, even when conversing in Urdu,


24 Introduction

Pakistanis like to constantly mix in English terms, and the Urdu key terms of this study

(all of which are derived from Arabic), namely ‘religion’ (madhhab in the sense of

‘denomination’, originally signifying ‘school of thought in Islamic jurisprudence’; or

more generally: dīn, in the sense of ‘faith’), ‘minorities’ (aqallīyāt) and ‘interfaith

dialogue’ (mukalima bayn-ul-madhāhib) are commonly used in English rather than in

Urdu, be it out of local custom or precisely in order to underline the Western sense of

the terms. As pointed out by Frans Wijsen (2013), it is essential which language and

terminology the researcher uses to speak about and constitute reality (p. 41). He argues

that “religion is a Western concept through and through, essentially linked with Europe-

an cultural history and, for that matter, with Christian thought and theology” (p. 49).

Islam is not a religion in the Western sense of the word but rather “a way of life, a

society within society”; as Islam literally means ‘submission to God’, some Muslim

scholars see every believer who does the will of God as a ‘Muslim’ (pp. 46–47). More-

over, the literature used for this thesis is, out of convenience, mainly in English, and I

am aware that Urdu source texts might contain very different statements. (Urdu media

reports, for instance, are generally said to contain more biases than those in English.)

Secondly, I am aware that my own role, personality and religion influenced what

people shared with me. Due to my Western background and my affiliation with Loyola

Hall, people rightly considered me a Christian. Hence in the eyes of the Christians, I

was one of them, and for the Muslims, I was nominally an outsider. Yet, thanks to my

master’s in Islamic Studies and my strong interest in Sufism and the esoteric core of

religions in general, it was obvious to people that my own religious outlook is very

wide. I felt warmly welcomed by all the religious groups that I encountered, and I was

grateful for the privilege of switching to and fro between them. Certainly, some people

were hoping to get advantages through me, like visa or funding or valuable contacts to

Western donors or even just good reporting that indirectly leads to more funding. This

must be taken into account, and overly positive accounts of their work and success must

be viewed critically. Sometimes people were just very curious to see a foreigner, and

when I arrived for an interview, there were often five or more people sitting in the

office, ready to receive me.

Thirdly, one could question the broad scope of my research design. Of course, the

broader the scope, the less space there is to cover every part in depth. Yet, selecting a

narrower scope would have meant a less integrated approach and less possibility for

pointing out complex correlations. Also, while the large number of interviews can be

seen as a strong point of this thesis, processing such an extensive set of data proved to

be very time-consuming.

Lastly, the strong focus on qualitative rather than quantitative data will point out

tendencies – based on the subjective estimations of local experts – rather than solid,

verifiable facts. Certainly, the immediate results of interfaith dialogue and peacebuild-

ing are difficult to measure, and it can take many years for such initiatives to bring

about the desired changes.


25 Introduction

1.4.6 Interviews: Content and people

For this thesis, I conducted interviews (ero-epic conversations of varying length, style

and setting) with, in total, 127 people in Pakistan. Sometimes I talked to several people

in one meeting, for instance at an NGO office or peacebuilding event. The testimonies

of 67 people were documented by audio-recording, 59 by hand-written notes, one by

email only.

107 of the 127 respondents were male, 20 female. 79 worked in the field of inter-

faith/social harmony and/or human rights, 31 were educators, 7 lawyers; 21 had a PhD

degree, 3 were medical doctors (multiple references possible). 4 of my interview part-

ners have died in the meantime (as of June 2019): Adv. Asma Jahangir (1952–2018)

and Adv. Chaudhary Naeem Shakir (1944–2017) each died a natural death; Irfan Ali

(1980–2013) and Adv. Rashid Rehman (1958–2014) were killed in terrorist attacks.

These 127 people were selected as interview partners because of their being knowl-

edgeable of or personally involved in minority affairs and/or interfaith harmony work.

The fact that there are so few women (20, i.e. 15.7%) on my list of interview partners

compared to men (107, i.e. 84.3%), is indicative of their traditional role as leaders of the

household but not as leaders in the public space. Women like the renowned Advocate

Asma Jahangir, but also most of the other female peacebuilders in my list, can be

considered courageous pioneers in their professional field. Another striking fact in my

statistics is the high number of people with PhD or professor title (21, i.e. 16.5%),

which shows that the field of minority rights and peacebuilding attracts more academ-

ics, particularly from the field of social sciences and humanities, than most other work

fields in Pakistan. (Certainly, their high proportion in my survey cannot be seen as aver-

age in Pakistani society.)

