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Punjabi Christians

January 01, 1970

Punjabi Christians are adherents of Christianity who identify ethnically, linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. They are mainly found in the Pakistani province of Punjab, forming the largest religious minority. They are one of the four main ethnoreligious communities of the Punjab region with the others being Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus.[4] Punjabi Christians are traditionally divided into various castes,[4] and are largely descendants of Hindus who converted to Christianity during the British Raj in colonial India.[5]

Punjabi Christians
Total population
c. 2,322,000
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan1,972,000[1]
 India350,000[2]
 United Kingdom20,000 (est.)[3]
Languages
Punjabi (various dialects), Urdu, English, Hindi
Religion
Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism)
Related ethnic groups

Today, the Punjabi Christians reside in the Punjab region, which includes the countries of Pakistan and India; they are almost equally divided between Catholicism and Protestantism.[1][6] With an estimated three million living in the Pakistani province of Punjab, they account for 75 percent of the country's total Christian population.[1][7][8] They are the second-largest religious community in the province behind Muslims, comprising approximately 1.5 to 2.8 percent of its population.[9][10] In India, a significant Punjabi Christian community is also found in the Indian state of Punjab. With a population of roughly 350,000, they comprise 1.26 percent of the state's population according to official Indian government figures.[2]

History edit

See also: Christianity in Punjab, Pakistan and Christianity in Punjab, India

From the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, a number of Christian texts were translated and made widely available in the Punjabi language, such as the New Testament, the Gospel, and texts relating to Jesus.[11] Ninety-five percent of Punjabi Christians are converts to Christianity from Hinduism, accepting their new faith during the British Raj in colonial India.[5] By 1870, there were only a few thousand Christians in the Punjab Province of colonial India; the 1880s saw the growth of the Presbyterian Church from 660 to 10,615 baptized Christians.[12] Continued evangelism efforts by Christian missionaries, especially those from the Church of Scotland and Church Missionary Society in India led to nearly half a million Punjabi Christians by the 1930s.[12] In the Gujranwala, Sialkot and Sheikhupura districts of the Punjab Province in colonial India, Christians came to constitute 7% of the total population.[12]

The All India Conference of Indian Christians held its first meeting on 28 December 1914 and was led by Raja Sir Harnam Singh of Kapurthala, who was the president of the National Missionary Society (NMS); the first AICIC General Secretary was B.L. Rallia Ram of Lahore.[13][14] The meeting of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in Lahore in December 1922, which had a large attendance of Punjabis, resolved that the clergymen of the Church in India should be drawn from the ranks of Indians, rather than foreigners.[15] The AICIC also stated that Indian Christians would not tolerate any discrimination based on race or skin colour.[15] S. K. Datta of Lahore, who served as the principal of Forman Christian College in then colonial India, became the president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians, representing the Indian Christian community at the Second Round Table Conference, where he agreed with Mahatma Gandhi's views on minorities and Depressed Classes.[16]

In June 1947, the total population of Punjabi Christians in the Punjab Province of colonial India was recorded at 511,299. Of these, 450,344 were based in West Punjab and 60,955 were in East Punjab.[8] After the partition of British India, most Punjabi Christians remained in place, with the majority finding themselves within the borders of Pakistan and the rest in independent India.[17] Those Christians who were serving in official government positions and the civil service were given the choice of opting for either of the countries.[18] The many British-era churches and cathedrals dotting the various cities of Punjab were overtaken by Punjabi Christians, and they also continued the legacy of maintaining Christian educational institutions and healthcare facilities which had remained nationally renowned.[19]

Culture edit

 
A copy of Sacred Scripture in Roman Urdu, published by the Bible Society of India

According to Selva J. Raj, the Punjabi Christian identity is an amalgamation of the Christian faith along with an ethnic affinity for the culture of Punjab, which includes the Punjabi language, Punjabi cuisine, the various customs and traditions of Punjab, and the way of life of the Punjabi people in general.[20]

As a result of living close to Punjabis of other faiths for generations, there have been notable cross-cultural influences; the Urdu language for instance, partly due to its evolution under Muslim presence in Punjab and otherwise due to its official adoption by the British Raj later on,[21] features heavily in the theology and literature of Punjabi Christians.[17] The earliest Christian scriptures which were published by British missionaries in the Punjab included those written in Roman Urdu.[21]

