Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

is the third-largest

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, with the 2023 Census recording over three million Christians, or 1.37% of the total population in Pakistan. About 90 to 95% of Pakistani Christians are

Dalits Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for Untouchability, untouchables and Outcast (person), outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called ...

from the Chuhra caste who converted from Hinduism. The province of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

has the largest population of Christians in the country. The majority of Pakistan's Christians are members of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

or the

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches,Database (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan". R ...

, with the remainder belonging to other

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

groups. Around 75 percent of Pakistan's Christians are rural

Punjabi Christians Punjabi Christians are ethnic Punjabis who adhere to Christianity. They are mainly found in the Pakistani province of Punjab, forming the largest religious minority. They are one of the four main ethnoreligious communities of the Punjab reg ...

, while some speak Sindhi and Gujarati, with the remainder being the upper and middle class Goan Christians and Anglo-Indians.

Punjabi Christians

As Punjabi Christians are mainly Dalit Christians, descendants of lower-caste

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

who converted during the colonial era in India. Their socio-economic conditions facilitate religious discrimination;. Blasphemy allegations have led to several cases of mob violence against Christian households and churches.

History

{{Christianity in Pakistan

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle (; , meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus ( 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of ...

is credited with the arrival of Christianity to the Indian subcontinent, establishing the community of

Saint Thomas Christians The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, ''Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani'', ''Malankara Nasrani'', or ''Nasrani Mappila'', are an Ethnoreligious group, ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Ker ...

on the

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

;

Saint Thomas Christian cross Mar Thoma Sleeva (Saint Thomas Cross) or simply Mar Sleeva are ancient crosses associated with the community of Ancient Christianity in the Indian Subcontinent, Indian subcontinent, who trace their origins to the evangelism of Thomas the Apo ...

es (Mar Thoma Sleeva) have been found all over the Indian subcontinent, including one near the city of

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila () is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the ...

in what is now Pakistan.{{cite book , last1=Kurikilamkatt , first1=James , title=First Voyage of the Apostle Thomas to India: Ancient Christianity in Bharuch and Taxila , date=2005 , publisher=ATF Press , isbn=978-1-925612-64-6 , page=140 , language=en In 1745, the Bettiah Christians, the northern Indian subcontinent's oldest surviving Christian community, were established by the

Order of Friars Minor Capuchin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ...

under the patronage of King Dhurup Singh; the Hindustan Prefecture was raised in 1769 at

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

and later shifted to

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

, which was elevated to the status of a Vicariate in 1820.{{cite journal , author=Jose Kalapura, SJ , title=Centenary History of Patna Jesuit Mission , journal=Patna Ganga Lahar , date=April 2020 , publisher=Jesuit Conference of South Asia, pages=9–10 The Capuchins, through their Agra Diocese and Allahabad Diocese, expanded their ministry and established in the 1800s Catholic churches in

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during and after the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spice trade, spices. The search for ...

's northern provinces including

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, UP, CP,

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and

, the latter of which now includes Pakistan. In 1877, on Saint Thomas' Day at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Rev. Thomas Valpy French was appointed the first

Anglican Bishop The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. ''Ministry'' commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. Anglican ministry incl ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, a large

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

Church of India, Burma and Ceylon The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) was the autonomous ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion, associated with the Church of England, in British India. The first Anglican diocese in India was established in 1813, the Dioces ...

, which included all of the Punjab, then under British rule in

, and remained so until 1887; during this period he also opened the Divinity College, Lahore in 1870. Rev.

Thomas Patrick Hughes Thomas Patrick Hughes, (26 March 1838 – 8 August 1911) was a British Anglican missionary who served under the auspices of the Church Mission Society (CMS) in Peshawar in British India (now Pakistan) for 20 years. Noted for his facility with la ...

served as a

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

missionary at

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

(1864–84), and became an oriental scholar, and compiled a 'Dictionary of Islam' (1885). The Christians of colonial India were active in the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and the wider

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, being collectively represented by the

All India Conference of Indian Christians The All India Conference of Indian Christians (AICIC) is an ecumenical organisation founded in 1914 to represent the interests of Christians in India. It was founded to advocate for the moral, economic, and intellectual development of the Indian C ...

