Pakistan

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Police were investigating Saturday, March 27, attacks by suspected Hindu activistson a Roman Catholic school and, separately, a pastor and his companion near India's capital New Delhi which injured at least three people, Christian rights activists said.

(CHANGING 2ND AND 3RD PARAGRAPH TO INCLUDE LATEST COMMENTS FROM WORLD VISION) By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with BosNewslife Special Correspondent Xavier P. William reporting from Pakistan ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- The US-based Christian charity World Vision said Wednesday, March 10, it has suspended operations in Pakistan after militants stormed its offices, killing six staff members and injuring several others.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan BAHMANI, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christian families in a volatile area of Pakistan's Punjab province were in hiding Saturday, July 4, after angry Muslim mobs burned and attacked hundreds of Christian homes and churches, injuring over a dozen people, including women and children, witnesses said.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian father of four who was sentenced to death in Pakistan for "blasphemy against Islam" has been rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack, his friends said Thursday, January 10.  

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan LAHORE , PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Pakistan's military on Thursday, May 14, continued pounding suspected positions of the militant Taliban group, which investigators say has created an atmosphere of hatred towards Christians and other religious minorities.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with BosNewsLife Asia Service LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Two elderly Christian men could worship in freedom Sunday, April 19, after more than two years in a Pakistani jail on charges of blasphemy.

SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christians and women from different religious backgrounds were anxiously awaiting the end of fresh violence in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province Sunday, November 9, after militants attacked a girls school and kidnapped a father for sending his daughter to school, police said. Since Friday, November 7, fighters, apparently with links to Taliban and al-Qaida groups, blew up a girls’ primary school and a basic health unit in the province's militancy-hit Swat Valley, near the main town of Mangora, Pakistani and Indian media reported. There were apparently no serious injuries in the two attacks. The Taliban have so far destroyed at least 120 schools – 82 girls and 38 boys’ schools – in the province, including Christian run institutions. Taliban militants also kidnapped a person, identified as named Muhammad, apparently for allowing his girl to study. There were no immediate reports of his whereabouts. Christians have been reeling from other attacks, including last month, when Taliban militants bombed a Catholic-run girls’ school in Swat Valley. CONVENT GIRLS The militants attacked the Convent Girls’ School in Sangota, run by the Presentation Sisters, a Catholic religious order that has opened girls’ schools around the world. Christians said militants had threatened the school frequently for offering education to females.Fighting also continued between government forces and militants in North-West Frontier Province, injuring at least five civilians and several soldiers since Friday, November 7, authorities said. The clashes followed several suicide attacks this week, in which at least a dozen tribesmen loyal to the central government were killed. Aid workers and other foreigners have also been caught up in the fighting. The Polish Foreign Ministry said efforts were underway to free a Polish engineer kidnapped September 28, some 200 kilometers south of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The kidnappers reportedly killed his three accompanying guards.POLE ALIVE"We have new information, which we cannot present at the moment, but which proves that the Pole is alive. We can never be sure that all the information we receive guarantees a 100 percent certainty," added Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski in a statement. A video recording appeared on television in mid October, with the Pole appealing to Pakistani authorities to fulfill the demands of the kidnappers, including the release of jailed Taliban fighters. Taliban and al-Qaida militants are battling against the Western-backed government of Pakistan and have made clear they want to establish a state based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law, which would include a ban on education for girls. END

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife ISLAMABAD/OSLO (BosNewsLife)-- There was controversy, Wednesday, October 10, over the whereabouts of a mentally challenged Pakistani Christian girl who has been charged with "blasphemy against Islam", after some Pakistani and Norwegian officials played down reports she had fled with family members to Norway.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A key government official has pledged to re-open Christian schools and other education institutions for girls in Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province (NWFP) after they were attacked by Muslim militants.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian father in Pakistan's Punjab province was without his home Monday, February 15, as his house was burned down by angry Muslims who killed his son in 2008, rights activists said.