Church leaders in Pakistan have criticized their government for showing a “lethargic attitude” toward attacks on religious minorities. The government has, in effect, given free reign to the Taliban, thus encouraging “the imposition of jazia—a tax for being non-Muslim—by militant organizations,” as well as “kidnapping for ransom, target killing and internal displacement,” said a February statement from the Pakistan Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. The statement noted that recent violence against Sikhs, Hindus and Christians poses a “grave threat to the life, liberty and property of the members of religious minorities in the country.” Christians have been harassed in the Swat Valley of the North-West Frontier Province and other areas, it said. “The federal and provincial governments should treat these incidents as an alarm bell and must take stringent measures to control the situation.”
Protection Sought for Minorities in Pakistan
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
“Let diplomacy silence the guns!” Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square a few hours after the United States entered the Iran-Israel war by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Pope Leo XIV’s statement was read at the premiere of a play about the Peruvian investigative journalist Paola Ugaz, who was subject to death threats because of her reporting on sexual abuse.
About a dozen religious leaders from the San Diego area, including Bishop Michael Pham, visited federal immigration court on Friday “to provide some sense of presence.”
In a time of increasing disaffiliation from and disillusionment with the institutional church, a new theological perspective on the church is needed—one that places Jesus’ own teaching at the center.