Asia/Pacific

By BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent Santosh Digal NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian preacher of one of India's oldest mission organizations hasbeen held in a prison in India's volatile Orissa state since December over allegations that he has links with a militant group, evangelical leaders said Friday, March 26.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Police in Pakistan's province of Punjab have launched an investigation into reports that Muslim extremists killed a Christian for refusing to convert to Christianity. It comes at a time when Christians in the region are also prosecuted for alleged blasphemy against Islam.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN-- Hundreds of people attended the funeral Wednesday of a young Christian man who was allegedly burned by Muslim extremists and police officers for refusing to convert of Islam.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Arshed Masih, a Pakistani Christian who was burned by Muslim hardliners for refusing to convert to Islam, died early Tuesday, March 23, at the age of 38, his family told BosNewsLife. He had become a symbol of Christians facing persecution in Pakistan, suggested Life for All, a Pakistani advocacy group closely following the case.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Citing “terrorism threats”, the government of Pakistan's Punjab province banned protests Monday, March 22, against the “refusal” by police to detain those who burned a Christian man for not converting to Islam, while raping his wife.

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- An official of one of India's largest evangelical umbrella groups says his organization has recorded over 1,000 anti-Christian attacks in 500 days in the southern state of Karnataka and that the number is growing "by the day".

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- The government of Pakistan's most populous province announced an investigation Sunday, March 21, into reports that a Christian man was burned and his wife raped by local police and Muslim religious leaders for refusing to convert to Islam.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian man was fighting for his life in Pakistan's Punjab province Saturday, March 20, after Muslim leaders backed by police burned him alive for refusing to convert to Islam, while his wife was raped by police officers, Christian and hospital sources familiar with the case told BosNewsLife.

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Police in India's southern state Karnataka detained a pastor for "forcing" Hindus "to convert" to Christianity, while Hindu extremists exhumed a Christian's dead body saying it "contaminated" a cemetery's soil, evangelical leaders confirmed Friday, March 19.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- Christian rights activists on Wednesday, March 16, welcomed the early release by Vietnam of a prominent Catholic priest from prison after he served just three of an-eight year sentence,  but they expressed concerns over his health.