Pakistan senate elections for 52 seats are going to be held next month, but the formal election procedure remains a serious bone of contention amongst political parties. Accusations of horse trading have led the government to suggest changes in the voting procedure from a secret ballot to a show of hands. A change in the…
On 26 February, the Pakistan Supreme Court, hearing the suo motu case of Christian couple, Shama and Shahzad who were who were beaten by a Muslim mob and then burnt alive in a brick kiln furnace on blasphemy allegations, expressed its dissatisfaction over the report submitted by Punjab Police inspector general (IG). It summoned the…
A Christian school in Pakistan was stormed by hundreds of armed Muslim students protesting against the publishing of controversial magazine Charlie Hebdo, demanding that it closed. Four students were injured when the protesters stormed Panel High School for boys in the northwestern Bannu city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They school building was vandalised property and today…
Three years after the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was murdered by his own bodyguard in broad daylight, his case was heard at the Islamabad High Court. According to reports Justice Noor-ul-Haq Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Siddiqui will hear the appeal registered by Mumtaz Qadri against his death penalty. On October 1, 2011 he was…
CLAAS distributed hundreds of Christmas gifts among Christian children and poor and needy families working on the brick kilns in Raiwind and around Kot Radha Kishan (where Christian couple Shama and Shahzad were burnt alive after being falsely accused of blasphemy). These Christmas gift hampers consisted of nine items including sweets, dry fruits, and chocolates…
Last year, 2014, was very difficult for the Christians in Pakistan ending on December 29 with the burning of independent church Living Branch in Mazharabad, Rawalpindi. Mazharabad is small town where the majority of the population is Muslim, while 300 to 400 families are Christian. There are two independent Churches in this small town, Living…
Shama and Shahzad’s case is being heard by the supreme court’s three judges bench head by the Chief justice of Pakistan Nasirul Mulk who took the suo moto notice over their killing after alleged allegation of desecrating the Holy Quran in November. The Supreme Court has summoned senior police officers, Inspector General Punjab Mushtaq Ahmed…
At Christmas CLAAS visited Shama and Shahzad’s Children. It was their first Christmas without their parents and I am not sure if they are fully aware that what happened to their parents to make them orphans is the result of the country’s notorious blasphemy law and hatred against Christians. The government has compensated them with…
Catholic Christian Noreen Bashir, 14, who was kidnapped and forced to embrace Islam was returned to her parents and provided with free legal aid and shelter by CLAAS. Her parish priest Rev. Fr. Mushtaq Piyara contacted CLAAS for help and support after she was abducted by 35-year-old Muslim Aftab Sarfraz aged 35, converted to Islam…
