World News | UN: Calls to protect Christians abound in Pakistani missions

New York [US]March 23 (ANI): As attacks on Christians increase in Pakistan, Christian groups in the US, as well as human rights groups, have been pressuring Pakistan’s UN mission to take concrete steps to protect the community, Just Earth News (JEN) ​​reports.

According to sources, the inquiry team has received hundreds of such letters in the past year.

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By the way, JEN reports that the law and order situation in Pakistan is deteriorating due to the collapse of the economy and the deteriorating political situation, while attacks on Christians are also increasing.

These letters of protest from these groups point to the systematic persecution of Christians, resulting in unjust punishment for blasphemy, forcing young Christian girls to marry older Muslim men, forced conversions to Christianity across Pakistan, and the encroachment of Christians land and property. Recently, two Christian farmers were killed in two separate attacks in Pakistan.

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Earlier in February 2023, Muhammad Waseem, a Muslim landowner in the Khanewal district of Punjab, beat and killed Christian farm worker Emmanuel Masih after he falsely accused him of stole oranges from his property.

Likewise, Allah Ditta, a Christian guava farmer, was shot dead after resisting three Muslim youths who stole his prized fruit. In both cases, the defendants remain at large. Christian groups also highlighted the forced marriage of a 15-year-old Christian girl, Sitara Arif, to a 60-year-old Muslim man named Rana Tayyab.

Sitara was abducted last December and a case was not registered until two months later, despite repeated attempts by her family.

Last year, a Christian priest, William Siraj, was shot dead in northwest Pakistan in a targeted attack on priests of the Pakistani Church. Likewise, Christian schools in Pakistan for poor Christian families have been targeted in the name of providing security, JEN reported.

In one such incident, a group of Islamists ransacked a school in the city of Sheikhpura in Punjab province and took away funds for food and education for poor students.

Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country with a long history of persecution of Christians. The country’s blasphemy laws have been used to target Christians and other religious minorities, resulting in unjust imprisonment, torture and even death.

A large number of such cases are registered every year but usually go unresolved. According to JEN, many have stopped complaining to local law enforcement agencies, as this would lead to further isolation and targeted attacks.

The overall result of this targeted discrimination is the ever-decreasing number of Christians in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, introduced in the 1980s, are notoriously vague and open to interpretation. According to JEN, the law criminalizes acts that insult or are seen as offensive to Islam and carries severe penalties including the death penalty.

In fact, these laws have been used to suppress dissent and target religious minorities to convert them, force Muslims to marry them, and even seize their land and property. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)