Persecution of Christians in Pakistan
Christians make up 2-3% of Pakistan’s population. Believers are a despised minority, and most suffer extensive discrimination and marginalisation.
Islamist attitudes pervade Pakistan and there are regular incidents of Christians being attacked by extremists. Christian women and girls (along with those of other religious minorities) are vulnerable to being abducted by Muslim men and forced to both marry and change their religion to Islam.
Most Christians experience severe poverty because of discrimination in employment. Many work low-paid, dirty and dangerous jobs, often being forced to put their lives at risk. In recent years there have been several incidents of Christian sanitation workers dying from inhaling toxic fumes because they were not given the necessary protective equipment for sewer work.
Christians also make up a disproportionately high number of the workers in Pakistan’s brick kilns. Brick kiln labour is backbreakingly difficult and workers are desperately underpaid; they often have no option but to borrow money from their employer, in the process becoming essentially slaves as they and their families try to work off the resulting debt.
Religious freedom in Pakistan
The constitution of Pakistan guarantees that “every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice, and propagate his religion”. The constitution, however, also requires that all laws are consistent with Islam.
Religious minorities are often the victims of Pakistan’s “blasphemy” laws, officially known in Pakistan’s Penal Code as “Offences Relating to Religion”. Christians are most commonly accused under Section 295-B – desecration of the Quran, which can result in life imprisonment – or Section 295-C – defiling the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, which is punishable with death (albeit, this sentence has never been carried out).
The “blasphemy” laws are often used to make false accusations to settle personal grudges. Christians are particularly vulnerable, as merely expressing some of their beliefs can be construed as “blasphemy” and the lower courts usually favour the testimony of Muslims, in accordance with sharia (Islamic law).
Such accusations can often lead to mob violence against those accused, or even against entire Christian communities (such as in Jaranwala in 2023, when at least 24 church buildings were burned down).
How Barnabas Aid is helping
Thanks to our generous supporters, in the 18 months from September 2024 Barnabas Aid has freed 1,030 Christian families from bonded labour in Pakistan’s brick kilns.
We have also been able to fund Christian schools, provide apprenticeships and vocational training, deliver food parcels and ensure emergency aid to believers after floods in late 2025.
Barnabas is also funding legal help for Christians falsely accused of “blasphemy” and to parents fighting to bring their daughters home in cases of abductions, forced marriages and forced conversions.
How you can pray
- Ask the Lord to watch over His people who are held in prison following false accusations, granting them strength.
- Pray that believers will stay strong in their faith and not give in to the pressure to convert to Islam.
- Ask that Christian girls are kept safe from kidnapping, and that those who have suffered any type of persecution because of their faith will be comforted by God’s enduring love.
