Pakistani Christians need your prayer and support now more than ever!

 Ecumenical funeral brought 1000s of Christians together in mourning for their lost family.

Please sign our petition and show solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Lahore (Click here)

Dear all, I write this personal message in hope of galvanising support from any person of good conscience who feels any compassion for Pakistani Christians. 

The recent bomb attack has left Christians terrified and afraid, many in the aftermath ran from the incident site and locked themselves in their homes. Others full of fury and rage rampaged through the streets, and a few of them took the law into their own hands murdering two Muslim men who they alleged were believed to be involved in the terrorist attack. The two men were burned alive in an act that emulated the manner in which many Christians and other blasphemy law victims have been murdered by extremists.

The British Pakistani Christian Association does not condone such violence and hatred. We wholeheartedly support the arrests and prosecution of any Christians involved in the murder. But we condemn the excessive force by police who are quite randomly capturing Pakistani Christian youths in a crack-down that is deemed bias. We call on the Government to protect all those arrested while they go through legal process. 

Pakistani Media have wholly focused on the murder of “more valuable lives of Muslims”.  Their skewed reports on the attack have fuelled great hatred towards Christians in Pakistan.

Churches across Lahore have received threats of attacks and in Bihar Colony where my wife’s family reside, police have warned Christians to ensure security for their churches and buildings.  In normal fashion they have advised communities of the impending danger by using local mosque public address system for a makeshift emergency broadcast announcement.  My wife has been inconsolable, crying herself to sleep for days. We implore you all to demand that your respective governments allow the safe asylum of Pakistani Christians in your respective nations. 

The Police have locked down Youhanabad and have already arrested 70 young Christian men for the killing of the two Muslim men. 

The Pakistani Minister of the Interior, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, stressed that mob lynching equates to terrorism.  He spoke of Muhammad Saleem (one of two Muslim men murdered in the reprisal attack), who according to relatives was an innocent man, not a militant.  He said

“It will be the police’s job to put an end to this uncomfortable backlash which in some way stains the presence of Christians in ‘the land of the pure’. 

The head of the Punjab Interior Ministry, Shuja Khanzada, was firm:

“The government will punish all those who are guilty of involvement in the attacks but also the lynching.” 

Church leaders have called for their parishioners to attend their churches despite threats that their churches will be bombed – I wish I could be with them but I have had an indefinite ban imposed on me after being severely beaten at the Pakistan High Commission when applying for a travel visa. This ban has been for the last four years, preventing me visiting the funeral  of my mother in-law and my cousin’s wedding.  Harsh punishment some might say, simply for speaking out for Minorities in Pakistan, which the previous High Commissioner deemed to be an anti-Pakistani movement and not pro-justice (click here).  But there again I am a Christian.

Thus far the Police have offered no further protection for the churches on Sunday; however I have been invited by the High Commissioner of Pakistan to a private meeting followed by a meeting with some Christian leaders. 

I will be insisting on special security measures for all the Lahore churches, for at least the next few weeks. I will also be calling for an investigation of the biased reporting on Pakistani TV. 

Of course, unlike the Pakistani media, we will reflect upon this recent bombing.  We will ask that Pakistan seeks more intelligence advice from the UK and America whose experts have made our nations relatively safe. We will demand heightened protection for all churches in Pakistan for the foreseeable future.

The pictures at the bottom of this feature show the locked doors on a number of Christian homes.  Let’s pray the look of a ghost town does not become an actual Ghost town!

Please sign our petition and show solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Lahore (Click here)

We remember the victims of the Peshawar bomb attack of 2013, during this terrible period for Lahore Christians (click here).

We have initiated a disaster recovery fund for the victims.