Geographical distribution edit

Pakistan edit

Main article: Christianity in Punjab, Pakistan

As of 1981, Lahore was the city with the largest Christian population in Pakistan, numbering over 200,000. The cities of Faisalabad, Sialkot and Sheikhupura are home to sizable communities.[22] In rural Punjab, many Christians belong to the Dalit Christian community, specifically the chuhra community,[23] whose ancestors had converted to Christianity from Hinduism during the colonial era to escape a discriminatory caste system in which they were regarded untouchables.[22][9][5][24][8] According to Dawn, compared to the more affluent Pakistani Christian communities of Anglo-Indians and Goan Catholics, who at the time of independence lived in the major cities, were proficient in English, and maintained upper-class British cultural mannerisms, the chuhras reflected the lower socioeconomic end of Pakistan; they were predominately labourers and peasants who were unskilled, did not own land, were neither highly educated or wealthy, and lived in the villages of central Punjab.[8] Despite having embraced Christianity, they still faced discrimination at some level due to their caste, skin colour, and economic status.[8] Peter C. Phan states that these chuhras form the vast majority of Pakistani Christians.[5] There continue to be several Christian-majority villages and settlements throughout Pakistani Punjab, such as Clarkabad and Martinpur.[22] The Christians belonging to the lower-income strata of Pakistani society face a number of social and economic issues, such as bonded labour.[8][9] Because of their impoverishment, many of them are forced to work in menial labour jobs, such as cleaners and sweepers; in Punjab alone, an estimated 80 percent of all sanitation workers belong to the Christian community.[9] As a result of urbanisation, employment-driven migration into larger cities and greater educational opportunities, an increasing number of Punjabi Christians have been able to gain a college education and acquire socially respectable positions in recent times.[19]

In the Islamabad Capital Territory, the Christian community dwells in large numbers in Francis Colony, a legally-recognised residential area situated in sector F-7. Others live in slums (katchi abadis) located on government-owned land, to where they have shifted from Narowal, Shakargarh, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Faisalabad, Sahiwal and Sialkot in Punjab.[8] In Azad Kashmir, there are close to 5,000 Punjabi Christians who live in the Bhimber, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Poonch and Bagh districts. Their roots lie mostly in Rawalpindi and Sialkot.[25] Most of the 50,000 or so Christians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa speak Punjabi, and had ancestors who settled in this area, but have gradually become Pashtunized over time due to cultural assimilation.[26][22][8] The largest Christian population is in Peshawar,[22] and there are a few hundred Christians in Swat.[8] The districts forming the erstwhile tribal areas along the Afghan frontier have been home to thousands of Christians since the early 20th century; according to the 1998 census, there were 1,500 Christians in South Waziristan, 2,000 in North Waziristan, 500 in Bajaur, 700 in Mohmand and 1,500 in Khyber District, all of whose ancestors migrated from Punjab.[8] They primarily work in nursing, teaching, cleaning or in clerical jobs.[8]

In Sindh, there have been Punjabi Christians settled for several decades; they include farmers, landowners, agricultural workers and other labourers engaged in blue collar work in the rural countryside, with Catholic villages existing in Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpur Khas.[27][8] The metropolis of Karachi is home to the largest population, with over 20,000 Punjabi Christians living in the neighbourhood of Essa Nagri alone.[8] In Balochistan, the majority of the province's 80,000 to 100,000 Christians are Punjabis.[8]

In Gilgit-Baltistan, Christians from Punjab are present across all of the ten districts, and are involved in janitorial work in both the public and private sectors.[24]

India edit

Main article: Christianity in Punjab, India

In India, the majority of Punjabi Christians belong to the Dalit community of chuhras[28] and belong to the lower-income working class.[23][2] At just over one percent of Punjab's population, their main population centres include the Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Firozpur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts.[11][29] There have historically been Punjabi Christian communities in Jammu,[23] Delhi,[23][30] and in Chandigarh, where the Christians are also known as Isai and belong to various sects. The Punjabi Christians in Chandigarh often bear the surname Masih.[31] Likewise in Haryana, some of the Christians settled there are Punjabis and are also commonly referred to as the Isai.[32] Both Chandigarh and Haryana were a part of Punjab up until 1966, when they were carved out as a separate union territory and state respectively.[31][32]

Diaspora edit

As a result of immigration, a large Christian Punjabi diaspora exists today.[8] There are significant Punjabi Christian communities in Canada (particularly Toronto),[8][33] the United States (particularly Philadelphia),[8] the Middle East,[34] the United Kingdom,[17] as well as other parts of Europe and Australia.[8] In the UK, Christian Punjabis are concentrated in the cities of London, Bedford, Birmingham, Coventry, Oxford and Wolverhampton among others.[20] One of the most prominent early Punjabi Christians in the UK was Duleep Singh, who first landed in the country in 1854, he was the Sikh Prince kidnapped by British at young age and converted without his knowing. He left Christianity at a later age and converted back to his Sikh beliefs.[20]