, which advocated for

swaraj Swarāj (, IAST: , ) can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". The term was used synonymously with "home-rule" by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati and later on by Mahatma Gandhi, but the word usually refers to Gandhi's concept of Indian ...

and opposed the partition of India.{{cite book , last1=Thomas , first1=Abraham Vazhayil , title=Christians in Secular India , date=1974 , publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press , isbn=978-0-8386-1021-3 , pages=106–110 , language=en{{cite journal , last1=Oddie , first1=Geoffrey A. , title=Indian Christians and National Identity 1870-1947 , journal=The Journal of Religious History , date=2001 , volume=25 , issue=3 , pages=357, 361, doi=10.1111/1467-9809.00138 {{cite journal , last1=Pinto , first1=Ambrose , title=Christian Contribution to the Freedom Struggle , journal=Mainstream , date=19 August 2017 , volume=LV , issue=35 , language=en The meeting of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in

in December 1922, which had a large attendance of Punjabis, resolved that clergymen of the Church in India should be drawn from the ranks of Indians, rather than foreigners.{{cite book , last1=Webster , first1=John C. B. , title=A Social History of Christianity: North-west India since 1800 , date=2018 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-909757-9 , language=en , quote=In December 1921, the Punjabi-dominated meetings of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in Lahore was more cautious in their proposals but less cautious in the rationale they offered. They passed resolutions, first indicating that the Protestant missions 'should be completely merged in the Indian Church and that in future all Foreign Missionaries should be related to it,' and then urging the missions in the meantime to 'appoint Indians of ability and character on an increasing scale.' Among their supporting arguments were that 'Indian Christians are not going to put up with colour and racial distinctions', that foreign missionaries could not solve the community's problems 'because of lack of sympathy', that the missions were too divided by denominational differences to bring about a united Indian Church, and that 'In these days Indians look up to Indians and do not pay much attention to foreigners.' The AICIC also stated that Indian Christians would not tolerate any discrimination based on race or skin colour. Following the death of

K. T. Paul Kanakarayan Tiruselvam Paul (24 March 1876 – 11 April 1931) was an Indian leader who served as the president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians, representing the Christian community of colonial India in the First Round T ...

of Salem, the principal of

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is a private nonprofit Liberal arts college, liberal arts Universities in Pakistan, university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Church ...

in Lahore S. K. Datta became the president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians, representing the Indian Christian community at the Second Round Table Conference, where he agreed with

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

's views on minorities and Depressed Classes.{{cite book , last1=Black , first1=Brian , last2=Hyman , first2=Gavin , last3=Smith , first3=Graham M. , title=Confronting Secularism in Europe and India: Legitimacy and Disenchantment in Contemporary Times , date=2014 , publisher=A&C Black , isbn=978-1-78093-607-9 , pages=88–91 , language=en On 30 October 1945, the All India Conference of Indian Christians formed a joint committee with the Catholic Union of India that passed a resolution stating: "In the future constitution of India, the profession, practice and propagation of religion should be guaranteed and that a change of religion should not involve any civil or political disability." This joint committee enabled the Christians in colonial India to stand united, and in front of the British Parliamentary Delegation "the committee members unanimously supported the move for independence and expressed complete confidence in the future of the community in India." The office for this joint committee was opened in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, Vice-Chancellor of

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

M. Rahnasamy served as president and B.L. Rallia Ram of Lahore served as General Secretary. Six members of the joint committee were elected to the Minorities Committee of the Constituent Assembly. In its meeting on 16 April 1947 and 17 April 1947, the joint committee of the All India Conference of Indian Christians and Catholic Union of India prepared a 13-point memorandum that was sent to the Constituent Assembly of India, asking for

religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

for both organisations and individuals. When Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947, the organization and activities of the Christian community changed drastically; the Catholic Union of India granted independence to its branches in

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

and

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

in its Second Annual General Meeting in Bangalore in October 1947. Some Christians in Punjab and

had been quite active after 1945 in their support for

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties British India *All-India Muslim League, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan ** Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organization above **Unionist Muslim L ...

. Even before the final phase of the movement, leading Indian Christians like

Pothan Joseph Pothan Joseph (1892–1972) was a journalist in 20th-century India whose career spanned the twenty years before and twenty years after India's independence. He worked with notable people of the time such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, ...

had rendered valuable services as journalists and propagandists of the Muslim League.{{citation needed, date=December 2013 Jinnah had repeatedly promised all citizens of Pakistan complete equality of citizenship, but this promise was not kept by his successors. Pakistan became an

Islamic Republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been used for a s ...

in 1956, making

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

the source of legislation and cornerstone of the national identity, while guaranteeing freedom of religion and equal citizenship to all citizens. In the mass population exchanges that occurred between Pakistan and India upon independence due to conflict between Muslims and followers of

Indian religions Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification o ...

, most Hindus and nearly all

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

s fled the country.

Pakistani Punjab Punjab (, ) is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and the second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, i ...

is now over 2% Christian, with very few Hindus and Sikhs left. Christians have made contributions to the Pakistani national life. Pakistan's first non-Muslim Chief Justice of the

Pakistan Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate and extens ...

was Justice A. R. Cornelius. Pakistani Christians also distinguished themselves as great fighter pilots in the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

. Notable other Christians are

Cecil Chaudhry Cecil Chaudhry (Urdu:; 27 August 1941 – 13 April 2012) was a Pakistani academic, human rights activist, and a veteran fighter pilot. As a flight lieutenant, he fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and as a squadron leader in the I ...

