Killing Christians Is the Way to Martyrdom - The Shocking Message Being Taught in Pakistan's Schools
Some school textbooks in Pakistan include lessons teaching students that killing Christians is a goal that must be achieved for them to obtain martyrdom, according to a report prepared by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The report also included claims that Islamist groups in Pakistan are launching regular attacks against non-Muslim Pakistanis as well as some sects of Muslims such as Shiites and Ahmadi, whom they do not consider to be real Muslims.
The report states that official and independent media, government leaders and religious scholars have legitimized hate against religious minorities, with the term "minority" itself having come to be seen in a pejorative context.
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"As a result of such legitimization of hate through school textbooks, government policies, sermons in mosques and religious congregations, there is growing persecution of Pakistani Christians, Hindus, Shias and Ahmadi Muslims," the report read.
"Jihad is part of our faith. We will not back down [from our decision]," Shah Farman, an official with a regional political faction, told World Net Daily.
The report added that many textbooks in Pakistan feed the Islamic trend and promote hatred and jihad among primary school students. Shockingly non-Muslim Pakistanis also have to go through the same school texts on a daily basis from a young age.
"Throughout Pakistan's history, since its creation in 1947, hate speech against non-Muslims has been a normal phenomenon in Pakistani society," the report noted.
There were also other claims that revealed school children were being forced to convert to Islam while in school, extending the picture of persecution taking place in the south-Asian country.
The Archbishop of Karachi and the head of the Council of Pakistani Bishops revealed that Christians in the country are under constant pressure to convert to Islam, most notably in schools at a young age.
"The daily lives of religious minorities in Pakistan are characterized by poverty, injustice and discrimination. Non-Muslims are identified as second-class citizens in school textbooks. Teachers repeatedly ask students to write essays titled: write a letter to your friend encouraging him to convert to Islam," Bishop Joseph Coats told the Italian AKI agency.
