ISLAMABAD (UCAN): Six Christian churches in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have been allowed to reopen some two weeks after their forced closure over alleged security threats, minority representatives said.
 
The house churches are located in the city of Abbottabad, where Al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, was found and killed in a raid by United States (US) Navy SEAL commandos in 2011.
 

ISLAMABAD (AsiaNews): Christmas celebrations went off without a hitch in Pakistan as people in the cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta marked the birth of Jesus under military protection.
 
Following the December 17 attack on a Methodist church in Quetta, authorities beefed up security around all Christian places of worship to prevent other terrorist attacks and allow Christian celebrations to go ahead without any problems.
 

KARACHI (SE): To the background boom of a 19-gun salute, members of the Pakistan army, navy and air force formed an guard of honour for the body of Sister Ruth Pfau, who died on August 10, as it was carried into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Karachi for a state funeral.
 
The flag of the Vatican City flew at half-mast high above the cathedral, alongside the Pakistani national flag. The requiem Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Joseph Coutts.
 

KARACHI (UCAN): The Joint Christian Action Committee in Pakistan is petitioning the government to charge Zafar Ullah Khan, a leader in the ruling party, with blasphemy if he refuses to apologise for drawing an offensive parallel between the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and Jesus Christ.
 

LAHORE (UCAN): A large group of some 60 Christians facing charges over their involvement in the lynching of two people in Pakistan was told by the prosecuting lawyer, Syed Anees Shah, that if they would agree to convert to Islam he would have all charges against them dropped.

MULTAN (UCAN): A government job advertisement in Pakistan singling out Christians, Hindus and Shia Muslims for sweeper jobs have drawn the ire of the Church, as well as human rights advocates.

The advertisement for sweepers, a designation put on people who clean the streets, public areas, do waste removal and sanitation work, was placed by local government officials in Bannu district in northwestern Pakistan in a local Urdu daily on March 17.

LAHORE (AsiaNews): Christians and Sikh religious leaders have issued an appeal to the Pakistani government to ensure that the first census in 19 years is accurate and complete.

Some prominent minority group leaders point to errors in the census’ religious and demographic categories.

There is no separate entry for Sikhs, Baha’is and Parsees, and Sikh leaders are organising demonstrations and protests in several districts.

Although recognised, Christians are referred to under a derogatory term dating back to British rule.