The interviews focused on four main themes, to which reference is made in four

different parts of this thesis (multiple references per person possible):

1) Description of the religious minority groups of Pakistan (see chapter 3.2)

2) Problems of the minorities (see the survey of chapter 3.4)

3) Reports on one’s own peacebuilding work and organization (see chapter 4.2–4.4)

4) Modalities of interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding (see the survey of chapter 4.6)


26 Introduction

Modalities of

interfaith

dialogue/

peacebuilding,

62

Problems of the

minorities, 77

Own

peacebuilding

work, 50

Minority

groups, 22

As illustrated in Chart 1 above, the most frequently mentioned topic was that of the

problems of minorities (77 people, i.e. 51.7%), the second-most discussed topic was that

of the modalities of interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding (62 people, i.e. 41.6%), third

were people’s reports on their own peacebuilding work and organizations (50 people,

i.e. 33.6%), and least frequently mentioned were descriptive accounts of certain –

mostly the interview partners’ own – minority groups (22 people, i.e. 14.8%). The total

count of people (149) whose references are used in relation to one or more of these

themes – be it explicitly or without mentioning their name – is, due to multiple refer-

ences in the case of some people, more than the total number of interviewed persons

(127).

As far as the religious adherence of my 127 interview partners is concerned, 89

(70.1%) belonged to the religious minorities; 38 were Muslims. More precisely, there

were 72 Christians (56.7%), namely 46 (36.2%) Catholics and 26 (20.5%) Protestants

incl. 5 adherents of free churches, among them 30 church leaders (priests, reverends,

bishops, rel. sisters). Furthermore, there were 5 low-/sub-caste Hindus, 5 Ahmadis, 4

Parsis, 1 Baha’i, and 1 Sikh. Among the 38 (29.9%) Muslims, there were 30 (23.6%)

Sunnis, incl. 3 who considered themselves atheist, and 8 (6.3%) Shias, incl. 1 Hazara

and 4 Agha Khanis (see Chart 2 below):

Chart 1: Main interview themes (number of people quoted per topic)


27 Introduction

46

2630

8 5 5 4 2 10

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

religious adherence (number of persons out of 127)

Chart 2: Religion of the 127 interview partners

Catholic priests,

16

Catholic

sisters/nuns, 6

Protestant

pastors, 4

Protestant

bishops, 4

regular church

members, 42

Chart 3: Church leaders among the 72 Christians


28 Introduction

Among the 72 interviewed Christians, there were 30 (41.7%) church leaders; the other

42 Christians were regular church members of the various churches (Roman Catholic

Church, Church of Pakistan, Presbyterian Church, Salvation Army, Pentecostal free

churches). The 30 church leaders consisted of 22 Catholics (16 priests, 6 religious

sisters/nuns) and 8 Protestants (4 bishops, 4 pastors), as illustrated in Chart 3 above.3

Concerning geographic locations (Charts 4 and 5), the 127 interview partners were

based all over Pakistan: 101 people (79.5%) were based in Punjab (62 in Lahore, 16 in

Multan, 10 in Rawalpindi, 2 in Gujranwala, 2 in Faisalabad, 2 in Rabwah, 2 in Rahim

Yar Khan, 1 in Bahawalpur, 1 in Nankana Sahib, 1 in Sangla Hill, 1 in Sheikhupura,

and 1 in Sialkot). 11 people (8.7%) were based in Sindh (9 in Karachi, 1 in Hyderabad,

1 in Mirpur Khas), 8 people (6.3%) in Islamabad Capital Territory (CT), 4 people

(3.1%) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2 in Abbottabad, 1 in Chitral, 1 in Peshawar), 2 people

(1.6%) in Balochistan (Quetta) and 1 person (0.8%) in Gilgit-Baltistan (Hunza). In total,

the survey included 10 foreigners who were based in Pakistan.

Since Punjab is by far the most represented province in my survey, it is worth illustrat-

ing separately the cities where these 101 people were based (see Chart 5 below).

3 Although I also occasionally encountered the Catholic Bishop of Lahore, Sebastian Shaw,

he is not mentioned in this survey, as he advised me to rather consult priests like James

Channan and Francis Nadeem for the topic of interfaith dialogue.

