Abstract
Several scholarly works and media reports claim that the Christian minority in Pakistan is mistreated, persecuted, and discriminated against, giving an overall impression as if Christians are alienated from the main social stream everywhere in Pakistan and that the public at large is responsible for their miseries. Noticing that most of the above-mentioned works are theoretical or based on journalistic information, an attempt has been made through this empirical case study of Peshawar city to know the situation of Christian-Muslim coexistence on the ground. For this purpose, a mix method approach was used combining quantitative survey, qualitative interviews, and group discussions. Contrary to the prevailing negative impression, this study reveals that to a large measure Christian and Muslim communities are living together peacefully, at least in Peshawar city. Quantitatively, 68% of respondents, both Christians and Muslims, viewed their mutual social and neighborhood interaction as positive. The results of qualitative interviews also supported these findings. It is, therefore, concluded that apart from some Christian concerns which need to be addressed, overall Christian-Muslim coexistence at the societal level might not be marred by religious differences everywhere in Pakistan. Negative generalizations in this regard need to be revisited, to say the least.
Highlights
1.1 BackgroundPakistan came into being in 1947 as a separate homeland for Muslims of the Indian subcontinent where they could live by their religious aspirations and safeguard their economic interests
Positive neighborhood interaction of Christians with Muslim neighbors was calculated as 71% (Note 4) while positive Muslim interaction with Christian neighbors found was 64%. (Note 5) By merging positive responses of both communities the average percent neighborhood interaction of Christians and Muslims measured was 68%. (Note 6)
The majority of 95.5% of Christians agreed that they were safe among the Muslim community of Peshawar
Summary
Pakistan came into being in 1947 as a separate homeland for Muslims of the Indian subcontinent where they could live by their religious aspirations and safeguard their economic interests. Pakistan is a country with an overwhelming Muslim majority. According to the census of 1998, Muslims are 96.28 %of the country‟s population, while Hindus are 1.6 % and Christians 1.59 % (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics). Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), who spearheaded the freedom movement of Pakistan, had declared in clear terms that minorities would have full religious and cultural freedoms with equal citizenship rights like their Muslim compatriots (Malik, 2002). The constitution of Pakistan promises adequate provisions for minorities of the country to profess and practice their religion and develop their culture Religious minorities of the country in general and the Christian minority in particular often complain about different types of political, legal, and social discrimination
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