Recently, the homes of 450 Catholic families in Hyderabad and Karachi were destroyed as part of an anti-encroachment drive by the Sindh provincial government—targeting homes considered to be illegal settlements.
A fresh initiative is about to be launched to tackle Pakistan’s growing crisis of Christian and Hindu girls who are being abducted and sexually abused.
Construction of a security wall to protect against terrorist attacks In recent years there have been a succession of terrorist attacks on Christian churches in Pakistan. A very real danger of further attacks looms. As a result, it is imperative that Christians strengthen the security measures around their churches and parish centres. In fact, these […]
Arzoo Raja, a 13-year-old Catholic girl from Karachi, Pakistan, was abducted on October 13, forced to abandon her faith and marry her 44-year-old Muslim abductor, Ali Azhar, who also resides in Karachi. Last Saturday, October 24, a large group of Christians and civil society activists, led by two members of parliament, gathered in front of […]
The case of a Catholic girl from Madina Town, near Faisalabad has taken an unexpected turn after the defendant failed to appear in court. The 14-year-old Pakistani girl and her family continue her struggle to be free of the man who raped—and blackmailed her into marriage and religious conversion. A Rawalpindi court requested new evidence […]
In a moving interview which she gave to the international Catholic pastoral and Pontifical Charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Asia Bibi made a heartfelt appeal to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on behalf of the religious minorities in the country, recalling in particular the terrible plight of the many underage Pakistani girls […]
Maira Shahbaz, the kidnapped Pakistani Christian girl at the recent center of international attention, has escaped from the home of Mohamad Nakash, the man who according to the Lahore High Court, is her legitimate husband. After her escape, she went to a police station to give her testimony, in which she also declared that she […]
Christians are viewed as second-class citizens in Pakistan. Insulted, discriminated against, oppressed, they are rarely given the opportunity to advance socially. Most Christians have to eke out a living in the most poorly paid jobs, often working as day labourers, in the brickworks, as road sweepers, garbage collectors, rickshaw drivers or domestic staff and generally […]
The campaign to free a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan from the clutches of a man who abducted, held the young girl hostage in his home and forced her into marriage, lies in tatters after Lahore High Court unexpectedly decided in his favour. On Tuesday August 4, Judge Raja Muhammad Shahid Abbasi overturned an earlier […]
A 15-year-old young Christian girl, kidnapped and victim of sexual slavery, becomes pregnant The lawyer of the young girl’s family declared to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “Huma became pregnant because of sexual slavery and is not allowed to leave.” Abassum Yousaf, an attorney at the High Court of Sindh—the Pakistani province which […]
