Tag: Caste

Pakistan Christians wary as asylum offers flood in for Asia Bibi

November 14, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Caste, Imran Khan, Pakistan

Several countries have offered asylum to the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, after she was acquitted by the country’s highest court last month of a blasphemy charge carrying the capital punishment. However, local Christians are fearful of repercussions, as the West is perceived as Christian to most Pakistanis. There were . . . Read More

‘Untouchable’ caste identity haunts Pakistani Christians like Asia Bibi

November 1, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Caste, Gilgit, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore, Minorities, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Peshawar, Punjab, Quetta, Sindh, Sweepers

Asia Bibi was on death row for blasphemy, after offering drinking water which she, as a Christian, was considered to have made “unclean” by her touch. She got into an argument over this. Many Pakistani Christians – who are about 2% of the population – are children of converts to . . . Read More

India: Violence against Christians continues in run-up to 2019 elections

October 10, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Assam, BJP, Caste, India, Narendra Modi, UN, Uttar Pradesh

Hindu nationalists vandalised two Christian places of worship in the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Assam in the last two weeks, reports AsiaNews. On 29 September a statue of Saint John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was desecrated in the city of Tezpur, Assam, northeast India. It . . . Read More

No religious minority representative on Pakistan PM’s new cabinet

August 22, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Caste, Elections, Imran Khan, Minorities, Pakistan, Women

Pakistan’s new prime minister Imran Khan is facing criticism after failing to appoint a single member of a religious minority group onto his cabinet. “As an offence to many, the new team doesn’t include a single member from the minority groups in the country as neither a Hindu, Christian or . . . Read More

Hindu extremist violence on the rise in southern Indian states

August 3, 2018 India Andhra Pradesh, Bajrang Dal, BJP, Caste, Churches, Converts, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, House churches, Hyderabad, India, Narendra Modi, Police, Religious freedom, RSS, Telangana

Good Fruit Ministries church in Sangameshwar village of Siddhipet District, Telangana state was demolished by a bull dozer on the directions of uppercaste Hindus who follow Vaastu shastra.

Religious freedom advocate ADF India has noted a rise in incidents of religiously motivated violence in India’s two Telugu language-speaking southern states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, including the brutal murder of an elderly Christian woman. So far this year, ADF India says it has verified 17 incidents of anti-Christian persecution . . . Read More

BJP responsible for most hate speech in India, study finds

July 11, 2018 India Bihar, BJP, Caste, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Mumbai, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh

The north-eastern Indian state of Bihar leads the way for hate speech in India, according to a new study published by Telegraph India. Law students from three different universities in Patna, Dehradun and New Delhi used media reports between 2014-2018 to examine the use of hate speech in the country. They . . . Read More

India: 16 more Christians detained under Jharkhand’s ‘anti-conversion law’

July 10, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Caste, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Missionaries, Proselytism, Religious freedom, RSS

A number of the Christians who were arrested by police, after they held a prayer service at the house of a Christian family in Phulpahari, India. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A group of 16 Indian tribal Christians who visited another tribal family in the eastern state of Jharkhand to talk to them about Christianity are in police custody after the local village head accused them of “conversion by inducement”. Last year, Jharkhand became the seventh Indian state to introduce a . . . Read More

India ‘world’s most dangerous country for women’, as five activists gang-raped

June 27, 2018 India BJP, Caste, Converts, Dalits, India, Jharkhand, Rape, Women

Indian National Congress party activists hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the abduction and gang-rape of five women in Jharkhand's Khunti district on 23 June 2018. (Photo: -/AFP/Getty Images)

Five women about to perform a play in a remote area in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, to raise awareness of human trafficking, were abducted and gang raped last week, as a new survey suggests India is now the most dangerous country for women. The incident occurred on Tuesday . . . Read More

Two Pakistani Christian sewerage workers die from poisonous gases

May 29, 2018 Pakistan Caste, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab, Sweepers

As Pakistani Christians comprise more than 80 per cent of the country's sewerage and street cleaning force, they run a higher risk of work related injuries, sometimes causing death. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Two more Christian sewerage workers have died in Pakistan while opening a clogged sewerage line without protective gear. Data collected by World Watch Monitor in 2013 showed that, despite Pakistani Christians comprising only 1.5 per cent of the population, they account for more than 80 per cent of the sewerage . . . Read More

Pakistan: bereaved parents accept compensation but suspect walks free

May 10, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Burewala, Caste, Diyat, Pakistan, Punjab, Sharoon Masih, Vehari

Family of Sharoon Masih (World Watch Monitor)

The family of a Christian boy beaten to death on his second day in secondary school have accepted the offer of compensation from the family of the accused. The Islamic concept of paying diyat (blood money) to the victim’s family allowed the suspect to walk free. Sharoon Masih, 17, was . . . Read More

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