Some who have sought to resettle in the West arrived in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia as their first destinations, where they filed applications with the UNHCR.[8] Many individuals fled due to unfavorable conditions for Christians in Pakistan, resulting in concerns that such a haphazard diaspora led to irregular immigration and sex trafficking in areas such as China.[35][36] Among other motives for emigration, Christians have left Pakistan for economic reasons, greater opportunities to attain higher education or theological training, desire to join relatives already settled abroad, and to escape religious discrimination/persecution.[8]

Genetics edit

A study published in Nature analyzed the DNA of Punjabi Christians residing in the city of Lahore and found that they "appeared genetically more associated to south Asian, particularly Indian populations like Tamil, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh than rest of global populations."[37]

List of people edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Douglas Jacobsen (21 March 2011). The World's Christians: Who they are, Where they are, and How they got there. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-1-4443-9729-1.
  2. ^ a b c "Christians seek political voice in India's Punjab state". UCA News. 7 May 2019. from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  3. ^ "2011 UK Census data - Religion". Office for National Statistics. 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  4. ^ a b Anshu Malhotra; Farina Mir (21 February 2012). Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice. OUP India. pp. 352–. ISBN 978-0-19-908877-5.
  5. ^ a b c d Phan, Peter C. (2011). Christianities in Asia. John Wiley & Sons. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4443-9260-9.
  6. ^ Gerard Mannion (25 November 2008). Church and Religious 'Other'. A&C Black. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-0-567-03286-7.
  7. ^ Weber, Jeremy (7 August 2009). "Were Pakistan's Deadly Gojra Riots Enough to Provoke Change?". Christianity Today. Retrieved 15 April 2020. Punjab is the center of Pakistan's small Christian community—an estimated 3 million in the Muslim nation of 175 million...
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Aqeel, Asif; Faruqi, Sama (26 February 2018). "Caste away: The ongoing struggle of Punjabi Christians". Dawn. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d Aqeel, Asif (23 October 2015). "'Christians required only as sweepers'". The Friday Times. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  10. ^ Edward P. Lipton (2002). Religious Freedom in Asia. Nova Publishers. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-1-59033-391-4.
  11. ^ a b Augustine Kanjamala (21 August 2014). The Future of Christian Mission in India: Toward a New Paradigm for the Third Millennium. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 128–. ISBN 978-1-63087-485-8.
  12. ^ a b c Cox, Jeffrey (2002). Imperial Fault Lines: Christianity and Colonial Power in India, 1818-1940. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4318-1.
  13. ^ Thomas, Abraham Vazhayil (1974). Christians in Secular India. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 106-110. ISBN 978-0-8386-1021-3.
  14. ^ Chatterjee, N. (2011). The Making of Indian Secularism: Empire, Law and Christianity, 1830-1960. Springer. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-230-29808-8.
  15. ^ a b Webster, John C. B. (2018). A Social History of Christianity: North-west India since 1800. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-909757-9. In December 1921, the Punjabi-dominated meetings of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in Lahore was more cautious in their proposals but less cautious in the rationale they offered. They passed resolutions, first indicating that the Protestant missions 'should be completely merged in the Indian Church and that in future all Foreign Missionaries should be related to it', and then urging the missions in the meantime to 'appoint Indians of ability and character on an increasing scale'. Among their supporting arguments were that 'Indian Christians are not going to put up with colour and racial distinctions', that foreign missionaries could not solve the community's problems 'because of lack of sympathy', that the missions were too divided by denominational differences to bring about a united Indian Church, and that 'In these days Indians look up to Indians and do not pay much attention to foreigners.'
  16. ^ Black, Brian; Hyman, Gavin; Smith, Graham M. (2014). Confronting Secularism in Europe and India: Legitimacy and Disenchantment in Contemporary Times. A&C Black. p. 88-91. ISBN 978-1-78093-607-9.
