Author: Editor

Hannah Chowdhry, a long term community campaigner and volunteer for British Asian Christian Association, has been named a ‘Community Champion’ by the Child of Britain Awards. At the prestigious JW Marriott Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London, children and young people received their awards at a glittering ceremony, hosted by legendary television presenter, Eamonn Holmes OBE. The Child of Britain Awards were hosted for their inaugural year: “To celebrate the inspirational achievements of remarkable young people across Britain. “Honouring extraordinary moments of personal courage, bravery, sporting and creative achievements.” There were 11 award categories, highlighting those that champion causes in their…

As a group that was working throughout Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum Jubilee celebration period, we wanted to make sure our regular visitors had the same level of celebration as everyone else. Too often homeless communities are forgotten about during public celebrations while some of the homeless community simply have a crises of confidence, due to their social circumstances. This year however, from Thursday 2nd June through to Sunday 5th June BACA held a mini celebration, that included music, jubilee bunting and flags and some jubilee inspired food. Even better, we brought our event out into the streets to…

A Christian farm worker was  brutally murdered by two Muslim men in a village named Muslimania, Sialkot, Pakistan.  The men used farm sickles and scythes to inflict large gaping wounds to the head and body of the murder victim.  They then then threw bricks at his head smashing his skull – probably to make sure he was dead. A hose was then placed around the neck of the corpse which was dragged through the farm onto the streets nearby the home of the murder victim. His family were later awoken at 3.30am by the terrified employer of the deceased Christian…

A Church started during the British Raj and gifted to local Pastors some time before Indian independence is involved in dispute over land owned by them. The church land when handed to native leaders of Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Ministry was built in a city centre and is often viewed enviously by local Hindus, said Pastor Sami Ravi Kumar. In April 2015 a local Hindu woman entrepreneur illegally built a wall and sequestered a large part of church land despite having no legal documents for land ownership. On May 22nd 2022, our BACA Operations Manager visited this Andhra Evangelical Lutheran…

The months of May and June have been filled with fear and anxiety for minority Christians in Pakistan and India.  Concerns about potential attacks increased after the release of a movie that depicts the life of Fatimah, the daughter Islam’s prophet Muhammed as per the Shi’ah (a sect of Islam) perspective. Sunni protestors forced the termination of scheduled showings of the movie in Vue and Cineworld cinema’s during extremely vitriolic rallies.  Read more (here) Bolton News filmed one protest – there were many across the UK. These protests followed a huge Islamic backlash after comments made by an Indian politician…

A mentally retarded Pak-Christian man, from Sialkot who was unjustly accused of blasphemy has been released after 3 years in prison. Stephen and his family have now been put under the protection of the Government of Pakistan and they will soon be flown to a country in the west for safety. Read our early article (here) Stephen Masih (44 yrs), who has been diagnosed as bi-polar, was involved in  in an argument with his mother , sister, brother-in-law, and a few neighbors regarding a pigeon on his roof on 10th March 2019. During the dispute, Stephen became very agitated and…

We earlier reported on the assassination attempt on Pastor Narendra Besra (46 yrs) that occurred on February 4, 2022. In the attack he received several stab and slash wounds to his shoulder chest, hand, and head  The attack occurred while staying over night in a village called Baghima-Pahantoli , where he had been visiting rural church members (click here). Pastor Besra after his attack. After we met and prayed with Pastor Besra we began to support some of the costs for his medical treatment. Many of you were horrified by the brutal attack and the severity of the wounds he suffered and…

Prospective Law student Hannah Chowdhry meets with Saif Ul Malook Please sign and share widely our petition for Zafar Bhatti  (here) After  we reported blood in the vomit of Pakistan’s longest serving blasphemy convict ever  Zafar Bhatti (click here), Trustees of British Asian Christian Association agreed to find a solution to his ongoing incarceration. https://youtu.be/PAyNIojMkYI Zafar  and his wife asked us to take over the case due to dissatisfaction in the handling of his case and near the end of 2021, we took on this responsibility. On With desire to see freedom come to long term blasphemy convict Zafar Bhatti,…

Christian women from the Christian colony of  Lakhoder which is situated near the biggest dumping site of Lahore are being put through vocational courses to upskill  and gain financial strength. Traditionally, men and women form the local area would survive by sorting rubbish on the dumping site or by working as domestic cleaners for wealthy Muslims.  For extremely hard and long days of employment they would earn around 15,000 rupees (£70) per month. Women in such families are disenfranchised and their position exposes them to exploitation including sexual harassment, forceful conversion, violence and paying less than agreed or not at…

or over two years British Asian Christian Association have been providing free meals for homeless people, the economically deprived and refugees and asylum-seekers.  Our work began after Trustees became acutely aware of the growing homeless community in Ilford during a series of outreach events in Ilford Town Centre (click here). You can read a full review of our ‘Meals for the Homeless’ project and watch videos (here).  It includes an account of how we grew the service by meeting the homeless on the streets were they took shelter. Two weeks ago we resumed collections from Marks and Spencer and have also signed…