Pakistan

Concerns remained Sunday about a pastor in eastern Pakistan who was reportedly detained for “faking” a shooting incident, although Worthy News and others witnessed him in hospital.

Pakistani Christian human rights activist Samuel Inayat, who was in urgent need of a kidney transplant after Muslim extremists beat him, has died, his family told Worthy News on Saturday.

A 9-year-old Christian boy in Pakistan’s Punjab province and his family have reportedly fled their home after he was “falsely accused” of blasphemy against Islam and beaten up by his teacher and fellow students.

Uncertainty remained Thursday about the plight of four youths after a Pakistani court sentenced them to death for committing “blasphemy” against Islam on social media, several sources said.

Church leaders in Pakistan have petitioned the Lahore High Court for a “thorough and transparent” independent judicial investigation after police illegally arrested Christians instead of the Muslim perpetrators of violent anti-Christian riots which took place in Faisalabad District last month, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

A pastor in Muslim-majority Pakistan says he has been shot and injured after Islamic graffiti was removed from his Presbyterian church in an eastern district where last month, angry Muslims destroyed scores of churches and homes.

The Supreme Court in Pakistan has ordered the government to respond to a complaint demanding lower courts stop allowing forced conversion and marriage of minority girls in the predominantly Muslim country. The decision could make way for the country to adopt laws that would protect young girls, says a new report.

Christians in several parts of Pakistan faced a new dilemma Thursday after their churches were painted with pro-Islam slogans by suspected Muslim militants, according to footage obtained by Worthy News.

Pakistani authorities have detained two Christian men for allegedly desecrating the Koran after some 2,000 Muslim extremists demanded tougher actions against Christians accused of blasphemy, Worthy News learned Tuesday.

As Christians in Pakistan continue to face mortal danger because of their faith, a Christian man was falsely accused of blasphemy and then murdered by Islamic extremists in Punjab earlier this month, News Intervention reports. 

Hungary, the only nation with a government secretary dedicated to persecuted Christians, has condemned attacks against the Christian community in eastern Pakistan.

More Muslim protests and strikes were expected Saturday in eastern Pakistan, more than a week after churches and Christian homes were torched and vandalized, well-informed sources tell Worthy News.

Hundreds of Christians near Pakistan’s capital fled their homes Friday amid fears that Muslim mobs would attack their homes and churches following Friday prayers, Christians told Worthy News.

Pakistani government officials announced Monday that Christians whose homes were destroyed by Muslim rioters last week will receive compensation of 2 million rupees ($6,800), DW reports. The announcement is a rare act of consideration toward Christians by Pakistani authorities.

More than 100 were arrested, and criminal investigations were launched against hundreds of others in east Pakistan city after thousands of Muslims burned churches and vandalized homes, Christians and officials said Thursday.

Angry Muslim crowds have torched two churches in Pakistan’s Punjab province, forcing Christians to flee their homes after blasphemy allegations, footage sent to Worthy News early Wednesday shows.

Christian leaders and civil rights advocates have expressed alarm at Pakistan’s recent passing of the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023, which increases already-harsh punishment for blasphemy offenses against Islam, and the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023, which places minority rights at risk, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

Christian families are fleeing their homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province after Muslims threatened to attack them, and several believers were reportedly detained for alleged blasphemy against Islam, a senior rights official told Worthy News.

A Christian man in Lahore, Pakistan, has been denied bail and kept in custody after being charged with blasphemy against Islam for sharing Facebook posts with Bible verses, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. 

Muslim crowds threatened Sunday to attack thousands of Christians in a predominantly Christian town in Pakistan’s Punjab province for alleged blasphemy against Islam.