Changing religion on ID cards through NADRA in Pakistan is not allowed for converts from Islam. (Screenshot from My Urdu World on YouTube)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A brick kiln worker’s forced conversion to Islam in Pakistan’s national database has left his five children unable to have their Christian faith designated on their national identity cards, his son said.

Sufyan Masih, who works at a kiln in Phoolnagar, Kasur District in Punjab Province, said that his father, Sadiq Masih, was pressured to convert to Islam years ago while indebted to a former employer. The change was later reflected in records maintained by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), and a second Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) was issued in the name “Muhammad Sadiq.”

“Because my father is registered as a Muslim in NADRA, we have been told that we cannot register ourselves as Christians,” Masih said. “We want our documents to show who we truly are, but we are not being allowed to.”

Masih’s father, born in 1976 to Gija Masih, worked for many years at a brick kiln owned by Haji Rana Anwar in the Jatti Umra area of Lahore to support his wife, Rasheeda Masih, who is non-verbal, and their five children.

The family’s financial difficulties intensified about 15 years ago when Rasheeda fell seriously ill.

“My father took a 400,000 Pakistani rupees loan [$1,430] from his employer for her treatment and household expenses,” Masih said.

Debt arrangements are common in Pakistan’s brick kiln sector, where workers often rely on advances from kiln owners to cover living costs between pay cycles. Human rights advocates have long warned that such arrangements can leave workers vulnerable to exploitation and coercion.

“We are poor people. When you take a loan, you become tied,” Masih said. “The pressure was constant. My illiterate father was in a weak position.”

Under that pressure, he said, his father was compelled to convert to Islam and accept a Muslim identity in official records.

“This name was not his choice,” Masih said, referring to the name Muhammad Sadiq on the CNIC. “It was imposed on him because he was financially dependent. He did not change his faith in his heart.”

Masih said the consequences of the change have extended beyond his father. Because children’s registration records are linked to their parents’ data in NADRA’s system, officials have told the family that the children can only be registered as Muslims.

“We have been told that since our father is registered as a Muslim, we must also be registered as Muslims,” he said. “But we are Christians. We have been raised as Christians. Why should we deny our faith just to get an identity card?”

As a result, the children have been unable to obtain CNICs reflecting their Christian identity, he said. In Pakistan, the CNIC is required to access education, formal employment, banking services, voting rights and most government assistance programs.

Despite the official record, Masih said his father continues to practice Christianity.

“He still prays as a Christian. We all do,” he said. “On paper they have made him someone else, but in reality he is still Sadiq Masih.”

The family now works at another kiln in Phoolnagar and continues to live in poverty, Masih said, adding that they lack the financial means to pursue a protracted legal battle.

Pakistani authorities generally do not permit individuals registered as Muslims to change their religious affiliation in official records, legal experts say, except in cases where a clerical error can be demonstrated or where a person converts to Islam from another faith.

Lazar Allah Rakha, a Christian attorney who has handled cases involving religious identity disputes, said there is no explicit constitutional provision barring a Muslim from changing religion. There is, however, a strong legal, constitutional and societal barrier against conversions from Islam, he said.

“Converts from Islam often face severe social stigma, familial rejection and threats of violence from extremist elements,” Rakha said.

Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion, subject to “law, public order and morality.” At the same time, Article 227 declares Islam the state religion and requires laws to conform to Islamic injunctions, he said.

Rakha said this framework creates tension with international human rights standards on freedom of conscience.

“Traditional Islamic jurisprudence regarding apostasy is highly restrictive, and this influences how authorities approach requests to change religious status,” he said.

Although Pakistan does not have a specific statute criminalizing apostasy, accusations linked to renouncing Islam can expose individuals to legal risk under Section 295-A of the penal code, which prescribes up to 10 years’ imprisonment for “outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens.” Allegations of blasphemy in Pakistan can also trigger mob violence.

Rakha said NADRA policy allows corrections where applicants can show that an error occurred due to illiteracy or clerical fault.

“In practice, however, conversion to Islam is processed with relative ease, while conversion from Islam to another religion is treated with suspicion and often rejected,” he said.

Applicants are typically directed to seek a court order, leading to lengthy and costly litigation, he added.

The Masih family says it is seeking only the restoration of Sadiq’s original name and religious status in the national database, and the ability for his children to register as Christians.

“We just want the restoration of his original Christian name, ‘Sadiq Masih,’ correction of his religious status in the CNIC, and to register ourselves as Christians and obtain our CNICs accordingly,” Sufyan Masih said. “We are not asking for anything beyond our constitutional right.”

Pakistan, where more than 96 percent of the population is Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.

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