Punjab, 101

Sindh, 11

Capital

Territory, 8

Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa, 4

Balochistan, 2Gilgit-Baltistan,

1

Chart 4: Province/area of the 127 interview partners


29 Introduction

Table 1 below provides a detailed list of the interview partners (name, sex, institution/

position, city/province of residence, religion). A list of the selected interfaith/peace-

building organizations, including their abbreviations/acronyms and the respective

contact persons, is given in Table 2 in chapter 4.1.7. For the interviews’ dates and

places (which in 24 cases differed from the person’s city of residence), see Table 3 in

chapter 7, which also shows that 10 people were interviewed twice and that 7 interview

partners provided updates or further information by email after my field work in

Lahore; one of them was only consulted by email, not in person.

Table 1: List of the 127 interview partners

Name, title Sex Institution, position Residence Religion

Adeel Rehmat m Pak Mission Society,

executive director

Abbottabad, Khy-

ber Pakhtunkhwa

Christian,

Protestant

Akhtar Naveed

O.P., Fr

m Pastoral Institute Multan,

director

Multan, Punjab Christian,

Catholic

Akram Masih Gill,

Minister

m Ministry of National

Harmony

Islamabad Capital

Territory

Christian,

Catholic

Akram Mirani, Prof. m Minority Rights Commis-

sion, researcher

Multan, Punjab Muslim,

Sunni

Alexander J. Malik,

Bishop Dr

m Church of Pakistan,

Lahore Diocese, Bishop

Lahore, Punjab Christian,

Protestant

Lahore, 62Multan, 16

Rawalpindi, 10

Faisalabad, 2

Gujranwala, 2

Rabwah, 2Rahim Yar

Khan, 2

Bahawalpur, 1

Nankana Sahib,

1Sangla Hill, 1 Sheikhupura, 1

Sialkot, 1

Chart 5: City of the 101 Punjab-based interview partners


30 Introduction

Alwin Murad, Dr m Gov. College University,

assistant professor


Catholic

Amin Hashwani m Charter for Compassion

Pak., founding director

Karachi, Sindh Muslim,

Agha Khani

Amineh Hoti, Dr f Centre for Dialogue &

Action, found. director

Islamabad Capital

Territory

Muslim,

Sunni

Amir Mahmood m Jamaat-e Ahmadiyya

headquarters

Rabwah, Punjab Ahmadi

Arthur Wilson m Justice Project Pakistan;

prison chaplain


Protestant

Asma Jahangir,

Adv. (late)

f HRCP, co-founder;

Supreme Court Pakistan

Lahore, Punjab Muslim,

Sunni

Ayub Sajid m Org. for Development &

Peace, founding director

Multan, Punjab Christian,

Catholic

Azhar Mushtaq,

Rev.

m Holy Trinity Church,

Anglican pastor


Protestant

Bill M., MD m Presbyterian missionary;

physician

Hyderabad, Sindh Christian,

Protestant

Bonnie Mendes, Fr m priest; former executive

secretary of NCJP

Faisalabad,

Punjab

Christian,

Catholic

Byram Avari m Karachi Parsi Anjuman

Trust, director

Karachi, Sindh Parsi

Chaudhry. Naeem

Shakir, Adv. (late)

m Supreme Court Pakistan;

Lahore High Court


Protestant

Ch. Zubair Ahmed

Farooq, Adv.

m URI Pakistan; Supreme

Court Pakistan


Sunni

Charles Ramsey, Dr m FC College, Centre for

Dialogue & Action


Protestant

Chaudry Johnny m young Balmiki Hindu Multan, Punjab Scheduled

Castes

“Christian major” m Pakistan Army, major Rawalpindi,

Punjab

Christian,

Catholic

Christina P. f Lahore Waste Manage-

ment, manager


Catholic

Christine Amjad-

Ali, Dr

f Christian Study Centre,

director

Rawalpindi,

Punjab

Christian,

Protestant

Christopher Sharaf m Christian Study Centre,

staff member

Rawalpindi,

Punjab

Christian,

Catholic

Dara Hormusji, MD m Parsi community Lahore Lahore, Punjab Parsi

Ejaz Akram, Dr m LUMS, assistant prof.;

landowner; Sufi master


Sunni

Emma Varley, Dr f LUMS, assistant prof. Lahore, Punjab Muslim,

Sunni

Emmanuel Asi, Fr

Dr

m Theol. Institute for Laity,

founding director


Catholic

Heike Ruhland Peacebuilding in Pakistan

Documents

Transcript of Heike Ruhland Peacebuilding in Pakistan