WCC calls on Pakistan to protect Christian minority under attack
Children at a new church in a village outside Lahore. The church was built by local Christians and intended to serve also as a school and a meeting place for the village. © Henrik Hansson/WCC, 2008
The World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia appealed to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari to "ensure the safety and security" of Christians in the Punjab province, where three attacks against Christian communities were carried by militant Islamic groups in the last two months. He demanded that the government "take necessary actions against the perpetrators".
The killing of seven Christians on 1 August in Gojra "reconfirms the fear that the government is constantly failing to protect its citizens", Kobia wrote in a letter to President Zardari on 3 August. He also expressed the concern that "blasphemy laws in Pakistan are being used as an excuse to victimize the minority Christians".
According to reports, seven people were burned alive and some forty houses belonging to Christians were torched in Gojra on 1 August. Gojra is a city located some 160 kilometres from the Punjab province's capital Lahore. The majority of Pakistan's population of 167 million is Muslim, with Christians making up only 3 percent of the population.
Full text of the letter to the president of Pakistan
WCC project "Accompanying churches in situations of conflict"
WCC member churches in Pakistan