, Peter O'Reilly and Mervyn L Middlecoat. Christians have also contributed as educators, doctors, lawyers and businessmen. One of Pakistan's well-known

cricketers Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from th ...

Yousuf Youhana Mohammad Yousuf Pride of Performance, PP Sitara-e-Imtiaz, SI (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ; formerly Yousuf Youhana, ; born 27 August 1974) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer and Captain (cricket), captain, who played all three fo ...

, was born Christian but later converted to Islam, taking the Islamic name Mohammad Yousuf. In Britain, the Bishop Emeritus of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, is a Pakistani Christian. In 2016, it was reported that

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) ( ) is an independent and constitutionally established federal institution responsible for regulating and issuing channel licenses for establishment of the mass media culture, print and el ...

(PEMRA) had banned all of the Christian television stations. PEMRA doesn't allow broadcasting rights for religious content, allowing airing of Christian messages only on

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

and

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

. Since 1996, the small community of

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

Christians in Pakistan was placed under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the newly formed

Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

that was set up by the decision of the Holy Synod of the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

. In 2008, the Diocese was divided, and Pakistan came under the jurisdiction of newly formed Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Singapore and South Asia.

Deterioration of relations

Holy Trinity Church in Murree from backside

According to journalist

Pamela Constable Pamela Constable is an American reporter and editor at ''The Washington Post''. She has specialized in coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Constable attended Brown University. Her first paid job in journalism began in 1974 at ''The Capital'' ...

, in the 1980s and 1990s tensions between Christians and Muslims in Pakistan began to "fester". Constable credits the

Soviet war in Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the rise of military dictator General

Mohammed Zia ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of t ...

and the

influence Influence may refer to: *Social influence, in social psychology, influence in interpersonal relationships **Minority influence, when the minority affect the behavior or beliefs of the majority Science and technology *Sphere of influence (astrody ...

of stricter religious teachings from the Gulf states as catalysts for the change. After the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

on the US, things grew worse, with many Pakistani Muslims seeing the American response to the attacks "as a foreign plot to defame their faith." Pakistan's Christian community developed a "growing sense of concern", particularly over the strict blasphemy laws, that prohibit any insults against

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and make the crime punishable by death. In the 1990s, some Christians were arrested on charges of blasphemy, and for protesting that appeared to insult Islam. John Joseph, the Catholic Bishop of Faisalabad, committed suicide to protest the execution of a Christian man on blasphemy charges.Jones, Owen Bennett (2003). ''Pakistan: Eye of the Storm''. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 19. {{ISBN, 0-300-10147-3. In 2009, a series of attacks killed eight Christians in

Gojra Gojra (; ), is the administrative capital of Gojra Tehsil and a city in the Toba Tek Singh District in Punjab province of Pakistan. Gojra is from Faisalabad, from Lahore and north of Toba Tek Singh. Founded in 1896 during the British ...

, four women, three men and a child. In 2013, a suicide bombing at a church in Peshawar left more than 100 people dead, and a series of attacks at churches in Lahore in 2015 left 14 dead. On 27 March 2016, over seventy people, mostly Muslims, were killed when a suicide bomber targeting Christians celebrating Easter attacked a playground in Lahore.{{Cite news, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/death-toll-in-pakistan-easter-suicide-attack-rises-to-72-authorities-vow-to-hunt-down-perpetrators/2016/03/28/037a2e18-f46a-11e5-958d-d038dac6e718_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name%253Ahomepage%252Fstory&tid=a_inl, title=Death toll in Pakistan bombing climbs past 70, last1=Hussain, first1=Annie Gowen, Shaiq, date=2016-03-28, last2=Cunningham, first2=Erin, newspaper=The Washington Post, language=en-US, issn=0190-8286, access-date=2016-03-28 On 16 August 2023, rumours began to spread in the Punjabi city of

Jaranwala Jaranwala (; ) is a city and capital of Jaranwala Tehsil located in the Faisalabad District of Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab, Pakistan.

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

, that a Christian had desecrated pages of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

. The resulting riot led to the destruction of 26 churches in the Christian quarter of the city, and thousands of Christians fled, with some spending the next few nights in open fields, afraid of returning to their homes.{{Cite web , last=ACN , date=2023-08-18 , title=Pakistan: 1,000 frightened and homeless Christians forced to sleep rough , url=https://acninternational.org/pakistan-1000-frightened-and-homeless-christians-forced-to-sleep-rough/ , access-date=2023-10-25 , website=ACN International , language=en-US Local Christians complained of inaction by security forces in Jaranwala, but eventually reinforcements were called in and around 100 Muslims were arrested for participating in the violence. No Christians were killed in the riots, as most managed to flee due to warnings from Muslim neighbours. On the Sunday after the riots,

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was celebrated in the street outside the burned-out St. Paul's Catholic Church. The Pakistani Catholic Bishops' Conference denounced the act and asked that the Government bring the culprits to justice, regretting that "the Christian community has been terrorized and frightened by a small group of miscreants to make them believe that Christians are in fact second-class citizens of Pakistan and will remain so". Catholic charity

Aid to the Church in Need Aid to the Church in Need (, , ) is an international Catholic pastoral aid organization, which yearly offers financial support to more than 5,000 projects worldwide. Aid to the Church in Need's General Secretariat and Project Headquarters is in ...

helped address the emergency needs of those whose livelihoods was destroyed, providing a support package for 464 families, including replacement rickshaws and motorcycles for drivers who had lost their vehicles.

