A six-year-old Pakistani Christian girl has been shot dead in a debt row. In Faisalabad a Christian family took out a Rs 40,000 loan from a Muslim group of money lenders on compound interest. When they failed to pay back the monthly interest in time the lender along with an armed mob attacked their home…
Members of a Pakistani parliamentary committee have had it is necessary to prevent the misuse of the blasphemy law. On Thursday the chairwoman of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, Senator Nasreen Jalil, said innocent people have suffered and been wrongly accused of blasphemy. The committee met to reconsider procedural changes to prevent the…
A Pakistani Christian man who is accused of blasphemy has been released on bail. Iqbal Masih was charged under blasphemy law section 298 PPC (Pakistan Penal Code) on November 4. The section states that whoever with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in…
The United States has recommended that Pakistan repeals its blasphemy law. At the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held in Geneva, the US also suggested that Pakistan grant the visit request of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Speaking on Monday US representative Jesse…
A Pakistani Christian man with mental health issues who was arrested on the day of his son’s funeral has been charged with blasphemy and is being held in custody. Iqbal Masih, 65, who is a retired father of nine, and is from Fazlia Colony, Lahore, has been on medication for long standing mental health issues.…
Five Pakistani Christian families were forced to flee their homes after teenager from one of the families was accused of blasphemy. According to reports the families from the village of Sukheki in the Punjab province went into hiding last Friday after a fake Facebook page that resembled a news channel accused Sonu Arshad, 18, of…
Three European parliamentarians are visiting Pakistan in relation to Asia Bibi’s blasphemy case The delegation from the Group of European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) are in the country this week to discuss its human rights situation. Peter van Dalen, Delegation Leader and European Parliamentarian for Christian Unity SGP, Tomasz Poreba (Roman Catholic from Poland) and…
The family of a Pakistani Christian man who died before being able to prove himself innocent of blasphemy allegations are calling for his name to be cleared. Mukhtar Masih, who was arrested on suspicion of committing blasphemy died on 3rd November. He was arrested on 28th January for for allegedly committing blasphemy but he always…
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior has approved a bill for an increase in the marriageable aged for women to 18, despite opposition from the Pakistan Muslim League-N. The Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2017 was moved two weeks ago by PPP Senator Sehar Kamran. It suggests the minimum age women can be married be raised…
A 12-year-old Pakistani Christian girl was raped and tortured three men. Meshal was abducted from her home in Sheikhupura and raped by three men, who also burnt her with cigarettes. According to her mother the incident was reported to police but an FIR has not been registered and no action has been taken against the…
