Violence Against Christians

The suicide bombing in the city of Lahore on Easter underscores how Pakistan's Christian minority has become an easy target for the country's Islamic militants, although Muslims also were among the victims.

There are barely 2.5 million Christians in the mostly Muslim country of 180 million, and they say they worry about sending their children out and rarely feel safe even in church.

A look at the Christian community in Pakistan:

Nature of the Violence

In predominantly Christian neighborhoods, radical Muslims have carried out attacks based on trumped-up charges of blasphemy, which is punishable by death. Christians are routinely accused by radical Muslims of trying to undermine Pakistan as an Islamic state. There have been reports of forced conversions of Christian girls. In January, a girl was killed and two were injured when they refused the advances of three Muslim men, who ran them over upon learning they were Christian. An Islamabad-based think tank, the Jinnah Institute, called the violence "some of the worst mob attacks against minority communities in Pakistan." Christian neighborhoods in Punjab and Islamabad "have seen mass attacks fueled by hate speech. These attacks have led to widespread destruction of homes and properties," the institute said.

Muslim Extremist Groups

Radical Muslim extremist groups that espouse a violent anti-Western philosophy and demand Islamic law throughout Pakistan see Christians as allies of the West and opponents of their interpretation of their faith. While Pakistan's most violent militant groups are sectarian-based and often attack each other, they will routinely unite against Christians. The alliance of Taliban groups operating in tribal areas known as the Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan specifically targets Christians. Attacks have increased as Pakistan's military has stepped up its assault on the Taliban's tribal hideouts. The Lahore bombing was carried out by a breakaway Taliban group that also said the violence was in retaliation for an army offensive in North Waziristan that began in 2014.

- Associated PressEndText