  17. ^ a b c Journal of Religious Studies. Department of Religious Studies, Punjabi University. 1986. p. 59. Most Punjabi Christians remained on the Pakistani side. Emigration especially to U.K. has taken a tremendous toll. In U.K. they have sunk into the general mass of the British irreligious. On the Indian side, Punjabi Christians found how much they had been influenced by Islam.
  18. ^ Bangash, Yaqoob Khan (5 January 2020). "When Christians were partitioned in the Punjab-IV". The News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  19. ^ a b Chad M. Bauman; Richard Fox Young (7 August 2014). Constructing Indian Christianities: Culture, Conversion and Caste. Routledge. pp. 182–. ISBN 978-1-317-56027-2.
  20. ^ a b c Selva J. Raj (1 April 2016). South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America. Routledge. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-1-317-05229-6.
  21. ^ a b Farina Mir (2010). The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26269-0.
  22. ^ a b c d e Daniel Philpott; Timothy Samuel Shah (15 March 2018). Under Caesar's Sword: How Christians Respond to Persecution. Cambridge University Press. pp. 230, 232–. ISBN 978-1-108-42530-8.
  23. ^ a b c d Webster, John C.B. "Punjabi Christians" (PDF). UC Santa Barbara & Union Theological Seminary. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  24. ^ a b Aqeel, Asif (1 November 2018). "'Untouchable' caste identity haunts Pakistani Christians like Asia Bibi". World Watch Monitor. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  25. ^ . Asian Lite. 14 January 2019. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020. Christians are the only community who migrated here from the Punjab, mostly from Rawalpindi and Sialkot.
  26. ^ Usman, Ali (22 April 2013). "Multi-tongued: Peshawar's happy Hindus and Sikhs". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  27. ^ "Punjabi Christians leaving Sindh". UCA News. 27 November 1989. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  28. ^ Indian Church History Review. Church History Association of India. 2003. p. 66. As Punjabi Christians in India, the vast majority of whom are from Chuhra backgrounds, reaffirm their Dalit identity along with their Christian identity..
  29. ^ "India: Christians in shock after pastor shot dead in 'safe' Punjab". World Watch Monitor. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  30. ^ Kumar Suresh Singh (1998). India's Communities. Oxford University Press. p. 2882. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2. The Punjabi of Delhi mainly belong to four main religions, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity.
  31. ^ a b Kumar Suresh Singh; V. Bhalla; Swaran Singh (1 January 1997). Chandigarh. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 47. ISBN 978-81-7304-119-8. The Christians of Chandigarh, also known as Isai, have a number of sects... There are no accepted titles used by the community, but many Christian migrants from Punjab use Massey with their names.
  32. ^ a b Madan Lal Sharma; A. K. Bhatia; Anthropological Survey of India (1994). Haryana. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 126. ISBN 978-81-7304-091-7. The Christians in Haryana are numerically small and are popularly known as Issai. Most of them who setded in Haryana are not the original inhabitants of this place. They have migrated to this region from Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh... Therefore, their food habits, language, festivals, religious faith etc. reflect the impact of the place of their original inhabitation. For example, the Christians of Kerala speak Malayalam; of Karnataka, Kannada; and those from Punjab, Punjabi.
  33. ^ "Punjabi Christian community finally gets own church in Surrey". Hindustan Times. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  34. ^ Masudi, Faisal (17 December 2014). "Dubai's Pakistani Christians pray for Peshawar attack victims". Gulf News. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  35. ^ Gannon, Kathy (4 December 2019). "629 Pakistani Girls Trafficked to China as Brides". Christianity Today. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  36. ^ Gannon, Kathy; Kang, Dake (8 May 2019). "Pakistani Christian girls trafficked to China as brides". AP News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  37. ^ Rubab, Aqsa; Shafique, Muhammad; Javed, Faqeeha; Saleem, Samia; Zahra, Fatima Tuz; McNevin, Dennis; Shahid, Ahmad Ali (3 November 2020). "Population genetic portrait of Pakistani Lahore-Christians based on 32 STR loci". Scientific Reports. 10 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76016-2. hdl:10453/145358.

