Tag: Pakistan

‘Extremists given a free hand’ – Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

April 16, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Balochistan, Blasphemy, Human rights, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minorities, Nadeem Masih, Pakistan, Patras Masih, Quetta, Religious freedom, Sajid Masih, Sawan Masih, UN

Pakistani Christians experience an increase in violence such as a suicide attack on the Bethel Methodist Church in Quetta in December last year that killed more than ten and injured dozens of people. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Two Pakistani Christians were killed and at least three injured in a drive-by shooting on Sunday (15 April) in Essa Nagri, a Christian-majority area in Quetta, capital of the impoverished Balochistan province in the southwest. The victims, aged 19 and 28, had just left a church service when they were . . . Read More

Commonwealth worst offenders urged to face up to poor levels of religious freedom

April 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Shabaab, Asia Bibi, Bangladesh, Boko Haram, Brunei, Commonwealth, Delta State, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, Kenya, Leah Sharibu, London, Lord Alton, Malaysia, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Sri Lanka

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari received Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at Nigeria's High Commission in London on 11 April 2018. (Photo: Facebook)

A charity that supports persecuted Christians has urged Commonwealth heads of government meeting in England next week to address poor levels of religious liberty in their countries. The charity Open Doors warned that unless representatives of the 53 Commonwealth nations “explicitly include[ed] the right to freedom of religion or belief . . . Read More

Pakistan Christians process in Lahore, month after mob attack

March 27, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Lahore, Pakistan, Patras Masih, Sajid Masih, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, Torture

A girl is preparing to walk in the Palm Sunday procession through her Christian neighbourhood in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo taken from UCAN video)

Some 200 Pakistani Christians who fled their neighbourhood in a Lahore suburb over a month ago, after mobs of Muslims demanded the arrest of a Christian for alleged blasphemy, were back in the streets on 25 March for a Palm Sunday procession, as in a video by Catholic news agency . . . Read More

Pakistan court acquits 20 in case of Christian couple burnt alive

March 26, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Lahore, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Relatives of Shahzad Masih and his five-months-pregnant wife Shama Bibi are oraying at the site where the couple was killed for their “blasphemous” act on 4 November 2014. (Photo: Getty Images/AFP/Arif Ali)

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore, Pakistan, on Saturday (24 March) acquitted 20 men suspected of involvement in the murder of a Christian couple burnt alive at the kiln where they worked in November 2014 – after it was alleged that they had set fire to some pages from a Quran. . . . Read More

Pakistan Christian escapes death for ‘clearly fabricated’ blasphemy

March 22, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujranwala, Pakistan, Punjab

A Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy nearly two years ago has been acquitted. The case against him – brought by a police officer whose protection he sought against two blackmailers – was “clearly fabricated”, his lawyer said after the 13 March acquittal. Anjum Sandhu, from the north-eastern city . . . Read More

Easter banner torn down from Pakistan church

March 20, 2018 Pakistan Burewala, Christmas, Churches, Easter, Pakistan, Punjab

Armed violence broke out in eastern Pakistan on Sunday, 18 March, over an Easter banner hung outside a church. The incident took place in a Christian colony in Burewala, Punjab province. Police intervened and arrested three Muslim suspects, while seven injured Christians were taken to a local hospital. The church’s . . . Read More

Youhanabad dead remembered as Pakistan Senate wants terrorism charges dropped

March 19, 2018 Pakistan Islamic extremism, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Pakistan, Taliban, Youhanabad

A candlelit vigil on March 17, 2015, to commemorate those killed in suicide attacks on the Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church in Lahore's Youhanabad area. (Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Hundreds attended a commemoration service on Thursday, 15 March, for those killed and injured in the 2015 Easter suicide attacks on two churches in Youhanabad – the main Christian district in Lahore, Pakistan. The twin suicide bombings, which killed 17 and injured another 80, were claimed by a splinter group . . . Read More

Pakistan Christian still on death row, five years after his ‘blasphemy’ sparked Joseph Colony attack

March 15, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Pakistan, Sahiwal, Sawan Masih

At the fifth anniversary of the arson attack on a Christian neighbourhood in the Pakistani city of Lahore, the mother of the Christian man convicted of blaspheming against Islam – and so provoking the attack – says she still prays for his release. Sawan Masih*, a 30-year-old sanitation worker, was accused . . . Read More

Pakistan Senate seeks same sentences for blasphemy offenders and those who falsely accuse

March 13, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Elections, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Marriage, Pakistan, Patras Masih, Sajid Masih, Sharia, Women

In November there were widespread anti-blasphemy protests in Islamabad and other cities in reaction to proposed changes to an election law. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s Senate Special Committee on Human Rights has recommended that those who falsely accuse someone of blasphemy should receive the same punishment as those convicted of blasphemy. The Committee also said registration of a blasphemy case should include a minimum of two witnesses who support the charges. Right-wing political parties . . . Read More

Pakistan court orders citizens to declare religion

March 13, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Religious minorities in Pakistan have to declare their religion when applying for identification papers or for government jobs making them "even more vulnerable" activists say. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s citizens must now declare their religion when applying for identity documents, or if they want to work in government or register to vote, Islamabad’s High Court ruled on Friday (9 March). Applicants who disguise their true religion defy the constitution and betray the state, the judge said. Their true . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye