wfn.org | WCC calls on Pakistan to protect Christian minority under attack

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WCC calls on Pakistan to protect Christian minority under attack

Posted On : August 4, 2009 3:45 PM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/8/4/ACNS4642
Related Categories: Pakistan  WCC

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 is available here:
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/general-secretary/messag
es-and-letters/letter-to-the-president-of-pakistan.html

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