Further reading edit

January 01, 1970
punjabi, christians, adherents, christianity, identify, ethnically, linguistically, culturally, genealogically, punjabis, they, mainly, found, pakistani, province, punjab, forming, largest, religious, minority, they, four, main, ethnoreligious, communities, pu. Punjabi Christians are adherents of Christianity who identify ethnically linguistically culturally and genealogically as Punjabis They are mainly found in the Pakistani province of Punjab forming the largest religious minority They are one of the four main ethnoreligious communities of the Punjab region with the others being Muslims Sikhs and Hindus 4 Punjabi Christians are traditionally divided into various castes 4 and are largely descendants of Hindus who converted to Christianity during the British Raj in colonial India 5 Punjabi ChristiansTotal populationc 2 322 000Regions with significant populations Pakistan1 972 000 1 India350 000 2 United Kingdom20 000 est 3 LanguagesPunjabi various dialects Urdu English HindiReligionChristianity Catholicism and Protestantism Related ethnic groupsPunjabi Muslims Punjabi Sikhs Punjabi Hindus Today the Punjabi Christians reside in the Punjab region which includes the countries of Pakistan and India they are almost equally divided between Catholicism and Protestantism 1 6 With an estimated three million living in the Pakistani province of Punjab they account for 75 percent of the country s total Christian population 1 7 8 They are the second largest religious community in the province behind Muslims comprising approximately 1 5 to 2 8 percent of its population 9 10 In India a significant Punjabi Christian community is also found in the Indian state of Punjab With a population of roughly 350 000 they comprise 1 26 percent of the state s population according to official Indian government figures 2 Contents 1 History 2 Culture 3 Geographical distribution 3 1 Pakistan 3 2 India 4 Diaspora 5 Genetics 6 List of people 7 See also 8 References 9 Further readingHistory editSee also Christianity in Punjab Pakistan and Christianity in Punjab India From the mid 19th to early 20th centuries a number of Christian texts were translated and made widely available in the Punjabi language such as the New Testament the Gospel and texts relating to Jesus 11 Ninety five percent of Punjabi Christians are converts to Christianity from Hinduism accepting their new faith during the British Raj in colonial India 5 By 1870 there were only a few thousand Christians in the Punjab Province of colonial India the 1880s saw the growth of the Presbyterian Church from 660 to 10 615 baptized Christians 12 Continued evangelism efforts by Christian missionaries especially those from the Church of Scotland and Church Missionary Society in India led to nearly half a million Punjabi Christians by the 1930s 12 In the Gujranwala Sialkot and Sheikhupura districts of the Punjab Province in colonial India Christians came to constitute 7 of the total population 12 The All India Conference of Indian Christians held its first meeting on 28 December 1914 and was led by Raja Sir Harnam Singh of Kapurthala who was the president of the National Missionary Society NMS the first AICIC General Secretary was B L Rallia Ram of Lahore 13 14 The meeting of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in Lahore in December 1922 which had a large attendance of Punjabis resolved that the clergymen of the Church in India should be drawn from the ranks of Indians rather than foreigners 15 The AICIC also stated that Indian Christians would not tolerate any discrimination based on race or skin colour 15 S K Datta of Lahore who served as the principal of Forman Christian College in then colonial India became the president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians representing the Indian Christian community at the Second Round Table Conference where he agreed with Mahatma Gandhi s views on minorities and Depressed Classes 16 In June 1947 the total population of Punjabi Christians in the Punjab Province of colonial India was recorded at 511 299 Of these 450 344 were based in West Punjab and 60 955 were in East Punjab 8 After the partition of British India most Punjabi Christians remained in place with the majority finding themselves within the borders of Pakistan and the rest in independent India 17 Those Christians who were serving in official government positions and the civil service were given the choice of opting for either of the countries 18 The many British era churches and cathedrals dotting the various cities of Punjab were overtaken by Punjabi Christians and they also continued the legacy of maintaining Christian educational institutions and healthcare facilities which had remained nationally renowned 19 Culture edit nbsp A copy of Sacred Scripture in Roman Urdu published by the Bible Society of India According to Selva J Raj the Punjabi Christian identity is an amalgamation of the Christian faith along with an ethnic affinity for the culture of Punjab which includes the Punjabi language Punjabi cuisine the various customs and traditions of Punjab and the way of life of the Punjabi people in general 20 As a result of living close to Punjabis of other faiths for generations there have been notable cross cultural influences the Urdu language for instance partly due to its evolution under Muslim presence in Punjab and otherwise due to its official adoption by the British Raj later on 21 features heavily in the theology and literature of Punjabi Christians 17 The earliest Christian