Parishioners of a Pakistani Catholic church partially demolished last month by the government of Sindh province have resumed prayers with the support of the local Caritas unit. Tarpaulin sheets supported by bamboo poles covered the front side of St. Joseph Church as they celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Pakistan’
Thousands protest in Pakistan over reprinting of Mohammad cartoons in France
Monday, September 7th, 2020Tens of thousands of people protested across Pakistan on Friday against French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s reprinting of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad, chanting “Death to France” and calling for boycotts of French products. “Decapitation is the punishment of blasphemers,” read one of the placards carried by protesters. The cartoons sending up the Prophet Mohammad triggered Read more
US seeks blasphemy reforms after Pakistan court killing
Monday, August 10th, 2020The United States has urged Pakistan to amend its blasphemy laws after an American citizen was killed inside a courtroom in Peshawar on July 29. Tahir Ahmed Naseem was shot dead in Peshawar district court where he was due to attend a hearing on charges of blasphemy. Naseem was a former member of Pakistan’s minority Read more
Pakistan: Kidnapped Christian girl now pregnant from rape
Monday, July 13th, 2020A kidnapped Christian girl in Pakistan has phoned her parents to say she is pregnant after being raped by her abductor, who has imprisoned her in one room of his house. Tabassum Yousaf, the lawyer fighting for the freedom of 15-year-old Catholic girl Huma Younus who was kidnapped in October 2019 and forced to convert Read more
Sewer cleaners wanted in Pakistan: only Christians need apply
Thursday, May 7th, 2020In Pakistan, descendants of lower-caste Hindus who converted to Christianity centuries ago still find themselves marginalized, relegated to dirty jobs and grim fates. Before Jamshed Eric plunges deep below Karachi’s streets to clean out clogged sewers with his bare hands, he says a little prayer to Jesus to keep him safe. The work is grueling, Read more
Pakistani Muslims help rebuild Catholic church
Monday, February 17th, 2020
Pakistani Muslim villagers are helping rebuild a Catholic church in the eastern city of Gujranwala. The foundation stone of St. Mary’s Church, which is being rebuilt to accommodate more worshipers, was laid in the Butranwali district of Gujranwala in November last year. Around 50 Christian families are estimated to be living in the Muslim-majority community Read more
Pakistan court rules men can marry underage girls after first period
Monday, February 17th, 2020A high court in Pakistan has ruled that men can marry underage girls, under Sharia law, after they have experienced their first menstrual cycle. Sharia law is the religious law of Islam derived from the teachings of the Quran, which acts as a divine code or guide for living. The ruling was made by the Read more
Amid extreme flooding in Pakistan, Catholic volunteers step up
Monday, August 12th, 2019A 52-year-old Caritas volunteer helped rescue more than two dozen families from a recent flood in Karachi, Pakistan. Francis Javed, a father of six who works as a cobbler, told ucanews.com that he received a phone call from Caritas Pakistan Karachi at 11 a.m. on July 30. They warned him about an overflowing dam not Read more
Girls – Forced conversions and marriages spike in Pakistan
Monday, June 17th, 2019
Sixteen-year-old Suneeta and her 12-year-old sister were walking home in March when they were kidnapped. The men who took them forced the girls to convert to Islam. “We were walking back to our house after working on the farm when men in a car came out of nowhere and dragged us in with them,” said Read more
The Australian priest helping trapped refugees the world ignores
Monday, February 11th, 2019
Father Mick Kelly, the Sydney-born priest and journalist who works with and helps about 400 Pakistani refugee families in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo by James Massola) Mick Kelly remembers the phone call from his friend in Pakistan as if it was yesterday. “He asked me to help out this one guy who was fleeing Pakistan, and on Read more