Ahmad Saeed, additional district judge of Kasur District, Punjab Province, on 16 November overturned the verdict of Pattoki Civil Judge Mian Usman Tariq, who had ruled that 24-year-old Sufyan Masih could not revert to Christianity after ‘converting’ to Islam, said the Christian’s lawyer, Sumera Shafique.
“The civil judge’s order was surprising, given the fact that none of the witnesses … appeared in court to record their statements despite repeated notices,” Shafique told sources. Shafique said the civil judge had failed to assess the merits of her client’s case, apparently under fear of backlash from Islamists.
Masih had definitively affirmed his Christian faith and had reiterated that declaration in his statement to the district judge, she added. He told the judge that Asif Ali, the brick kiln owner where Masih worked, had registered his name in the NADRA (National Database & Registration Authority) record as Muhammad Sufyan and his religion as Islam in a bid to enslave him.
“Being an illiterate person, Masih failed to read the form filled by the data entry operator on the directives of his employer,” Shafique said, noting that Masih had put his thumbprint on the form in ignorance.
NADRA data operators are bound to obtain an undertaking from the applicant at the time of registering their alleged conversion, but they are not implementing the procedure, Shafique said.
According to NADRA’s CNIC (Computerised National Identify Card) registration policy, any mistake by applicants to state their religion correctly due to illiteracy “may be handled in office fault category”. In Masih’s case, however, NADRA claimed that his name and religion could not be changed because, at the time of registration, he had verified his religion as Islam on the official form.
NADRA asserted that according to official policy, a Muslim cannot change his religious designation in the CNIC to any other religion, whereas people who convert to Islam from other faiths can get their CNICs amended.
Shafique said the verdict overturning the 18 May ruling would be helpful in similar suits in civil courts. She noted that many Christians are facing similar cases, perpetuated by their illiteracy.
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