Priests attacked by mob in Pakistan

A Catholic priest and six Church employees were beaten by a mob on Catholic property in Karachi that has been seized illegally:

The Church is seeking help from the authorities after “land mafia” attacked two priests and several parishioners at a Catholic school in Karachi on Monday. 

Father Pervez Khalid, one other senior priest and six Church workers were assaulted by a group 70 people on April 16 after entering the playground of Cardinal Cordeiro High School which has been seized by land grabbers. 

One parishioner in his forties was taken to hospital after receiving several heavy blows.
The trouble began on Sunday when local residents informed Church authorities that people were demolishing a wall at the school which is situated in Karachi’s Korangi town. 

Other men were seen marking out a piece of ground measuring about 2,000 sq m. 

“We went to see where they made the illegal plot markings next day when about 70 men arrived and ordered us to leave. They even damaged the car of a priest who had land documents,” said Fr Khalid of Karachi’s Good Shepherd Parish [more].

Two Christians kidnapped in Pakistan

Two Christians were recently kidnapped in Karachi:

Thirty residents of the village of Kot Meerath in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab brutally tortured Seema Bibi, a Christian woman, and paraded her through the streets because of her “anti-Islam” views. Police have made 26 arrests [more]

Pakistani Bishops call for change in laws to protect Christians

A Catholic member of the Pakistani parliament, Michael Shind, is speaking out against the unacceptable treatment of Christians in his country, largely as a result of the country's anti-blasphemy law.

The Vatican Insider summarized the situation in Pakistan (emphases original):

Children raped and tortured, families extorted, abuse and violence taking place at the expense of terrified victims who remain silent: this is the reality of what is happening to the Christian community in some suburban quarters of Karachi, Southern Pakistan’s biggest city and the capital of the Sindh province.

The Agenzia Fides recently reported that

In 2011, because of the "black law" (composed of the articles 295b and 295c of the Penal Code), at least 161 people were indicted and 9 were killed with extrajudicial executions, the victims of blasphemy accusations. Such accusations, said a Muslim lawyer recently, anonymous for security reasons, "are false in 95% of cases".

In the same article, the Agenzia Fides summarized the findings of the Asian Human Rights Commission regarding the situation in Pakistan during the year 2011:

The year 2011 saw the killing of high profile personalities, such as the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer and the Federal Minister for minorities, Shabhaz Bhatti, "murders committed by religious extremist groups infiltrated in the police force", notes the Commission. "The state played an ambiguous role to appease the religious extremism and remained a silent spectator of such killings" is what is underlined. "This government's ineptitude - the text continues - has favored forced conversion to Islam of girls from minority religious groups: in total, in 2011, about 1,800 girls between Hindus and Christians, were forced to convert to Islam, with means such as kidnapping and rape".
The Report, recalling the 161 indicted and 9 killed for "blasphemy", notes that "the government has not made any progress on the draconian blasphemy law, which has cost many lives". "Authorities -it states - have taken on, in secret, a paternalistic attitude towards the militant groups. The courts have proven to be friends of the militants and terrorists. In many cases the terrorists were released by the courts, under the guise of formal or procedural deficiencies". The text also mentions hundreds of "honor killing" deaths, the increase in sectarian violence in Karachi (1,800 deaths in 2011) and Baluchistan (225 deaths, more than 6,000 missing).

In light of this, Justice and Peace Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Pakistan issued a statement to the Pakistani government's Federal Ministry for Human Rights calling for  "changes in the Constitution and laws and policies to ensure the restoration of civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights to minorities."

At the same time, the commission also condemned the Pakistani government's recent seizure of Christian lands in Punjab, which some 2,000 Christians recently protested.