Tag: Pakistan

Pakistani Christians in Thailand face renewed pressure to return home

March 13, 2017 Asylum seekers, Badami Bagh, Bangkok, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Migrants, Netherlands, Pakistan, Refugees, Thailand, UK, UN

World Watch Monitor has heard from reliable sources that the Thai government is planning to cancel bail for all male asylum seekers in Bangkok. The move would require them to return to detention centres straight away. This would include many of the estimated 11,500 Pakistani Christians who complained in 2016 . . . Read More

‘Double suffering’ when women targeted not only for gender, but also religion

March 8, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Islamic State, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trauma, Women

On International Women’s Day, one statistic you may not hear much is that 83% of global women identify with a religious faith. Pew Research asked people in 84 countries how often they pray; in half of them, substantially more women than men say they pray on a daily basis. And . . . Read More

‘UN failing religious minorities and Christian converts’

February 15, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Blasphemy, China, Genocide, Indonesia, Islamic State, Myanmar, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, UN

The suffering of persecuted Christians around the world is exacerbated by the failure of UN bodies to fulfil their obligations to uphold religious freedom, a damning report has claimed. The 27-page report, starkly entitled The UN’s Failure to Promote and Protect Religious Freedom, argues that concerns about the protection of . . . 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

Pakistani Christians ‘attacked’ as land dispute escalates

February 10, 2017 Pakistan Caste, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Minorities, Narowal, Pakistan, Punjab, Rimsha Masih

More than 200 men, some armed with sticks, suddenly gathered on Wednesday morning (8 Feb) beside the Alba Presbyterian Church in Sankhatra, 115km north of Lahore, intent on building a boundary wall. “Children were going to school and men were leaving for work when this large number stormed into the . . . Read More

Pakistan law amendments help protect Christians

February 9, 2017 Pakistan Children, Marriage, Minorities, Pakistan, Terrorism

Forced conversions, mob violence and sectarianism will no longer go unpunished after Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a bill on 6 February amending some of its criminal laws. The amended law on forced marriage for minority religious groups now applies to minors as well as women, with the punishment more severe . . . Read More

‘Religious freedom key to Trump war on terrorism’

February 3, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, USA

An American Muslim says propagating freedom of religion is the key to US President Donald Trump’s aim to “eradicate” radicalism and terrorism “from the face of the earth”. Amer Aziz, writing for The Hill, praised the establishment in 1998 of an office of Religious Freedom in the US State Department, . . . Read More

Iranian and Afghan Christian converts face deportation from Germany after ‘clueless’ questioning

January 16, 2017 Afghanistan, Apostasy, Asylum seekers, Baptism, Berlin, Converts, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Protestants, Refugees, UK

An Iranian convert to Christianity attends a course in Berlin preparing him for baptism. Germany’s Ministry for Immigration and Refugees (BAMF) is rejecting many applications for asylum from Iranian and Afghan converts from Islam to Christianity, following “kangaroo court”-style hearings, according to a Berlin pastor. Rev. Gottfried Martens, who has . . . Read More

Religious persecution ‘central’ to refugee crisis

January 12, 2017 Afghanistan, Europe, India, Iraq, Libya, London, Nigeria, Pakistan, Refugees, Somalia, Syria

Religious persecution is playing a “central role” in the global displacement crisis, the charity Open Doors UK and Ireland has said. Refugees eating donated food outside a derelict warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia. According to Open Doors, more than half of the world’s 65.3m refugee population come from Somalia, Afghanistan and . . . Read More

Nationalism in Asia, Islamic extremism in Africa – the 2017 World Watch List

January 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Bhutan, BJP, Ethiopia, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Libya, Narendra Modi, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Yemen

One of the greatest increases in animosity towards Christians last year took place in India as a result of religiously motivated nationalism, according to the latest annual survey of the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to live as a Christian. Since the rise to power of Narendra . . . Read More

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