Demographics

{{Historical populations , title = Christian population in Pakistan , type = , align = right , width = , state = , shading = , pop_name = , percentages = pagr , source ={{cite web , url=http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/other/yearbook2011/Population/16-16.pdf , title=Population distribution by religion, 1998-Census , year=2011 , work=Pakistan Statistical Year Book 2011 , publisher=

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) () is a federal agency under the Government of Pakistan. It is an attached department of the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives. It works for collecting statistics in the country. Hi ...

, access-date=2020-05-20{{Cite news, url=https://www.tribune.com.pk/story/1719994/headcount-finalised-sans-third-party-audit%3famp=1, title=Headcount finalised sans third-party audit, author=Riazul Haq and Shahbaz Rana, date=27 May 2018, access-date=23 January 2021 , 1901 , 59,387 , 1911 , 167,178 , 1921 , 276,107 , 1931 , 360,371 , 1941 , 432,724 , 1951 , 432,978 , 1961 , 583,884 , 1972 , 907,861 , 1981 , 1,310,426 , 1990 , 1,769,582 , 1998 , 2,092,902 , 2017 , 2,642,048 , 2023 , 3,300,788 Christianity (%) in Pakistan by decades{{cite news , author1=Riazul Haq , author2=Shahbaz Rana , date=27 May 2018 , title=Headcount finalised sans third-party audit , url=https://www.tribune.com.pk/story/1719994/headcount-finalised-sans-third-party-audit%3famp=1 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406004222/https://tribune.com.pk/story/1719994/headcount-finalised-sans-third-party-audit?amp=1 , archive-date=6 April 2023 , access-date=23 January 2021{{cite web , url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_religion.pdf , archive-date=7 August 2003 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030807000413/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_religion.pdf , title=Population by Religion , work=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
{{cite web , title=Population by religion , url=http://www.census.gov.pk/Religion.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402081116/http://www.census.gov.pk/Religion.htm , archive-date=2 April 2014 , work=Population Census Organization, Government of Pakistan
{{cite web , url=http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//tables/POPULATION%20BY%20RELIGION.pdf , title=Population by Religion , work=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics , access-date=13 June 2020 , archive-date=29 March 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329204115/http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20RELIGION.pdf , url-status=dead
Also reproduced a
scribd.com
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107023143/https://www.scribd.com/document/400843609/Pakisatn-Bearu-of-Statistics-Population-by-Religion-pdf , date=7 November 2020 {{cite web, title=Religious Minorities in Pakistan, url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/mrgi/2002/en/46104, author=Dr Iftikhar H. Malik, format=PDF, access-date=12 February 2020, archive-date=1 February 2021, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201143205/https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/469cbfc30.pdf%26ved%3D2ahUKEwjdnbSQwLTuAhV97XMBHX65D38QFjATegQIEBAB%26usg%3DAOvVaw1Uqem-Qrs9BEylljAYl6hm, url-status=live {, class="wikitable" , - ! Year ! Number ! Percent ! Increase ! Growth , - , 1901 , 59,387 , 0.34% , - , - , - , 1911 , 167,178 , 0,89% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.55% , style="background: lightgreen" , +181,5% , - , 1921 , 276,107 , 1.42% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.53% , style="background: lightgreen" , +65,16% , - , 1931 , 360,371 , 1.6% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.18% , style="background: lightgreen" , +30,51% , - , 1941 , 432,724 , 1.59% , style="background: red" , -0.01% , style="background: lightgreen" , +20,07% , - , 1951 , 432,978 , 1.28% , style="background: red" , -0.31% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0,058% , - , 1961 , 583,884 , 1.36% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.08% , style="background: lightgreen" , +34,85% , - , 1972 , 907,861 , 1.45% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.09% , style="background: lightgreen" , +55,48% , - , 1981 , 1,310,426 , 1.56% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.11% , style="background: lightgreen" , +44,34% , - , 1998 , 2,092,902 , 1.58% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.02% , style="background: lightgreen" , +59,71% , - , 2017 , 2,642,048 , 1.27% , style="background: red" , -0.31% , style="background: lightgreen" , +26,23% , - , 2023 , 3,300,788 , 1.37% , style="background: lightgreen" , +0.1% , style="background: lightgreen" , +24,93% Christianity in Pakistan is growing fast, going from 1.27% in 2017 to 1.37% in 2023, making it one of the religions in Pakistan growing faster than Islam, alongside Hinduism.{{cite web , title=Pakistan Population By Religion, 2023 Census , url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_9.pdf , access-date= , publisher=