scriptures which were published by British missionaries in the Punjab included those written in Roman Urdu 21 Geographical distribution editPakistan edit Main article Christianity in Punjab Pakistan As of 1981 Lahore was the city with the largest Christian population in Pakistan numbering over 200 000 The cities of Faisalabad Sialkot and Sheikhupura are home to sizable communities 22 In rural Punjab many Christians belong to the Dalit Christian community specifically the chuhra community 23 whose ancestors had converted to Christianity from Hinduism during the colonial era to escape a discriminatory caste system in which they were regarded untouchables 22 9 5 24 8 According to Dawn compared to the more affluent Pakistani Christian communities of Anglo Indians and Goan Catholics who at the time of independence lived in the major cities were proficient in English and maintained upper class British cultural mannerisms the chuhras reflected the lower socioeconomic end of Pakistan they were predominately labourers and peasants who were unskilled did not own land were neither highly educated or wealthy and lived in the villages of central Punjab 8 Despite having embraced Christianity they still faced discrimination at some level due to their caste skin colour and economic status 8 Peter C Phan states that these chuhras form the vast majority of Pakistani Christians 5 There continue to be several Christian majority villages and settlements throughout Pakistani Punjab such as Clarkabad and Martinpur 22 The Christians belonging to the lower income strata of Pakistani society face a number of social and economic issues such as bonded labour 8 9 Because of their impoverishment many of them are forced to work in menial labour jobs such as cleaners and sweepers in Punjab alone an estimated 80 percent of all sanitation workers belong to the Christian community 9 As a result of urbanisation employment driven migration into larger cities and greater educational opportunities an increasing number of Punjabi Christians have been able to gain a college education and acquire socially respectable positions in recent times 19 In the Islamabad Capital Territory the Christian community dwells in large numbers in Francis Colony a legally recognised residential area situated in sector F 7 Others live in slums katchi abadis located on government owned land to where they have shifted from Narowal Shakargarh Sheikhupura Kasur Faisalabad Sahiwal and Sialkot in Punjab 8 In Azad Kashmir there are close to 5 000 Punjabi Christians who live in the Bhimber Mirpur Muzaffarabad Kotli Poonch and Bagh districts Their roots lie mostly in Rawalpindi and Sialkot 25 Most of the 50 000 or so Christians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa speak Punjabi and had ancestors who settled in this area but have gradually become Pashtunized over time due to cultural assimilation 26 22 8 The largest Christian population is in Peshawar 22 and there are a few hundred Christians in Swat 8 The districts forming the erstwhile tribal areas along the Afghan frontier have been home to thousands of Christians since the early 20th century according to the 1998 census there were 1 500 Christians in South Waziristan 2 000 in North Waziristan 500 in Bajaur 700 in Mohmand and 1 500 in Khyber District all of whose ancestors migrated from Punjab 8 They primarily work in nursing teaching cleaning or in clerical jobs 8 In Sindh there have been Punjabi Christians settled for several decades they include farmers landowners agricultural workers and other labourers engaged in blue collar work in the rural countryside with Catholic villages existing in Hyderabad Nawabshah Sanghar and Mirpur Khas 27 8 The metropolis of Karachi is home to the largest population with over 20 000 Punjabi Christians living in the neighbourhood of Essa Nagri alone 8 In Balochistan the majority of the province s 80 000 to 100 000 Christians are Punjabis 8 In Gilgit Baltistan Christians from Punjab are present across all of the ten districts and are involved in janitorial work in both the public and private sectors 24 India edit Main article Christianity in Punjab India In India the majority of Punjabi Christians belong to the Dalit community of chuhras 28 and belong to the lower income working class 23 2 At just over one percent of Punjab s population their main population centres include the Gurdaspur Amritsar Firozpur Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts 11 29 There have historically been Punjabi Christian communities in Jammu 23 Delhi 23 30 and in Chandigarh where the Christians are also known as Isai and belong to various sects The Punjabi Christians in Chandigarh often bear the surname Masih 31 Likewise in Haryana some of the Christians settled there are Punjabis and are also commonly referred to as the Isai 32 Both Chandigarh and Haryana were a part of Punjab up until 1966 when they were carved out as a separate union territory and state respectively 31 32 Diaspora editAs a result of immigration a large Christian Punjabi diaspora exists today 8 There are significant Punjabi Christian communities in Canada particularly Toronto 8 33 the United States particularly Philadelphia 8 the Middle East 34 the United Kingdom 17 as well as other parts of Europe and Australia 8 In the UK Christian Punjabis are concentrated in the cities of London Bedford Birmingham Coventry Oxford and Wolverhampton among others 20 One of the most prominent early Punjabi Christians in the UK was Duleep Singh who first landed in the country in 1854 he was