In a rare development, a high court in Pakistan last month ordered the government to issue a new identity card reflecting a woman's conversion from Islam to Christianity, her attorney said.
The woman, whose name is withheld for security reasons, renounced Islam and married a Christian man 15 years ago.
Attorney Lazar Allah Rakha said that for years she had repeatedly tried to get her faith designation corrected on her national identity record, but officials at the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) defiantly refused. She converted to Christianity in January 2009 and married the Christian four months later.
“The couple has five children and are settled in a district in South Punjab since the time of their marriage,” he said.
After her efforts to get a new identity card failed, the woman sought help from advocacy organization Christian Solidarity International, which engaged Rakha, a Christian attorney known for taking up sensitive cases pertaining to religious freedom in Pakistan. He filed a petition in the Lahore High Court submitting that she had converted to Christianity of her own free will and married a Christian in a ceremony officiated by a pastor.
“The couple has five children, but though NADRA has issued the children’s B-Form, it did not include the mother’s identity card number in the document, ostensibly due to her marriage with a Christian,” Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “When the petitioner again went to get her identity document corrected in the NADRA records in October 2024, the officials there refused to accept her Christian baptism certificate, marriage certificate and birth certificates of her children and instead threatened her with dire consequences for renouncing her Islamic faith.”
Rakha said that on July 1, a single-member bench comprising Justice Shahid Karim ordered NADRA to treat the woman’s case as a “mistaken entry” and issue her a new identity card with Christianity as her faith.
“NADRA’s denial to issue an adult woman her identity card with her new faith was a clear violation of Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guarantees every citizen the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion,” he said. “It also violates Articles 4 and 9 of the Constitution that guarantee protection of law and security of life to every citizen.”
The attorney said that the couple was thrilled to finally obtain the woman’s new identity card.
“They had faced several challenges over the years due to this issue, including obtaining birth registration certificates for their children and getting them enrolled in school,” he said. “Now they are relieved that the years-long struggle has finally come to an end.”
He clarified that there is no specific law in Pakistan that explicitly criminalizes apostasy, which some schools of Islamic jurisprudence consider a sin punishable by death.
“However, apostasy can lead to prosecution under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, particularly Section 295-A that prescribes imprisonment of up to 10 years for hurting religious sentiments of any community,” Rakha said. “Additionally, societal stigma and potential violence from vigilante groups are real threats for those who choose to convert to other faiths. This is the reason why most converts to Christianity avoid going to courts and prefer to remain secret believers all their lives.”
Muslims cannot change their religious designation in the NADRA’s Computerized National Identify Card (CNIC) to any other religion, whereas people who convert to Islam from other faiths can get their CNICs amended, according to the CNIC’ registration policy. The policy states, however, that any mistake by applicants to state their religion correctly due to illiteracy “may be handled in office fault category.”
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
