World Council of Churches -
News Release
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release:
3 August 2009
WCC calls on Pakistan to protect Christian minority under attack
The World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia appealed to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari to "ensure the safety and security" of Christians in the Punjab province, where three attacks against Christian communities were carried by militant Islamic groups in the last two months. He demanded that the government "take necessary actions against the perpetrators".
The killing of seven Christians on 1 August in Gojra "reconfirms the fear that the government is constantly failing to protect its citizens", Kobia wrote in a letter to President Zardari on 3 August. He also expressed the concern that "blasphemy laws in Pakistan are being used as an excuse to victimize the minority Christians".
According to reports, seven people were burned alive and some forty houses belonging to Christians were torched in Gojra on 1 August.
Gojra is a city located some 160 kilometres from the
Punjab province
's capital Lahore
. The majority of Pakistan's population of 167 million is Muslim, with Christians making up only 3 percent of the population.
Full text of the letter to the president of Pakistan
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7025
WCC project "Accompanying churches in situations of conflict"
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3147
WCC member churches in Pakistan
http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/member-churches/regions/asia/pakistan.html
Additional information:
Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
