Pakistan

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Pakistan's Minister of Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti,has launched a public campaign aimed at annulling controversial blasphemy legislation amid concerns Thursday, February 12, over Islamic extremism against Christians and other minorities in the country.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife News Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan with BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos reporting from BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest ISLAMABAD/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Poland confirmed Monday, February 9, the authenticity of video footage showing the beheading in Pakistan of a Polish engineer abducted over four months ago by Islamic militants linked to the groups Taliban and possibly Al-Qaeda.

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 Jawad Mazhar Special Correspondent for BosNewsLife reporting from Sargodha, Pakistan SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A tense calm returned Monday, February 2, to an impoverished area of the Pakistani city of Sargodha where police “tortured” Christian residents, which included beatings and sexually molesting girls and women, local Christians told BosNewsLife.

Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Five Pakistani Christians who were detained and charged with "blasphemy" against Islam during April 2007 spend their first weekend in freedom Sunday, January 25, after they were freed from prison, but the news was overshadowed by reports of violence against believers, in which at two persons died died.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan with Mary Priddy, BosNewsLife International Correspondent ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife) -- Two Christian teenage girls were free Saturday, January 17, as they were rescued after being kidnapped, sold to other men as sex slaves, and forced into Islam by two radical Muslims, Christian rights investigators said.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian teenage girl, who was abducted and enslaved by a Muslim, was with her parents Saturday, January 3, after a local court ordered police to free her, Christians said.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan HANGGU, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians and other non-Muslims faced potential persecution Tuesday, December 30, as militants linked to Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups imposed Shariah, or Islamic law, in the Orakzai Agency tribal region of the restive Pakistani North West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials told BosNewsLife.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christian government workers were among those recovering from injuries Friday, December 26, after a mini truck laden with explosives detonated near their homes in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, killing one Christian woman and injuring up to six people, officials and local residents said.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in Pakistan celebrated Christmas Eve amid tight security late Wednesday, December 24, amid fears Islamic militants may try to attack churches and other Christian institutions.