the Sikh Prince kidnapped by British at young age and converted without his knowing He left Christianity at a later age and converted back to his Sikh beliefs 20 Some who have sought to resettle in the West arrived in Thailand Sri Lanka and Malaysia as their first destinations where they filed applications with the UNHCR 8 Many individuals fled due to unfavorable conditions for Christians in Pakistan resulting in concerns that such a haphazard diaspora led to irregular immigration and sex trafficking in areas such as China 35 36 Among other motives for emigration Christians have left Pakistan for economic reasons greater opportunities to attain higher education or theological training desire to join relatives already settled abroad and to escape religious discrimination persecution 8 Genetics editA study published in Nature analyzed the DNA of Punjabi Christians residing in the city of Lahore and found that they appeared genetically more associated to south Asian particularly Indian populations like Tamil Karnataka Kerala and Andhra Pradesh than rest of global populations 37 List of people editAkram Masih Gill Pakistani politician Amrit Kaur first Health Minister of India Ankur Narula Indian Evangelist and Senior Pastor and Overseer in the Church of Signs and Wonders Anthony Theodore Lobo former minister of Pakistan Roman Catholic Church Bir Masih Saunta Indian politician amp G S of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Minority Dept Bobby Jindal American politician Brother Bakht Singh Indian evangelist Bohemia David Roger first Punjabi rapper Cecil Chaudhry Pakistani academic human rights activist and veteran fighter pilot Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai Chief Secretary of East Punjab from 1957 to 1962 and the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir from 1964 to 1966 architect of Chandigarh Gurmit Singh half Punjabi Siganporean actor singer Harnam Singh a president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians Iqbal Masih Pakistani boy who became a symbol of abusive child labour Michael Masih Pakistani footballer Naeem Masih Pakistani para athlete Nazir Latif former Pakistani air force officer Nikki Haley born as Nimrata Randhawa Indian American diplomat who served as the governor of South Carolina and the United States ambassador to the United Nations Kalpana Kartik Bollywood actress and wife of Dev Anand Nirmal Roy Pakistani singer Jasvinder Sanghera British activist Julian Peter former Major General in Pakistan Army Lawrence Saldanha Catholic bishop Peter Christy former Pakistani air force officer Raja Maharaj Singh first Indian Governor of Bombay Presidency Rakesh Masih Indian footballer Sadhu Sundar Singh Indian Christian missionary Samuel Azariah Pakistani bishop Samuel Martin Burke Pakistani diplomat author and professor Sardar Anjum Indian Poet Shammi Jalandhari Indian Poet Satya Prakash Singha half Punjabi Speaker of Punjab Assembly in Colonial India Pakistani politician Shazia Hidayat Pakistani track and field athlete Shae Gill Pakistani singer famous for Pasoori Coke Studio Shahbaz Bhatti first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs amp member of National Assembly of Pakistan Shazia Masih Pakistani torture victim Sidra Sadaf Pakistani cyclist Sunita Marshall Pakistani model amp T V actressSee also edit nbsp Christianity portal nbsp Punjab portal History of Punjab Christianity in Pakistan Christianity in India Jai Masih KiReferences edit a b c Douglas Jacobsen 21 March 2011 The World s Christians Who they are Where they are and How they got there John Wiley amp Sons pp 112 ISBN 978 1 4443 9729 1 a b c Christians seek political voice in India s Punjab state UCA News 7 May 2019 Archived from the original on 9 May 2019 Retrieved 15 April 2020 2011 UK Census data Religion Office for National Statistics 2011 Retrieved 4 October 2018 a b Anshu Malhotra Farina Mir 21 February 2012 Punjab Reconsidered History Culture and Practice OUP India pp 352 ISBN 978 0 19 908877 5 a b c d Phan Peter C 2011 Christianities in Asia John Wiley amp Sons p 25 ISBN 978 1 4443 9260 9 Gerard Mannion 25 November 2008 Church and Religious Other A amp C Black pp 88 ISBN 978 0 567 03286 7 Weber Jeremy 7 August 2009 Were Pakistan s Deadly Gojra Riots Enough to Provoke Change Christianity Today Retrieved 15 April 2020 Punjab is the center of Pakistan s small Christian community an estimated 3 million in the Muslim nation of 175 million a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Aqeel Asif Faruqi Sama 26 February 2018 Caste away The ongoing struggle of Punjabi Christians Dawn Retrieved 15 April 2020 a b c d Aqeel Asif 23 October 2015 Christians required only as sweepers The Friday Times Retrieved 16 April 2020 Edward P Lipton 2002 Religious Freedom in Asia Nova Publishers pp 40 ISBN 978 1 59033 391 4 a b Augustine Kanjamala 21 August 2014 The Future of Christian Mission in India Toward a New Paradigm for the Third Millennium Wipf and Stock Publishers pp 128 ISBN 978 1 63087 485 8 a b c Cox Jeffrey 2002 Imperial Fault Lines Christianity and Colonial Power in India 1818 1940 Stanford University Press ISBN 978 0 8047 4318 1 Thomas Abraham Vazhayil 1974 Christians in Secular India Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press p 106 110 ISBN 978 0 8386 1021 3 Chatterjee N 2011 The Making of Indian Secularism Empire Law and Christianity 1830 1960 Springer p 224 ISBN 978 0 230 29808 8 a b Webster John C B 2018 A Social History of Christianity North west India since 1800 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 