Pakistani Christians launch white flag campaign

Month-long project aims to raise awareness of persecution against Christians after spike in attacks

Apr 23, 2018

By  Kamran Chaudhry
Catholic Church leaders announced on April 19 they would raise white flags across Pakistan to show their rejection of what they claim is increasing religious persecution at the hands of hard-line Islamists.

"We request all the Christians and civil society to hoist a white flag on their rooftops for one month. This campaign is a pledge to make Pakistan a hub of justice and security," said Reverend Amjad Niamat, convener of the Pakistan Christian Action Committee (PCAC).

"We demand the government help our committee in this regard and give a positive message to the whole world," he added while addressing the media at Lahore press club.

Dominican Father James Channan, five pastors and several lay people among the panelists also voiced their support for the campaign at the conference.

They urged the government and the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take note of recent cases of persecution against Christians.

Meanwhile, a group of three priests and two clerics demanded compensation for victims of targeted killings in Quetta at another news conference organized by the National Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue and Ecumenism. It ended with Christian and Muslim prayers for peace.

On April 15, two Catholics were gunned down in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, within two weeks of a prior attack on clergymen.

On March 26, a Catholic father of four was allegedly beaten to death by doctors and security guards at a government hospital in Lahore.

Sajid Masih, also Christian, remains hospitalized after he jumped from the fourth floor of the Punjab headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a suicide attempt on Feb. 23 while being interrogated with his cousin.

Reports say both the man and his cousin were tortured and ordered to engage in lewd sexual acts in a bid to humiliate them.

"We know some miscreants want to create panic in the country with these attacks. But our nation is against such attempts to weaken it. The white flags will symbolize both our sincerity and commitment to peace," said Khalid Gill, chairman of the Minority Inqalabi Tehreek (Revolution Movement) Pakistan.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a rights-based organization of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference cancelled a protest it had planned following the PCAC press conference citing "security [concerns] and some unavoidable circumstances."--ucanews.com

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