Attack on father of five was not in Pakistan but Bradford, UK
A CHRISTIAN CONVERT FROM ISLAM has been violently attacked outside his home in Bradford.
Father of five Nissar Hussain was hospitalised on 17 November after two men attacked him with pickaxe handles, breaking his hand and kneecap. He has extensive bruising and has had to undergo surgery.
Nissar, a hospital nurse, his wife and children converted to Christianity in 1996 and ten years ago moved to another part of the city to escape intimidation and violence from the local Pakistani community.
On one occasion, a gang of some Muslims rampaged the house and Nissar tried to defend his family. He was himself arrested by British police over the incident – allegedly for his own protection.
In 2003, the family car was torched and a threat given that the house would be engulfed in flames. Police were told but no arrests made. A policeman is reported to have told Nissar: “Stop being a crusader and move out of the area”. Later, the empty house next to the family was set alight and the Hussains fled.
In 2006, the family moved to the other side of Bradford but after speaking in a TV documentary about the persecution of converts in the UK – they faced more persecution including a gang rape threat against the children.
The Hussains’ oldest daughter has written a blog about the isolation experienced by the family within the local Pakistani community for following Jesus. The girls could not ride their bicycles on the street for fear of abuse. Bricks and bottles would also be thrown over their garden fence, preventing play.
Hussain on behalf of the British Pakistan Christian Association. A few weeks later, he would be savagely beaten and end up in hospital with a broken hand and kneecap and extensive bruising. The attack was only stopped when a passer-by came to help Nissar
The British Pakistan Christian Association (BPCA) has been supporting the Hussains.
A BPCA spokesman said: “I had already been aware of the family from previous reports in the media. The media did not tell the half of it. What that family has endured matches reports from Pakistan – the continuous harassment, violence, the siding of the police – with the extremists persecuting them, telling the family that they brought this on themselves – it is utterly appalling and it needs to be exposed. If I had been given this report with all locations removed, I would have said these events had to have been in Pakistan or a (similar) country.”
The BPCA stated that such incidents were not isolated and the charity knows of other individuals in the UK who have faced similar persecution for converting to the Christian faith.
Nissar has helped to promote Christian Concern’s Safe Haven initiative and appears on their website along with a video in which he describes his conversion.