ICC Note:

It is not a surprise that Christians in Pakistan were once again the target of terrorists and extremists when a suicide bomber attacked a park last Sunday. Pakistan has a history of allowing extremist elements of their Muslim majority society to openly discriminate and persecute its Christian minority. Blasphemy laws, forced conversions, and attacks on Christians and their places of worship led by both terrorists and more intolerant members of society are just a few of the issues faced daily by Pakistani Christians. Will this Easter bombing be a moment where Pakistan starts to stand against this tide of intolerance and violence or will it become just another instance of Christians suffering in Pakistan?

3/31/2016 Pakistan (Washington Post) – Pakistan has made progress in fighting terrorism in the past two years, but a horrific suicide bombing in one of its heartland cities on Sunday showed how serious the threat remains. A militant dispatched by an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban attacked a crowd of families in Lahore who were peacefully strolling in a park on Easter; the group later said Christians were its target. In the end, more than 70 people were killed, the majority of them Muslim, including some 30 children.

Since a 2014 attack on a school that left more than 150 dead, the Pakistani government — and more importantly, its military — has finally begun to fight in earnest against domestic jihadists. But the latest attack exposes the gaps in the campaign. A long-overdue army offensive destroyed Taliban bases in the western frontier territories, forcing many of the militants into eastern Afghanistan. Progress was also made in combating terrorists in the southern city of Karachi. Last year saw a noticeable reduction in successful attacks.

Pakistani authorities largely neglected militant groups deployed in other parts of the country, however, including in populous Punjab province, where Lahore is located. They have also shrunk from measures needed to protect religious minorities, including Pakistani Christians, who number more than 2 million. A poisonous blasphemy law, which provides the death penalty for perceived insults to Islam, remains in force and is regularly used to target Christians.

Pakistan’s failings are hardly unique: Christians are in danger of being eliminated as a significant minority community across the Middle East. Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, like the Taliban, have adopted the genocidal aim of killing all non-Muslims, a departure from Islamic law as well as centuries of practical coexistence. Christians are being systematically driven out of Iraq, and communities in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and the Palestinian territories are shrinking as refugees flee to the West. Even as President Obama and responsible leaders in Europe try to fight prejudice against Muslims, Muslim governments are fueling demagogues such as Donald Trump by failing to protect Christians.

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