909757 9 In December 1921 the Punjabi dominated meetings of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in Lahore was more cautious in their proposals but less cautious in the rationale they offered They passed resolutions first indicating that the Protestant missions should be completely merged in the Indian Church and that in future all Foreign Missionaries should be related to it and then urging the missions in the meantime to appoint Indians of ability and character on an increasing scale Among their supporting arguments were that Indian Christians are not going to put up with colour and racial distinctions that foreign missionaries could not solve the community s problems because of lack of sympathy that the missions were too divided by denominational differences to bring about a united Indian Church and that In these days Indians look up to Indians and do not pay much attention to foreigners Black Brian Hyman Gavin Smith Graham M 2014 Confronting Secularism in Europe and India Legitimacy and Disenchantment in Contemporary Times A amp C Black p 88 91 ISBN 978 1 78093 607 9 a b c Journal of Religious Studies Department of Religious Studies Punjabi University 1986 p 59 Most Punjabi Christians remained on the Pakistani side Emigration especially to U K has taken a tremendous toll In U K they have sunk into the general mass of the British irreligious On the Indian side Punjabi Christians found how much they had been influenced by Islam Bangash Yaqoob Khan 5 January 2020 When Christians were partitioned in the Punjab IV The News Retrieved 16 April 2020 a b Chad M Bauman Richard Fox Young 7 August 2014 Constructing Indian Christianities Culture Conversion and Caste Routledge pp 182 ISBN 978 1 317 56027 2 a b c Selva J Raj 1 April 2016 South Asian Christian Diaspora Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America Routledge pp 44 ISBN 978 1 317 05229 6 a b Farina Mir 2010 The Social Space of Language Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 26269 0 a b c d e Daniel Philpott Timothy Samuel Shah 15 March 2018 Under Caesar s Sword How Christians Respond to Persecution Cambridge University Press pp 230 232 ISBN 978 1 108 42530 8 a b c d Webster John C B Punjabi Christians PDF UC Santa Barbara amp Union Theological Seminary Retrieved 15 April 2020 a b Aqeel Asif 1 November 2018 Untouchable caste identity haunts Pakistani Christians like Asia Bibi World Watch Monitor Retrieved 16 April 2020 The Plight of Minorities in Azad Kashmir Asian Lite 14 January 2019 Archived from the original on 15 April 2020 Retrieved 15 April 2020 Christians are the only community who migrated here from the Punjab mostly from Rawalpindi and Sialkot Usman Ali 22 April 2013 Multi tongued Peshawar s happy Hindus and Sikhs The Express Tribune Retrieved 15 April 2020 Punjabi Christians leaving Sindh UCA News 27 November 1989 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Indian Church History Review Church History Association of India 2003 p 66 As Punjabi Christians in India the vast majority of whom are from Chuhra backgrounds reaffirm their Dalit identity along with their Christian identity India Christians in shock after pastor shot dead in safe Punjab World Watch Monitor 17 July 2017 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Kumar Suresh Singh 1998 India s Communities Oxford University Press p 2882 ISBN 978 0 19 563354 2 The Punjabi of Delhi mainly belong to four main religions Hinduism Sikhism Islam and Christianity a b Kumar Suresh Singh V Bhalla Swaran Singh 1 January 1997 Chandigarh Anthropological Survey of India p 47 ISBN 978 81 7304 119 8 The Christians of Chandigarh also known as Isai have a number of sects There are no accepted titles used by the community but many Christian migrants from Punjab use Massey with their names a b Madan Lal Sharma A K Bhatia Anthropological Survey of India 1994 Haryana Anthropological Survey of India p 126 ISBN 978 81 7304 091 7 The Christians in Haryana are numerically small and are popularly known as Issai Most of them who setded in Haryana are not the original inhabitants of this place They have migrated to this region from Bengal Punjab Kerala Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh Therefore their food habits language festivals religious faith etc reflect the impact of the place of their original inhabitation For example the Christians of Kerala speak Malayalam of Karnataka Kannada and those from Punjab Punjabi Punjabi Christian community finally gets own church in Surrey Hindustan Times 20 February 2014 Retrieved 15 April 2020 Masudi Faisal 17 December 2014 Dubai s Pakistani Christians pray for Peshawar attack victims Gulf News Retrieved 15 April 2020 Gannon Kathy 4 December 2019 629 Pakistani Girls Trafficked to China as Brides Christianity Today Retrieved 16 April 2020 Gannon Kathy Kang Dake 8 May 2019 Pakistani Christian girls trafficked to China as brides AP News Retrieved 16 April 2020 Rubab Aqsa Shafique Muhammad Javed Faqeeha Saleem Samia Zahra Fatima Tuz McNevin Dennis Shahid Ahmad Ali 3 November 2020 Population genetic portrait of Pakistani Lahore Christians based on 32 STR loci Scientific Reports 10 1 doi 10 1038 s41598 020 76016 2 hdl 10453 145358 Further reading editWebster John C B Punjabi Christians PDF University of California Santa Barbara amp Union Theological Seminary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Punjabi Christians amp oldid 1219960685, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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