Interfaith couples in Pakistan brave threats for forbidden love

Thirteen years ago, among the whirring looms of a garment factory in an eastern Pakistani city, a Muslim woman fell in love with a Christian co-worker.

Now married with three children, Kalsoom Bibi and her husband, Yousuf Bhatti, have been shunned by their communities and endured death threats and an abduction, all in the name of religious honor in this conservative Islamic country.

Marriage out of choice remains a taboo in Pakistan, particularly when it involves a partner outside one's own clan or faith group.

While marriages between different members of Abrahamic faiths - including Judaism, Christianity and Islam - is permitted by law, a Muslim woman may not marry a non-Muslim man.

Those who convert from Islam can be charged with blasphemy and face life in prison.

Kalsoom's first encounter with a member of another religion came at school, where the only Christian student was mercilessly bullied.

When she met Yousuf, she decided to question him about his faith to find out more. Long hours of discussion brought the two close together, and she eventually decided to convert.

It is a fact she hides to this day from her family.

"My mother died requesting me to leave my Christian husband," said Kalsoom, a short woman in her 20s with deep brown eyes, sitting on her bed in a modest two-room house with her husband and children.

"Had she known that I myself have been converted to Christianity, she would had died with grief or asked her family to kill me."

Such unions aren't officially recorded but rights activists believe there are thousands of such cases every year.

The couple say they now live among a more understanding community that provides them support and respects their choices - but it wasn't always this way.

"Life after marriage was terrible. We went into hiding because the family and community threatened to kill us.

"We lived in hiding in Islamabad for several months, and my son was born during that time," she said.

Yousuf said the most harrowing incident early on in their marriage was when he was abducted by four Muslim militants and driven hours out of town to a deserted spot.

"They kept me there for several days and asked me why I married my wife.

"They wanted to kill me, but when I told them that I married my wife with her own will and because she also wanted to marry me - and that I did not force her into this marriage - they softened and released me after some days," he added.

Naveed Walter, president of Human Rights Focus Pakistan, said the case was symptomatic of a wider problem, which remains largely hidden from sight.

"In such cases (of interfaith marriages), people try to attack the whole community," he said.

Walter added his organization had estimated 10,000 cases nationwide over the past four years.

There are no provisions in the criminal code against leaving Islam, though the country's blasphemy law - which carries a life sentence - has been invoked in recent cases against apostates.

But even when members from the minority Christian community convert to Islam, they can still face a backlash.

Sana, a Christian teacher from the same eastern city, met and fell in love with cameraman Salman Khawaja, who had come to record a show about Christmas festivities in 2006.

Drawn to Islamic traditions and culture since her childhood, Sana decided to embrace Islam.

The couple's lives became "hellish" after marriage, and they said they had to leave their city to avoid death.

"We were threatened from both Christian and Muslim communities. So we decided to leave the city to save our lives," Sana told AFP holding her two-year-old son.

Despite being a journalist with connections to local government officials, Salman found himself helpless to fight back.

"We decided to get married in another city to avoid any attacks by our families and communities," he said.

"Back at our homes, our families were planning to kill us for marrying across religion as they thought we had stolen their pride and honor."