Tag: Pakistan

Second mentally ill Pakistani in 2 weeks charged with desecrating Quran

June 11, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Sindh

Twenty-year-old Yaqoob Bashir Masih was accused of desecrating the Quran in Mirpur Khas in Sindh province on June 4, even though he has been treated for his mental health, according to a Catholic priest. After Bashir (a Christian, known locally as ‘Kaka’) is said to have told a crowd who threatened . . . Read More

‘Falsely accused’ Pakistani Christian executed

June 10, 2015 Pakistan Lahore, Pakistan, Police, Torture

Aftab Nazir Bahadur was executed today for a crime he claimed he did not commit. The Pakistani Christian, who spent most of his life on death row, was arrested 22 years ago when he was 15. At that time, 15-year-olds could be sentenced to death, although the minimum age was . . . Read More

EU ‘must do more’ to stop religious freedom abuses

June 4, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Brunei, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen

Left to right: MEP Dennis de Jong, USCIRF’s Katrina Lantos Swett, EEAS’s Silvio Gonzato, and MEP Peter van Dalen at the report’s launch in Brussels on 3 June.Courtesy European Parliament Intergroup The new European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, said in October 2014 that upholding the . . . Read More

Pakistan ‘mob justice’ against mentally ill man prevented, but riots ensue

June 2, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, Youhanabad

It was a familiar scene: hundreds of angry people in the dense urban streets of a big Pakistan city, whipped up by rumors that someone had defiled a Holy Quran. Pounding on doors. Throwing rocks. Demanding blood. This time, however, something unusual appeared in the Sandha sector of Lahore, Pakistan’s . . . Read More

Pakistan: 106 charged with murder

May 27, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Pakistan has charged 106 people with murder, more than six months after a Christian couple were beaten and burnt to death by a mob, reports the BBC. Shahzad Masih, 26, and his five-month pregnant wife Shama, 24, were accused by the mob of burning pages of a Qur’an, as reported . . . Read More

Businessman building Pakistan’s largest cross

May 19, 2015 Pakistan Crosses, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan

A Pakistani businessman is building the tallest cross in the country hoping it will be an inspiration to his country’s approximately three per cent Christian minority. Parvez Henry Gill, 58, has spent a year building one of the world’s largest crosses at the entrance to a Christian cemetery in Karachi, . . . Read More

10 facts about Pakistani Christians

May 13, 2015 Pakistan Karachi, Lahore, Pakistan, Peshawar

Pakistani Christian-watchers can improve their religious literacy with a useful round-up of facts from stories published across the web. According to the list, the majority of Pakistan’s Christians are descendants of low caste Hindus who converted under the rule of the British to escape their position in society. Most found . . . Read More

2014: A year of particular concern

April 30, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-balaka, Bashar al-Assad, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Chibok girls, Chin, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, Kachin, Kano, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Potiskum, Rohingya, Saudi Arabia, Seleka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

If ever there were a year that made plain the importance of religious freedom, 2014 was it, according to the just-released annual report by an American government advisory group. “By any measure, the horrors of the past year speak volumes about how and why religious freedom and the protection of the . . . Read More

Reports: Arrest made in Pakistan church bombings

April 30, 2015 Pakistan Lahore, Pakistan, Youhanabad

Reports emerged April 29 from Pakistan that authorities have arrested at least one person suspected of responsibility for bombing two churches in March, killing 17 people. Citing unspecified “security agencies,” Pakistan Today that a man named Abid Baig Muaviya had been taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation in connection . . . Read More

No future in Pakistan as minority woman

April 10, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Easter, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Minorities, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Women

Pakistan’s prime minister promised to provide equal rights for people of all religions in a speech over the Easter weekend. Nawaz Sharif said: “My government is committed to safeguarding the fundamental rights, safety, honour, life and property of all minority communities”. He added that minorities were granted “equal rights and . . . Read More

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