PF Pakistan Helps Change Law
It’s a change that could affect every Christian prisoner in Pakistan. On 4 August 2008, the Governor of the Punjab (the Punjab Province is the country’s most densely populated region) made an unprecedented and much-lauded amendment to the Pakistan Prison Rules of 1978 that allows non-Muslim prisoners to benefit from the same allowance for a remission in their sentences as Muslim prisoners enjoy.
Until now, the government offered Muslim prisoners a reduction in their sentences if they took Islamic education classes and memorized portions of the Quran, but non-Muslims did not receive such a benefit for studying books of their own religion. The new amendment provides for the remission of non-Muslim prisoners’ sentences for successfully completing Christian or other religious studies. However, benefits will not become a reality until a Christian curriculum is approved by the government,
Pakistan has one the largest Islamic communities in the world – Muslims make up more than 97 percent of the population, while Christians are estimated at 1.5 percent – so this new law is truly extraordinary.
PF Pakistan has long lobbied for this change and the ministry was quick to praise the government, Home Department, Prison IG and Minister for Prisons and Jails for their “sympathetic attitude” in making this amendment to the prison rules. “All Glory to God that we are able to find fruit from our more than eight years of efforts,” said Arthur Wilson, Executive Director of PF Pakistan.
This article first appeared in Prison Fellowship International’s Global Link Journal for September 2008.
