disputed territory of Kashmir five weeks ago was free Monday, June 20, after she managed to escape, an official of her mission organization confirmed. Paul Hattaway, director of Asia Harvest, said 22-year old Nargis, a former Muslim, was "making her way to a safe location."
He said Nargis, whose family name was not revealed for security reasons, was kidnapped by "captors [who] had produced some fake documents claiming that she was married to one of them. This happens frequently to Christian women throughout the Muslim world." The kidnappers allegedly also tried to reconvert her to Islam during her captivity.
After Asia Harvest released an international prayer appeal for its worker to supporters "no news came for weeks, and we started to fear that she had been killed," Hattaway admitted in a statement to BosNewsLife.
PHONE CALL
However her co-workers "suddenly received a telephone call from Nargis, saying she had managed to escape from her kidnappers momentarily…" Hattaway said her previous attempt to flee had failed: Nargis apparently managed to contact her family who "rushed there only to find she had already been moved to another place by her kidnappers."
Hattaway said the eventual successful escape was an answer to prayers. He stressed he had asked supporters in an appeal to pray that "God will protect her from her pursuers until she is completely safe" and that "she will receive godly and effective help from any physical, emotional or mental scars this ordeal has given her."
He stressed his organization has also been urging prayers that "the kingdom of God will continue to grow among the 4 million unreached Muslims in Kashmir." Adding to the difficulties of Christians like Nargis is the ongoing dispute over the state of Kashmir between forces from India and neighboring Pakistan and related violence that killed more than a dozen people in recent days.
MULLAHS PRESSURE
Barnabas Fund, a Christian human rights group monitoring the case, said earlier that Nargis, who it identified only as ‘N’ at the time, was involved with translation work on children’s Bible stories. "The ministry itself has had much pressure from the local mullahs, who have been harassing the workers to leave their homes, and issuing death threats against them," Barnabas Fund explained.
Elsewhere in India, converts from different religions have been attacked in local media recently, BosNewsLife’s Orissa Bureau learned. The Pioneer newspaper said last week that "evangelical Christians" were part of a "global conspiracy to create tensions between other communities."
It accused them of supporting "US bombardments and genocide of innocent Muslims" in Afghanistan and Iraq. "In a way, they are…establishing Christian global hegemony," said the paper, which is widely published in Orissa’s capital Bhubaneswar as well as in Delhi, Bhopal, Lucknow, and Kochi.
CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM
"The rise of Christian fundamentalism is truly frightening," The Pioneer said, adding that even the new pope "is known for his fundamentalist approach."
Human rights groups fear that Muslim and Hindu groups as well as media supporting them create a climate of hatred towards India’s Christian minority who comprise roughly 2 percent of the total population. Several church and advocacy groups have reported an increase in violence against Christians and missionary workers in recent months. (BosNewsLife New Delhi Bureau Chief Vishal Arora contributed to the story)
