Pakistan officials have banned 11 Christian television channels in what local priests are calling a blow to religious freedom in the region.
The Officials ordered the censoring of pro-Christian programmes after the nation’s TV regulatory body declared them illegal.
One censored station, Catholic TV, broadcasted from Lahore where 42 adult Christians and 30 children were killed in a suicide blast while celebrating Easter last March.
Catholic TV founder Father Morris Jalal said: “As citizens, Christians have the right to practice their religion, but if they block you, it means not all citizens are equal.
“When someone bans the expression of faith, which is a fundamental right, there is persecution.”
The move to ban the stations leaves Pakistan, home to 2.8million christian minority with no public media presence after 17 years of having been allowed to broadcast across the country.
Father Jalal added: “We must protest this decision, and we hope the West does it as well.”
Father Mushtaq Anjum, claimed the action, which made “the proclamation of the good news illegal,” was a “discriminatory law that affects non-Muslims”.
Other members of the local Christian community have also asked the government to revoke the measure, calling it an “act of intimidation” and an “attack to religious freedom”.
It comes as a 16-year-old Christian boy faces the death penalty after he was accused of insulting Islam in a Facebook post.
The boy has been arrested and charged with blasphemy after a photo of the Kaaba in Mecca, one of the holiest sites in Islam, appeared on his profile.
Locals reportedly claimed the image showed the holy site with a pig’s head on top.
It is unclear if the boy posted the image, was tagged in the post or liked the post.
But under Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws the teenage boy faces the death penalty or a life sentence.
cnakalungi@ugchristiannews.com
