ISLAMABAD (AsiaNews): The long awaited appeal against the death sentence and conviction for blasphemy of Pakistani Catholic woman, Asia Bibi, was again postponed by the Supreme Court in Islamabad on October 13, when one of the three judges stepped down from the case.

LAHORE (AsiaNews): The Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority has closed 11 unlicensed Christian television channels in a communiqué that orders them to take the necessary measures to stop their listed programmes.

They include Catholic TV, run by the archdiocese of Lahore. The director, Father Morris Jalal, claims it is the first time that a formal notification of authorities has targeted channels with Christian content.

ISLAMABAD (AsiaNews): Pakistan held its first Eucharistic Congress in Islamabad during July, ending in an appeal to Catholics who have fallen away from their Church to come home.

“People say that prayer counts most, whatever Church you attend,” Father Yousaf Amanat, from the host parish, said. “Protestant pastors are attracting many Catholics. We hope to counter this trend through greater awareness.”

Lahore (UCAN): As Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr, a young Pakistani Christian, Ammon Alishah, made waves in the country with his special Eid song.

The song, Eid ke nazare (Scenes of Eid) was composed by Alishah’s father, a pastor. The video, now on YouTube, was filmed in Karachi and Sukkur. 

“This is my first official song and I wanted to release it on the eve of Eid,” Alishah said.

KARACHI (SE): The victim of an assassination in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 22, renowned qawwal, Amjad Farid Sabri, was described as the loss of a national treasure in a statement from the National Commission for Justice and Peace.

Lahore (UCAN): Dispersing fear in the wake of the bomb attack that shattered the peace of Easter Sunday on March 27 in the  Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore, Pakistan, is a major part of the support work being done by Caritas for the victims (Sunday Examiner, April 10).

A Caritas programme is providing trauma counselling to those affected by the bombing.

Faisalabad (SE): A Muslim landowner in Nazimabad, Pakistan allegedly shot and killed a two-year-old Christian boy according to a May 11 report the Fides news agency.

A dispute arose when the child’s father, Samsoon Masih, refused to do further work at the home of Haji Rasheed, without first getting paid for painting his house.

Islamabad (AsiaNews): Dewan Bahadur S.P. Singha, a Christian leader who, as a member of the Punjab Assembly, supported the partition of British India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, has been honoured with a commemorative postage stamp issued by the Pakistan Post Office.

Christian and Muslim leaders welcomed the initiative, calling it an important step toward recognising the role played by minorities in nation building.

LAHORE (AsiaNews): Leaders from the Islamic and Catholic faiths came together to lead an interfaith vigil in memory of the 76 people who died in the March 27 Easter Sunday terror attack in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 2.

Although it was claimed by the perpetrators that Christians were the target of the attack, in fact, only 17 of the dead have been identified as Christian and the bulk of the remainder are Muslim.

HONG KONG (SE): In claiming responsibility for a bomb that exploded around 6.30pm in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park in the city of Lahore in Pakistan on Easter Sunday, March 27, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar said it had intentionally targeted the Christian community at Easter.

It is believed that a suicide bomber was responsible for the carnage from the same group that claimed responsibility for attacks on two churches in Lahore in March last year, when 15 people died and 70 were injured.