ICC Note:

Anger among Lahore’s Christian community boiled over last week as Christians protested against city plans to construct an underground rail system near four historic churches. Christians initially claimed that the government was seeking to demolish the historically significant churches to make way for the rail project, but government officials have come out and stated that the churches will not be demolished. Still, many Christians in Lahore perceive this move by the government as a “land grab” and continue to protest against the underground rail project. 

5/11/2016 Pakistan (Christian Times) – Christians in Lahore, Pakistan raised a protest against the destruction of four historically significant churches which will reportedly be demolished to give way for the construction of an underground railway project.

Taking to the streets, they demanded that the four churches – St. Andrew’s Church, Cathedral Church, St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and Noulakha Church – remain untouched.

On May 3, they gathered in front of the Lahore High Court in an effort to stop the planned demolition.

Responding to the protest, the Lahore Development Authority said that the churches will not be destroyed. He clarified that although the railway development will indeed use some land from the said churches, the church buildings themselves will not be affected.

Part of the land belonging to church property will be used to construct stairs leading to the underground train stations, the spokesman said.

However, Christian groups did not appear to be pacified by the explanation. They said constructing stairs leading to the train stations “could create a law and order situation for Christian worshipers,” especially with thousands of Muslim passengers expected to come from the trains during times of Christian prayer, Express reported.

Christian communities believe that the move is an attempt of the government to “grab the land” of the churches, which are all standing on prime property. Aside from being important places of worship, the four churches all have significant historical value because they had been built before the partition between India and Pakistan was established.

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