Tag: Islamabad

Pakistan: Islamic university opens Christian chapel – a first

April 20, 2018 Pakistan Education, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab, Rawalpindi, Religious freedom, Sharoon Masih, Vehari

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)

For the first time ever, an Islamic university in Pakistan has opened a Christian chapel. The church of St. Mary is located in the atrium of the Agriculture University of Faisalabad, Pakistan’s third-most populous city, and was built following an initiative of the city’s former vicar general, reports AsiaNews. The church contributed . . . Read More

‘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

Pakistani Christian says daughter, 12, abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry

February 13, 2018 Pakistan Children, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Marriage, Pakistan

A 12-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, who disappeared in November, was abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry her abductor, according to her father. Elisha, daughter of Iqbal Masih, appeared in the High Court in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Thursday 8 February, where she introduced herself by a new Muslim . . . Read More

Pakistan student kills school principal in blasphemy row

January 24, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Banner protesting against changes to the blasphemy laws, Peshawar 2017 (World Watch Monitor)

A Pakistani student has shot and killed his school principal after they argued over the student missing classes to attend protests over “blasphemous” law changes, reports The Guardian. Police said the unnamed student had attended a sit-in staged by a new ultra-religious party, Tehreek-e-Labaik, to oppose a small change in . . . Read More

Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy protests showcase minorities’ plight

November 27, 2017 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Barelvi, Blasphemy, Gujranwala, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Minorities, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Mumtaz Qadri, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, Peshawar, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Rawalpindi, Salmaan Taseer, Sheikhupura, Sufi, Sunni, Taliban, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

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)

Anti-blasphemy protests in Pakistan have once again highlighted the fragile position of the country’s religious minorities. Life in various parts of Pakistan virtually came to a halt on Saturday (25 November) after the police, paramilitary and other law enforcement agencies clashed with rioters in the capital, Islamabad, resulting in protests . . . Read More

Six years on, justice thwarted in case of Pakistan’s murdered Shahbaz Bhatti

March 3, 2017 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Pakistan Peoples Party, Paul Bhatti, Rawalpindi, Shahbaz Bhatti, Taliban

The memorial to Shahbaz Bhatti, which marks the location of his assassination. Islamabad, Pakistan.

Six years on, justice for the murdered Pakistani Christian federal cabinet member Shahbaz Bhatti remains elusive, as does the social equality for which he gave his life. The Christian community says the Pakistani political leadership is not doing enough to ask the police and the judiciary to ensure his killers . . . Read More

Pakistan court bans Valentine’s Day celebrations

February 13, 2017 Pakistan Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Pakistan

Pakistan’s Islamabad High Court has prohibited St Valentine’s Day celebrations in public spaces and government offices across the country “with immediate effect,” reports Dawn. Print and electronic media have also been warned to stop Valentine’s Day promotions. The orders came after a petition was submitted by Abdul Waheed, a member . . . Read More

Survey of schools for Pakistan’s Christian minority: 50% have no playground, 15% no notebooks

November 25, 2016 Pakistan Education, Islamabad, Karachi, Punjab, Sweepers

Anser Javed’s father was a sanitary worker in Karachi; his mother was a sweeper. When his father then died in a work accident, the Pakistani Christian boy was sent to an orphanage as his mother was too poor to care for him. Nevertheless, with support and personal determination, he eventually . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians face eviction from Islamabad slums

December 28, 2015 Pakistan Faisalabad, Gojra, Islamabad, Joseph Colony, Kasur, Katchi abadis, Narowal, Rimsha Masih, Sahiwal, Sheikhupura, Sialkot

Over 1000 “katchi abadi” residents gather outside the National Press Club in April 2014 to protest against plans to demolish 12 Islamabad slums.Dawn Christians in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, are facing eviction from their homes, after the Capital Development Authority went to the country’s highest court to request the . . . Read More

Asia Bibi put in solitary cell

October 16, 2015 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Human rights, Islamabad, Multan, Pakistan, Prisons, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer

Jailed Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi was moved into solitary confinement in the Multan Women’s Prison last week, following “genuine threats” to her life by angry supporters of Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws. “She could be killed by any inmate or even a prison guard, so we have to be careful,” a . . . Read More

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