Pakistani Christians continue being killed

(September 4, 2009) With five Christians shot dead in the northwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on August 28, the number of Christians slain in the country in recent weeks has risen to more than a dozen. At the end of July and beginning of August, as many as 11 Christians were killed in another attack, which also involved the burning of some 100 Christian homes. Christians in Pakistan make up about 1.6% of the population. Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, president of the Pakistani bishops expressed dismay at the lack of investigation into the earlier slaying. Pakistani government officials attributed the violence, which Pope Benedict has condemned, to Islamist groups linked to Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the World Council of Churches, WCC, this week called on Pakistan to repeal its anti-blasphemy law, and urged the nation to "guarantee the rights of all religious minorities in the country." The group said the law keeps minorities living in a "state of fear and terror" since it is often invoked as a way to punish minorities in business disputes. The anti-blasphemy law calls for life imprisonment or death for anyone insulting the Quran or Mohammed. According to the Pakistani bishops' National Commission of Justice and Peace, since the law went into effect in 1986, nearly 1,000 people have been prosecuted, though the majority of them are Muslim. Some 120 Christians have been prosecuted under the law. Christians in Pakistan make up about 1.6% of the population.