India's Kashmir Christians voice Islamic court fears

(January 23, 2012) Christian leaders in northern India’s Jammu and Kashmir state say they are worried following recent directives from an Islamic Sharia court ordering the expulsion of four Christian missionaries and demanding Christian schools provide Islamic studies for all students. Catholic Bishop Peter Celestine Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar said on Monday that Christians in Kashmir are uneasy as they all see themselves as being targeted by the state’s Shariat court. In recent rulings, the court found Church of North India (CNI) pastor Reverend C M Khanna and his associate Gayoor Masih guilty of “luring” and “forcing” Muslims to Christianity, and ordered their expulsion. A similar conversion charge has been levelled against Catholic Mill Hill missionary Fr. Jim Borst of the Netherlands. “The Church cannot do anything since we are minority in the state,” the Capuchin bishop said. He was to meet the federal Minority Commission on Tuesday to urge it to take up Christian concerns with the state government. Bishop Elampassery said Catholic institutions are serving Muslim people and they have never been involved in forced conversions or proselytizing. He said Islamic courts have no jurisdiction or power over Christians in the state and expressed little hope the government would take action against them. Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in India. Earlier, the All India Christian Council (AICC) regretted the Sharia court's verdict saying, “The Church does not accept as genuine any conversion brought about by fraud or force."