Today, most Pakistani Christians live in Northern Punjab. Apart from Catholics, Christians of other denominations re-organized themselves, in India, into the Churches of North and South India respectively, and as the

in 1970. Politically, groups like the

Pakistan Christian Congress The Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) is a Christian political party and lobby group in Pakistan and was founded in 1985. The party aims to safeguard and advocate the social, religious and political rights of Christians in Pakistan. The party is ...

have arisen. The

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...

also has followers in Pakistan.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) reports over 4,000 members in 13 congregations throughout Pakistan. LDS members are most prevalent in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. According to a

Minority Rights Group International Minority Rights Group (MRG) is an international human rights organisation, headquartered in London, with offices in Budapest and Kampala. The organisation's mission statement is to secure rights for ethnic, national, religious, linguistic mi ...

report published in 2002, the average literacy rate among Christians in Pakistan was 34 percent compared to the national average of 46.56 percent.

Persecution

{{Main, Persecution of Christians in Pakistan {{See also, Blasphemy law in Pakistan, Forced conversion of minority girls in Pakistan, Religious discrimination in Pakistan After the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

and the formation of Pakistan in 1947, many Sikhs were forced to migrate to an independent India. Many Christians worked under Sikh landlords and when they departed the western parts of the Punjab region, the Government of Pakistan appropriated Sikh property to Muslims arriving from

East Punjab East Punjab was a state of Dominion of India from 1947 until 1950. It consisted parts of the Punjab Province of British India that remained in India following the partition of the state between the new dominions of Pakistan and India by the ...

. This caused over 300,000 Christians in Pakistan to become homeless. Christians faced judgement living in Pakistan, with local Muslims even stating that they had to live a life of servitude and perform sanitation work. Some Christians were therefore murdered for refusing to pick up garbage. In 1951, seventy-two Muslims were charged with the murder of eleven Christians after communal riots over agricultural land erupted.{{cite web , last1=Aqeel , first1=Asif , title=Humiliated and betrayed Christians , url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/209483/humiliated-betrayed-christians/ , website=Daily Times , date=March 2, 2018 Many churches built during the

n period, prior to the partition, remain locked, with the Pakistani government refusing to hand them over to the Christian community.{{cite book , author1= C. Christine Fair , author2=Shaun Gregory , title=Pakistan in National and Regional Change: State and Society in Flux , date=April 8, 2016 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-134-92465-3 Others have been victims of

church arson Church arson is burning or attempting to burn religious property, because empty churches are soft targets, racial hatred, pyromania, prejudice against certain religious beliefs, greed, or as part of communal violence or dissent or anti-religious ...

s or demolitions. In 1971,

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

became independent as

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, and the majority of Pakistan's Hindus, who lived in Bangladesh, were severed from Pakistan. Pakistan became a culturally monolithic, increasingly Islamic state, with smaller religious minorities than ever. With the governments of

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

and

Zia ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

, more stringently Islamic laws transformed Pakistan. Conversion to faiths other than Islam is not prohibited by law. Extremely controversial were the

blasphemy laws A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of Reverence (attitude), reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Re ...

, which made it treacherous for non-Muslims to express themselves without being accused of being un-Islamic. Zia also introduced the

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

as a basis for lawmaking, reinforced by

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

in 1991. Coerced conversions to Islam from Christianity are a major source of concern for Pakistani Christians, and the minority faces threats, harassment and intimidation tactics from extremists. The Christian community in Pakistan encounters significant challenges, discrimination, and persecution solely based on their religious identity. The law enforcement and justice system, as well as the presence of "blasphemy" laws and bonded labor, are often exploited to target, trap, and imprison religious minorities, with a particular focus on Christians.

Gallery

Missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

accompanied colonizing forces from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. Jesuit missionaries sent from Portuguese-held Goa built a Catholic church in Lahore, the first in Punjab, around 1597, two years after being granted permission by emperor Akbar, who had called them to his court in Fatehpur Sikri for religious discussions. This church was later demolished, perhaps during Aurangzeb times. Later on, Christianity was mainly brought by the British rulers of India in the later 18th and 19th century. This is evidenced in cities established by the British, such as the port city of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, where the majestic St. Patrick's Cathedral, one of Pakistan's largest churches, stands, and the churches in the city of

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

, where the British established a major military cantonment. Trinity church Karachi

The Europeans won{{how, date=June 2014 small numbers of converts to

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

from the native populations.

was very strong in the provinces of

and the

North West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November 1901 from ...

