{"id":29454,"date":"2020-01-08T10:54:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T18:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masihitv.com\/?p=29454"},"modified":"2020-01-08T10:54:59","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T18:54:59","slug":"why-are-pakistani-christians-targeted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masihitv.com\/?p=29454","title":{"rendered":"Why Are Pakistani Christians Targeted?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pakistan’s Christians, like other \nreligious minorities in the country, have been the target of escalating \nattacks in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attacks, on their residential areas \nand places of worship, have mostly been motivated by the country’s \ncontroversial blasphemy laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there have also been political motives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan explains more about the community and why it is being targeted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many Christians are there in Pakistan?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim but Christians and Hindus make up the largest minority groups, with each representing about 1.6% of the population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides Karachi, other cities like Lahore, Faisalabad and Peshawar also have Christian populations <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The southern metropolis of Karachi has a large Christian population, as do the cities of Lahore and Faisalabad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\n are countless Christian villages in the Punjab heartland, while there \nis also a sizeable population in the deeply conservative north-western \nKhyber Pakhtunkhwa province, particularly in Peshawar city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\n the partition of India, what is now Pakistan was a much more diverse \nplace but tolerance has declined as society has become increasingly \nIslamicised and more homogenous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minorities used to make up 15% of the population in these cities. Now they account for less than 4%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are they an influential group?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The majority of Pakistan’s Christians are descended from low-caste Hindus who converted during the British Raj – partly to escape the caste system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious minorities including Christians have been increasingly targeted amid the growing Islamicisation of Pakistan <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many provided labour in garrison towns. In fact, to \nthis day, every cantonment city in Pakistan has an area known as Lal \nKurti, which is traditionally where the Christians reside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \nChristian communities remain among the poorest sections of society and \noften still do menial jobs. Entire villages in parts of Punjab are \nChristian and their inhabitants work as labourers and farmhands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\n there are sections of the Christian community that are more well off. \nBetter educated and mainly settled in Karachi, they came over from Goa \nduring the British Raj.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What all of them share, though, is a sense\n of vulnerability. This has seen a number of wealthier Christians \nleaving Pakistan to settle in countries like Canada and Australia as \nthey feel the climate of intolerance in the country has become \nunbearable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are they being attacked?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Muslims and Christians mostly co-exist amiably enough without frequent outbreaks of animosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But accusations of blasphemy<\/a> have also often led to mob violence against Christians, while militant Islamists have also targeted the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent attacks include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n