Pakistani agents ‘intimidate’ campaigner’s family

BY ED WEST
RELATIVES of Britain’s most prominent Pakistani Christian campaigner have been visited on three separate occasions by Pakistani security officials in what he claims is a “campaign of intimidation”.
Agents from Pakistan’s InterServices Intelligence (ISI) agency made the visits to the parents-in-law of Wilson Chowdhry, the director of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), accusing him of fomenting anti-Pakistani activities following the group’s protests in London on July 2.
The officers accused Mr Chowdhry’s wife’s family of encouraging anti-Islamic messages through the BPCA and have stated that they will continue to make impromptu visits to the elderly couple.
The visits, which have made the family “upset and anxious”, according to Mr Chowdhry, came after the Christian campaigner from east London claimed he was manhandled at the Pakistani High Commission in London in May.
The British activist, although of Pakistani descent, does not hold a Pakistani passport and had to apply for a visa to visit the country, which he and his Pakistani-born wife had not visited for two years due to his work in Britain and the increasing threat of violence in the country. But as a high-profile campaigner for Pakistan’s 2.8 million Christians, he claims that he was obstructed by the London bureau.
Mr Chowdhry said: “I had been to the High Commission five times, without any luck, so then my wife went. She completed everything, and they then said they needed to interview to me. It was again another hurdle.” After another unsuccessful meeting Mr Chowdhry claims he was assaulted. He said: “As I got outside the two security officers grabbed me and dragged me inside. They only stopped when one hurt his fist on my cheek, and people waiting there heard the commotion.” The High Commission called the police but after Mr Chowdhry was taken away no charges were made.
He said: “The police knew there was no way I had hit anyone, and they [the High Commission] refused to provide CCTV.” Mr Chowdhry is one of only 9,000 Pakistani Christians in Britain, an overlooked minority dwarfed by the 1.2 million Pakistani Muslims in the country. His wife, Juliet was born in Lahore and her parents still live in the city. The visits from the ISI, as well as the Intelligence Bureau, Pakistan’s main domestic intelligence agency, began soon after the incident in London. “They went around the house taking an inventory,” Mr Chowdhry said: “The second time they brought an imam. Every time I was a predominant factor in the questioning. They said to my inlaws that they were sent by the High Commission.” Mr Chowdhry had asked the High Commission several times for an explanation but has yet to receive a reply.
The Inter-Services Intelligence is responsible for Pakistan’s national security and is a key player in the battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan. But it has long been regarded by both the United States and India as being infiltrated by Taliban sympathisers and its members have even been linked to atrocities such as the 2008 Mumbai massacre.
Mr Chowdhry believes that his family are being visited because of his work campaigning for Pakistani Christian rights. Earlier this month Mr Chowdhry led several hundred people in marching through London to protest at Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws.
The most recent victim of the law is Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who is currently facing a death sentence after being convicted of insulting the Prophet Mohammed on the say-so of her neighbour. In March Pakistan’s leading Catholic politician, Shahbaz Bhatti, was murdered in the capital Islamabad while travelling to work. Mr Bhatti had received numerous death threats after calling for changes to the country’s controversial blasphemy law. The blasphemy law carries a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam, and critics say it has been used to persecute minority faiths. In January Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who had also opposed the law, was murdered by one of his bodyguards.
The Pakistani High Commission was unavailable for comment.