, but small native communities of converts to Christianity were formed. The largest numbers came from resident officers of the British Army and the government. European and wealthy native Christians established colleges, churches, hospitals and schools in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and

. There is a large Catholic

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

n community in

that was established when Karachi's infrastructure was developed by the British before World War II, and the Irish (who were subjects of the British Empire and formed a large part of the British Army) were an important factor in the establishment of then the Catholic community of northwestern colonial India.

Notable Pakistani Christians

{{More citations needed section, date=August 2016

Christians in Pakistani military services

The Christians in Pakistan have long been active in various fields of public service. Many

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

have served in the

Pakistan Armed Forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backe ...

, civilian services and other organizations. Some have received high civilian and military awards.

Pakistan Air Force

*Air Commodore

Patrick Desmond Callaghan Patrick Desmond Callaghan (16 July 1926 – 6 April 1992) was a two-star air marshal in the Pakistan Air Force who is credited for his pioneering work in flight safety in Pakistan and his role during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He is on ...

(1945–1971) *Group Captain

*Squadron Leader Peter Christy *Air Vice Marshal Eric Gordon Hall (1947–1977){{cite web , url=http://www.defencejournal.com/dec98/christian.htm , title=PAF'S Gallant Christian Heroes Carry Quaid's Message , access-date=2011-02-14 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307003637/http://www.defencejournal.com/dec98/christian.htm , archive-date=2011-03-07 *Air Commodore

Nazir Latif Nazir Latif SJ and Bar (10 July 1927 – 30 June 2011) was an air commodore in the Pakistan Air Force and a former director-general of the Operations and Plans at the Air Headquarters, Islamabad. Latif was one of the distinguished Christian pi ...

*Wing Commander Mervyn L. Middlecoat *Air Vice Marshal

Michael John O'Brian Michael John O'Brian (5 January 1928 — 1 December 1995) known as ''M.J. O'Brian'' and ''Micky O'Brian'' was among the pioneering officers of the Pakistan Air Force and two-star rank air officer who holds the distinction of being the only Air ...

Pakistan Army

* Brigadier

Daniel Austin Daniel Austin was a Christian Brigadier in the Pakistan Army.Dharkan Spring 2014

* Brigadier

Mervyn Cardoza Brigadier Mervyn Adrian Cardoza (1922 – 17 November 2010) was a one-star general in the Pakistan Army. In 1965, Cardoza was awarded the Tamgha-e-Khidmat by President Ayub Khan (Field Marshal), Ayub Khan for Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. B ...

* Lieutenant Colonel Derek Joseph * Major General Julian Moazzam James * Major General Noel Israel Khokhar * Major General Julian Peter * Brigadier

Samson Simon Sharaf Samson Simon Sharaf is a retired officer in the Pakistan Army and a political economist. He served in Pakistan's Army for 33 years, most notably in Nuclear Policy making. Despite being qualified in security and nuclear strategy, he prefers to c ...

Pakistan Navy

*Rear-Admiral

Leslie Mungavin Leslie Norman 'Jack' Mungavin (1925–1995) was a Two-star admiral, two-star rank admiral in the Pakistan Navy, and a Defence diplomacy, defence diplomat. He is noted for releasing his diplomatic assignment at the High Commission of Pakistan, ...

Religious ministers

* Rt. Rev. Samuel Robert Azariah * Bishop

Andrew Francis Andrew Michael Scott Francis is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in many television shows and films including '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' as Shining Armor, '' MegaMan NT Warrior'' as MegaMan.EXE, '' Monster Rancher'' as Genki, '' ...

, former Bishop of Multan *

Anthony Theodore Lobo Anthony Theodore Felix Lobo (4 July 1937 – 18 February 2013) was a Pakistani Roman Catholic bishop. On 8 June 1982 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Karachi by Pope John Paul II. On 28 May 1993 he became Bishop of Islamabad–Rawalpindi. ...

, awarded the Presidential Pride of Performance Award in 1990 for services to the cause of literature and education * Bishop

Azad Marshall Azad Marshall is a Pakistani bishop, currently serving, since May 2021, as the Moderator of the General Assembly, moderator bishop of the Church of Pakistan, a United Protestant denomination that is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Chu ...

Moderator of the Church of Pakistan and Bishop in Raiwind, President of the National Council of Churches of Pakistan *

Francis Nadeem Francis Nadeem, OFM Cap. (October 27, 1955 – July 3, 2020) was a Capuchin Franciscan priest who worked in the Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan. Early life He was born in Gujranwala on October 27, 1955. In 1970, he joined the St. Mary's Mi ...

, awarded

Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (), also spelled as Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, is a state-organised honour of Pakistan. It is given to any civilian in Pakistan based on their achievements. While it is a civilian/military award, it can be bestowed upon officers of the ...

for Public Service

Civil services and police

Shahbaz Bhatti Clement Shahbaz Bhatti (9 September 19682 March 2011) was a Pakistani politician and the first Christian Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs. He was elected as a member of the National Assembly in 2008 for the Pakistan People's Party. Bhatt ...

