Christian in Pakistan Charged with Blasphemy for Bible Post

Dozens of families flee potential Islamist backlash.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Police in Pakistan charged a Christian with blasphemy on Friday (June 30) after he posted Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in a village near Sargodha city to flee their homes. Tensions flared in Chak 49 Shumaali village, Punjab Province, after 45-year-old Haroon Shahzad […]

Muslim in Pakistan Confesses to Killing Christian Woman

Widow was threatened for refusing to marry him and convert, relative says.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Christian family in Lahore, Pakistan is seeking justice and protection after four Muslims abducted, gang-raped and killed a widow for refusing to convert to Islam and marry the primary suspect, sources said. In the killing of 40-year-old Shazia Imran Masih last month, the assailants slashed her neck and doused […]

Pakistan Aims to Try Blasphemy Cases under Anti-Terror Law

Government bows to Muslim extremist party’s demand.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A government concession to demands by a Muslim extremist political party to allow blasphemy charges under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws has raised fears of more injustice for those accused under the harsh statutes, sources said. Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Economic Affairs Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on June 17 signed […]

Christian Family Traumatized by Ethnic Violence in India

Religious motives appear amid primarily tribal bases for attacks.

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – On the evening of May 3, an ethnic Christian in northern India’s Manipur state received a call from a relative advising her to pack up and leave home with her children immediately. Manngaihlun Tombing, of the Kuki ethnic minority in Churachandpur, did not take it seriously, she said. The worst […]

Religious Facet Seen in Ethnic Violence in Manipur, India

Christians likely targeted in inter-tribal attacks, sources say.

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – A surge of ethnic violence with a growing religious component in northeastern India led to the killing on Friday (June 9) of a woman in her church building and two other Christians, sources said. The attack by ethnic Meitei with automatic rifles in Manipur state’s Khoken village, on the boundary […]

Hindu Extremists Jail Pastors, Close Churches in India

Baseless charges leave leaders and their families in anguish.

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Having spent a month in jail on baseless charges before his release on bail, Pastor R. Kirubendran was baffled at hostilities from police, media and villagers after serving a community in northern India without problem for several years. An explanation likely lies in the pattern of false accusations by Hindu […]

Christian in Pakistan Sentenced to Death under Blasphemy Law

Attorney and father shocked at verdict in case lacking evidence.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A court in Bahawalpur, Pakistan on Tuesday (May 30) handed the death penalty to a 22-year-old Christian on an unsubstantiated conviction under the country’s blasphemy laws, sources said. Lazar Allah Rakha, attorney for Noman Masih, said that the sessions court announced its verdict at the New Central Jail Bahawalpur, in […]

Muslim, Police in Pakistan Beat and Confine Pregnant Christian

Mother of five held in employer’s home for a week.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Christian housecleaner in Pakistan was beaten and illegally confined for a week by her Muslim employers after she tried to leave her job due to pregnancy, she said. Asma Gulfam, a 28-year-old Catholic maid in the Paka Ghara area of Sialkot District, Punjab Province, said she had worked for […]

Two Christians, 18 and 14, Accused of Blasphemy in Pakistan

Family devastated as youths jailed on baseless charge.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Babar Sandhu Masih was resting after lunch on Thursday afternoon (May 18) when he heard a commotion outside his house in the Qurban Lines neighborhood of Lahore, Pakistan. Masih went outside to find his neighbor, policeman Zahid Sohail, beating his son and another Christian boy. His son Adil, 18, and […]

Christian Widow Accused of Blasphemy Released on Bail

School worker threatened with life imprisonment under draconian statutes. 

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A court in Pakistan on Saturday (May 13) released on bail a Christian woman charged under a blasphemy statute that calls for life in prison, her attorney said. Lazar Allah Rakha told Morning Star News that Arifwala Additional Sessions Judge Ijaz Ahmad Phulwaran on Friday (May 12) admitted the post-arrest bails of […]