PERSECUTION OUTLOOK: PAKISTAN

In recent years, Pakistan has seen a startling increase in abduction cases, usually involving girls who are also religious minorities (e.g., Christians and Hindus). Victims are not just taken from their homes, but raped and forced into marriage and conversion. And as there is no comprehensive law against these particular crimes, perpetrators largely go unpunished, and the Church is forced to advocate where the state will not. However, this is not the extent of the country’s violence against Christians: on a regular basis, they are attacked, arrested, and denied both opportunities and needs. For example, in order to receive COVID-19 aid, Christians had to convert, meaning that even hospital workers did not have protective gear; this also applies to general emergency aid, as was the case after recent flooding. And Christians in Pakistan are largely assigned menial labor, meaning that poverty is nearly inescapable.