, member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

and a member of the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

(PPP) and Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs from 2008 - 2011 * Cincinnatus Fabian D'Abreo, administrator and politician * Kamran Michael, senator who served as Minister for Statistics and a member of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) * Manuel Misquita, former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Presidents
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206093346/http://karachigoans.com/kga/photo-gallery-presidents.html , date=2011-02-06 KGA Retrieved 1 October 2010. *

Dilshad Najmuddin Dilshad Najmuddin (1933 – 18 May 2018) was a senior retired Inspector general of the Police Service of Pakistan. He was educated at the renowned Woodstock School near Mussorie, India, during the 1940s and later at the Forman Christian College, ...

former IG Police and former ambassador

Education

* Riffat Arif, teacher, women's activist and philanthropist from

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

.{{cite web, url=http://images.dawn.com/news/1175427, title=How Sister Zeph's one-room school in Gujranwala became a global sensation, date=26 May 2016, publisher=dawn.com *

Bernadette Louise Dean Bernadette Louise Dean is a Pakistani academic and educator, of Portuguese and Anglo-Indian descent. Formerly the principal of two women's colleges in Pakistan and a participant in revising Pakistan's national curriculum, she was accused of b ...

, academic and educator. * Jacqueline Maria Dias, professor of nursing at the

Aga Khan University Aga Khan University is a private research university based in Karachi, Pakistan. It is a non-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, t ...

. *

Norma Fernandes Norma Fernandes, TI (died 6 January 2024) was a Pakistani teacher from Karachi. Biography Fernandes was educated at St Joseph's Convent School, Karachi. She began her career teaching at St Patrick's High School, Karachi. She also was a spo ...

, teacher awarded the

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (), also spelled as Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, is a state-organised Civil decorations of Pakistan, honour of Pakistan. It is given to any civilian in Pakistan based on their achievements. While it is a civilian/military award, it can be ...

for her services to education. * Mary Emily Gonsalves, awarded the

Sitara-e-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

in recognition of her services to education. * Yolande Henderson, veteran high school teacher.{{Cite web, url=https://www.dawn.com/2011/10/16/educationist-with-a-heart-of-gold/, title=Educationist: With a heart of gold, first=From, last=InpaperMagazine, date=October 16, 2011, website=DAWN.COM * Oswald Bruno Nazareth, high school teacher for 50 years.

Politicians

* Naveed Aamir, Member of National Assembly (2018–2023) *Clement

, Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs * Kamran Michael, Federal Minister and Senator * Aasiya Nasir, Member of National Assembly (2002–2018) * Shunila Ruth, Member of National Assembly (2013–2018) * Khalil Tahir Sandhu, Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs (2008–2018)

Human rights defenders

* Romana Bashir, Member, Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (2014–2018) *Dr. Rubina Feroze Bhatti, Member, National Commission on the Rights of the Child

Entertainment

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, Pakistani-American rapper * The Benjamin Sisters, band consisting of three sisters Nerrisa, Beena and Shabana Benjamin *

Alycia Dias Alycia Dias is a Pakistani playback singer, who is best known for singing the Urdu language serials. Her career began with her participation in the reality show ''LG Awaaz Banaye Star'', where she became the semi-finalist at the age of 17. She ...

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

Sara Loren Sara Hussain (), better known as Sara Loren (born 11 December 1985), is a Pakistani actress and model mostly, known for working in Bollywood, Hindi as well as Lollywood, Urdu movies and television. She is best known for playing a role as Barkha ...

, actress and model *

Azekah Daniel Azekah Daniel (Urdu: عذیقہ ڈینئل) is a leading actress from Pakistan. Daniel has appeared on several magazine covers and continues to rise above the ranks. She has been a political worker for the biggest political party in Pakistan ( ...

, actress *

Shae Gill Anushae Babar Gill (; born 2 September 1998), professionally known as Shae Gill (), is a Pakistani singer , mostly working in Punjabi and Urdu music industry. She rose to prominence after her world-famous Punjabi-Urdu duet song "Pasoori" with A ...

, Pakistani singer and cover-artist, mostly known for her Punjabi duet song "Pasoori" *

Sunita Marshall Sunita Marshall () is a Pakistani fashion model and television actress. She is known for her roles in the political drama series '' Mera Saaein'' and the drama series Khuda Aur Muhabbat 3. Early life and personal life Marshall was born in Ka ...

, television actress and model * A. Nayyar, playback singer *

Irene Perveen Irene Perveen also spelled as Irene Parveen is a Pakistani playback singer from the 1960s, who mainly sang for Pakistani films. She gained popularity for her film song, "''Tumhi ho mehboob mere''" for movie ''Aaina'' (1966). Career In the beg ...

