
Pakistan Tightens Its Already Far-Reaching Blasphemy Laws
As of 2020, at least 40 people were serving a life sentence or facing execution for blasphemy in the country.
As of 2020, at least 40 people were serving a life sentence or facing execution for blasphemy in the country.
In most South and Southeast Asian countries, ‘religion is a powerful force, and in most of them, more radical forms of the religion have been getting stronger,’ says religious freedom expert Paul Marshall. ‘I would say the overall pattern is increased tension, increased repression.’
Akmal Bhatti, a Catholic lawyer from Faisalabad, said the petition highlights a “glaring” inequity in the jail system’s implementation of the education policy.
Bashir died on March 15, 2015, when suicide bombers attacked St. John’s Catholic Church and Christ Church of the Church of Pakistan.
Catholic Archbishop Benny Mario Travas of Karachi expressed solidarity with the Christian community in Peshawar after the assassination.
The 42-year-old’s supporters believe that he was falsely accused of the crime, which is punishable by death in Pakistan, an Islamic republic in South Asia with a population of almost 227 million people.
Abduction and forced marriage of Christian and other minority girls is a widespread occurrence in Pakistan.
The parents of four children said they are “so relieved to finally be free” and are happy to be reunited with their children after a very difficult eight years.
“Let us join hands and stand together so we can be a voice for our Christian brothers and sisters who are suffering, and help them out of their situations,” Bibi said, adding, “Like the Lord did for me.”
‘Forced conversion has become a major tool for the persecution of Christians and Hindus in Pakistan,’ said a representative from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan.
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