Pakistani Christians number around 3 million
Pakistani Christians like Ahmed are a part of the country’s small religious minority. According to the U.S. Department of State, the nation’s total population stands at 247.7 million, and a recent census found that 96% of the population is Muslim. Various religious minorities, including Christians and other groups, make up the remaining 4%. Some estimate that the Pakistani Christian population officially comprises less than 1.27% of the populace; that figure equates to around 3,145,000 Christians.
Believers in Pakistan experience significant religious discrimination
Believers comprise a small religious community that routinely faces systemic persecution in this Muslim-majority nation. This persecution can come in the form of threats, violence, and false blasphemy charges. Additionally, it can come in the form of discrimination as Pakistani Christians are marginalized because of their faith and often denied access to education, good jobs and a living wage. Such is the case with our brother in Christ, Ahmed.
Pakistani Christians like him are overrepresented in the 20,000 brutal brick kilns that dot the countryside. There, impoverished believers and entire families labor in oppressive conditions akin to modern slavery. They have few opportunities for employment and are treated as one of the lowest rungs of society.
For Ahmed and his wife, both fervent Pakistani Christians, the descent into debt bondage began (as it does for so many impoverished Christians) with an unexpected family emergency. Desperate to cover sudden medical expenses, they took loans from the kiln owner, unwittingly ensnaring themselves in a web of exploitation. “We thought we would pay off the debt in two years, but we could not,” Ahmed told GCR. “We have been in the kilns for 25 years now.” A combination of high interest rates and garnished wages has prevented Ahmed from paying off much of the principal on their loan.
The Pakistani Christian family’s hardships have been compounded by tragedy—including the untimely death of their daughter from cancer and the passing of Ahmed’s ailing elder brother. Additional loans taken out to cover their medical treatments, and subsequent funeral expenses, have only tightened the chains of Ahmed’s bondage.
Pakistani Christians often languish in poor health
It is not uncommon for impoverished Pakistani Christians to experience chronic sickness. Why? Because they lack of access to healthcare and work daily in hazardous conditions amid smoke, dust and chemicals in the kilns. Now, after months of battling his own failing health, Ahmed can barely muster the strength to work. His young children have been forced to take his place at the kilns. Their futures are put on hold in the name of survival.
Yet amidst these challenges, the family’s Christian faith remains an unwavering source of hope and resilience. Ahmed, his wife and children cling to God’s promises through daily prayer and Bible reading, finding solace in the Psalms and in the fellowship of their local Christian church community. Their most fervent prayer has been for deliverance from the bondage of debt and the brutality of the brick kilns. “We just prayed to get free from debt and brick making,” Ahmed shared. “We’ve kept requesting this from God.”
