Tag: Pakistan

After the bombs

October 2, 2013 Pakistan All Saints Church, Blasphemy, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Peshawar, Taliban

On Sept. 22, two bombs exploded at All Saints Anglican Church in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. More than 80 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack ever on Pakistan’s Christians. In the days since, protests have been staged across the country. Condemnations . . . Read More

Arrests made in Bhatti murder

September 18, 2013 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Shahbaz Bhatti

Pakistan police have arrested eight men in connection with the March 2011 assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, a cabinet minister who had spoken out against the country’s blasphemy laws, according to Pakistan news reports. Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs, urged reform of laws that make it a crime to insult . . . Read More

Bomb sullies Pakistan founder’s legacy

June 19, 2013 Pakistan Balochistan, Pakistan, Religious freedom

On Saturday (June 15), the Residency in Balochistan where Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah spent his last days was badly damaged in a bomb and grenade attack, reports Pakistan’s News International. Jinnah said in his inauguration speech in 1947: “You are free; free to go to your temples, you are free to go . . . Read More

Gender-based violence ‘wielded mercilessly’ in Muslim countries

June 13, 2013 Angela Merkel, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sharia

Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaWorld Watch Monitor The conclusion of a new report by the US Hudson Institute researcher Lela Gilbert is clear and unequivocal: gender-based violence plays a key strategic role in the plans of those who wish to eradicate Christians and Christian belief from Muslim lands. Gender-Based Violence as . . . Read More

‘Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians’

June 5, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Algeria, Arab Spring, Armenia, Asia Bibi, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Central Asia, China, Communism, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Middle East, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

This is a book designed to show that “Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today” (p4). With that aim, three authors well known in the field of religious advocacy give the reader the ultimate global briefing on the causes, patterns and trends in the persecution . . . Read More

Badami Bagh case adjourned

May 30, 2013 Pakistan Badami Bagh, Blasphemy, Lahore, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad

The case of a Pakistani Christian accused of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed has been adjourned until June 12. An alleged argument in March between Savan Masih and a Muslim friend led to violent clashes between Muslims and Christians and the destruction of hundreds of houses belonging to Christians in . . . Read More

That explains it

April 3, 2013 Pakistan Joseph Colony, Lahore, Pakistan, Police

Here’s why Lahore police stood by March 9 as 3,000 people burned more than 150 Christian homes in city’s Joseph Colony sector: “If any of them got killed the issue might have blown out of proportion and spread all across the country.” So said a government lawyer Wednesday to the Pakistan Supreme Court, according . . . Read More

Pakistan condemns attacks on Lahore Christians

March 11, 2013 Pakistan Badami Bagh, Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Joseph Colony, Karachi, Lahore, Pakistan, Punjab, Sweepers

Pakistan’s national assembly joined a chorus of condemnation Monday following Saturday’s rioting in Lahore by Muslims that prompted Christians to flee before scores of their houses were burned. “We fled for our lives, do not ask us where we are,” a Christian teacher sobbed to World Watch Monitor before her . . . Read More

Pakistani judge throws out blasphemy charge

February 20, 2013 Pakistan Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab, Rimsha Masih

A Pakistan court last month surprised all involved when it dismissed charges of blasphemy against a Christian man accused of insulting Islam. The 28 January ruling by a trial court in Punjab province surprised defendant Barkat Masih, his attorney and religious-rights advocates. It came two months after a different judge . . . Read More

Pakistan Supreme Court confirms decision to drop blasphemy case

January 16, 2013 Pakistan Blasphemy, Islamabad, Pakistan, Paul Bhatti, Punjab, Quran, Rawalpindi, Rimsha Masih, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an appeal to reopen a blasphemy case against a Christian teen who had been accused of burning pages containing verses from the Quran. Rimsha Masih had been acquitted of the charges in November by the High Court in Islamabad. The lower court’s decision was appealed . . . Read More

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