, playback singer *

Nirmal Roy Nirmal Roy () (born August 6, 1996) is a Pakistani singer. Born in Lahore, she started her career at the age of twelve. Roy has performed and won many music competitions on national level, including the '' Voice of Kinnaird College'' in 2014. In ...

, musician and singer from Lahore * Leo Twins, Haroon and Sharoon Leo, talented multi-instrumentalists and musicians *

Zoe Viccaji Zoe Viccaji () (born 1983) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter and actress from Karachi. She began her career as a backing vocalist at Coke Studio and later moved on to becoming one of the featured artists. Viccaji has released one studio album wh ...

, singer and songwriter

Sports

* Jack Britto, Olympic field hockey player. * Ian Fyfe,

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, coach and a sports journalist from Karachi. * Jacob Harris, first class cricketer and sports coach from Karachi. * Shazia Hidayat,

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete. Only female athlete on the Pakistan team competing at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. * John Permal, sprinter, once known as fastest man in Pakistan *

Sidra Sadaf Sidra Sadaf () is a Pakistani woman cyclist who won a silver medal at the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka, Bangladesh in January 2010. Sadaf suffers from Hepatitis C. The 18-year-old Christian college student was diagnosed with the disease during ...

, woman cyclist who won a silver medal at the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka, Bangladesh in January 2010. * Yousaf Youhana, first class test cricketer who used to openly use the sign of the cross before starting his innings. He was one of the most successful batsmen of the Pakistan cricket team. He later converted to Islam, changing his name to Mohammad Yousuf.

Writers

* Cyril Almeida, journalist and an assistant editor for the daily newspaper ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

''.{{cite web, author=D. P. Satish , title=Grounded Pakistani Journalist Cyril Almeida Has Goan Roots , url=http://www.news18.com/news/india/grounded-pakistani-journalist-cyril-almeida-has-goan-roots-1300632.html , newspaper=News18 , date=11 October 2016 , access-date=11 October 2016 * Kanwal Feroze, scholar, poet, writer and journalist. * Nabeel Qureshi, former Ahmadi who converted to Christianity, wrote three books. ''Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity'', ''Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward'' and ''No God BUT One: Allah or Jesus''. *Late Begum Bilquis Sheikh was an aristocratic Pakistani lady who converted from Islam to Christianity and wrote memoirs about this.

Other

* Quentin D'Silva, former Chairman & Chief Executive of Shell Pakistan Limited. * Sunny Benjamin John, singer from

. *

Erica Robin Erica Robin (, ) is a Pakistani beauty pageant titleholder, who won the inaugural Miss Universe Pakistan in 2023. She represented Pakistan at Miss Universe 2023, and reached the top 20.She represented Pakistan at Cannes Film festival , in France ...

, model and first ever winner of

Miss Universe Pakistan Miss Universe Pakistan is a national beauty pageant franchise organized by the Yugen Group of Dubai, to select a representative from Pakistan for the Miss Universe pageant. Noor Xarmina of Islamabad was declared the 2nd and current Miss Univ ...

, Top 20 at

Miss Universe 2023 Miss Universe 2023 was the 72nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Gimnasio Nacional José Adolfo Pineda in San Salvador, El Salvador, on 18 November 2023. At the conclusion of the event, Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua was crowned as Miss U ...

Candidates to sainthood

* Akash Bashir, former student of the Don Bosco Technical Institute in

, security guard and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

. On 31 January 2022

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

declared him a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

. He is the first native Pakistani candidate for sainthood in the history of the

Catholic Church in Pakistan The Catholic Church in Pakistan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. In 2018, there were 1,333,450 Catholics in Pakistan, which represents less than 1% of the total population. There are ...

.{{Cite web , title=Akash Bashir, Who Died Protecting Catholic Worshippers in Pakistan, Named a Servant of God , url=https://www.ncregister.com/cna/akash-bashir-who-died-protecting-catholic-worshippers-in-pakistan-named-a-servant-of-god , access-date=2022-06-01 , website=NCR , date=2 February 2022 , language=en *

, former politician,

assassinate Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

d because of his opposition to Pakistan's

blasphemy law A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of Reverence (attitude), reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Re ...

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em

Works cited

*{{cite book, title=Christian Citizens in an Islamic State: The Pakistan Experience, first=Theodore, last=Gabriel, publisher=

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

, year=2021

External links

{{Christianity by country * {{commons category-inline
British Pakistani Christian Association

Pakistan Christians demand help

Open Doors USA's information about Pakistan

Open Doors USA's information about Pakistan

World Watch List - Pakistan

Pakistan Christian News - Christians in Pakistan

Centre for legal aid assistance and settlement

Forced conversions in Pakistan: A dark reality
{{Asia in topic, Christianity in {{Religion in Pakistan {{DEFAULTSORT:Christianity In Pakistan History of Christianity in Pakistan