Pakistan

Concerns mounted Friday about the plight of Pakistani Christian Zafar Bhatti, a pastor listed as Pakistan’s longest-serving blasphemy prisoner, who is facing execution.

Christians have urged “prayers for the safety of girls” in Pakistan after a Christian girl who was kidnapped last month, forced to convert to Islam, and marry one of her Muslim captors came to symbolize their suffering.

A 16-year-old Christian girl has been kidnapped from her home in Punjab Province, Pakistan, and forced into marriage with the Islamic man who abducted her, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. With an increasing number of young non-Muslim girls being abducted and forced into Islamic marriages, Pakistan ranks 7 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

A Pakistani court has sentenced Shagufta Kiran, a Christian mother of four, to death for “committing blasphemy against Islam,” a senior Christian advocacy activist told Worthy News Thursday.

Pakistani authorities detained a police officer who allegedly shot dead a man for “blasphemy against Islam” following the recent killing of a Christian on similar charges, Worthy News established Saturday.

Over a year after thousands of furious Muslims attacked a Christian area in the city of Jaranwala in Pakistan’s Punjab province, many survivors living there still await promised “relief and justice,” well-informed Christian aid workers told Worthy News.

There was concern Thursday about three Christian youngsters in Pakistan, including a 12-year-old girl who was forced to marry and convert to Islam while two 18-year-old brothers were charged with blasphemy, several sources said.

One year after the devastating Islamic riot against Christians in Jaranwala, Pakistan in August last year, just 12 of the more than 300 people arrested are facing trials, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Islamic-majority Pakistan ranks 7 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

A judge in Punjab Province, Pakistan has allowed three young Christian sisters to return to their parents after their employers held them captive and tried to forcibly convert them to Islam, Morning Star News reports.

Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province remained concerned Sunday after a Muslim mob reportedly tried to kill a Christian mother of two accused of blasphemy while also targeting her sister.