From angry mobs livestreaming their attacks on Christians to laws changing the definition of national citizenship, the many manifestations of religious nationalism in South Asia are working to pressure and eliminate Christianity’s influence throughout the region.
Under growing religious nationalism and Islamic extremism, Christians increasingly face discrimination and violence. Strict blasphemy laws in Pakistan and some Indian states are weaponized against Christians, leading to violence and imprisonment. In South Asian countries, Christian women and girls are vulnerable to forced conversions and marriages. Law enforcement often neglects to protect Christians, emboldening extremist groups. ICC’s 2025 Global Persecution Index featured Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan.
Despite all of this, Christians in South Asia continue to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even to their persecutors. See regional updates and projects below.
Our Efforts
Our Emergency Relief Program supplies immediate aid to Christians who have suffered violence and persecution. Relief packages cover medical expenses, groceries, child support, and living expenses for up to three months.
Amid rising persecution and tightening anti-conversion laws, front line Christian workers urgently need practical tools to stand firm in their calling and respond wisely to hostility. We prepare pastors on how to respond well when they face persecution.
Across rural India, many Christian children face systemic educational barriers, poverty, and marginalization. Our Hope Houses break these cycles by creating safe spaces where children can thrive.
The incubator is a nonprofit initiative to help young Christians build business ideas into real-world startups. Through the incubator, students develop entrepreneurial skills and grow their ideas under experienced mentors.
The Vocational Training Center that ICC partners with provides free, comprehensive training in high-demand fields, empowering students to secure better-paying jobs and creating stronger families and communities.
Read more inspiring testimonies of faith
November 4, 2025 ICC News — The Christian Community in the district of Kanker in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh has planned to organize a public rally in protest of the ongoing discrimination against Christians...
November 4, 2025 — By Lisa Navarrette, ICC Fellow During the past 20 years, the global development agenda has achieved remarkable progress. Tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of people have been lifted out of extreme poverty....
October 30, 2025 ICC News — For a while, 9-year-old Badal had little interest in going to school. Coming from an economically challenged and socially discriminated community in India, Badal had lost hope of ever improving...
October 27, 2025 ICC News — Eight police officers in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state were suspended for their failure to stop an attack on Christian missionaries by Hindu nationalists on Oct. 23. A group of...
October 22, 2025 ICC News, Project Highlight — Growing up as a Christian in India, Sunil witnessed his parents struggle endlessly to provide for their family. Despite his parents’ tireless work as unskilled laborers, Sunil had no...
October 21, 2025 ICC News — The Punjab government is moving to ban Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, or TLP, a far-right religious party that follows the Barelvi school of Sunni Islam. Formed in 2015 by Khadim Hussain Rizvi...
October 20, 2025 ICC News — The Supreme Court of India on Oct. 17, rejected a prominent religious conversion case against officials of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), a noted agricultural university...
October 17, 2025 ICC News — The government of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh has prepared a new draft anti-conversion law containing stringent provisions, claiming that it is imperative to maintain religious stability in the...
October 15, 2025 ICC News — After spending 13 years behind bars for a crime he had always denied, Pastor Zafar Bhatti finally walked free, only to die three days later. His death has cast a...
October 14, 2025 ICC News — The All-India Catholic Union (AICU) wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, expressing its objection to the revival of the dormant 1978 anti-conversion law known as the Arunachal...
October 10, 2025 ICC News — Afghanistan (International Christian Concern) — On Sept. 30, the last day of the U.N. General Assembly’s High-Level Week, the U.N. Security Council temporarily lifted a travel ban on Taliban Foreign...
October 8, 2025 ICC News — India (International Christian Concern) — More than 400 people from 22 villages in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, India, gathered on Oct. 5, deciding to strip Christians of their burial...
October 8, 2025 ICC News — By Sameer Patel On Saturday, Sept. 27, my mother came to me with a troubled expression. Her voice trembled as she spoke to me. “You must leave the village!” she...
October 6, 2025 ICC News — First appearing in 1999, the U.S. Department of State maintains a Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list that names countries for either engaging in or tolerating ongoing severe violations of...
October 2, 2025 ICC News — Pakistan (International Christian Concern) — A Presbyterian pastor narrowly survived an assassination attempt on Sunday morning after being shot in Islamabad’s Iqbal Town. Pastor Kamran Naz, head of the Presbyterian...
September 29, 2025 ICC News — India (International Christian Concern) — Civil society organizations in northwest India’s Rajasthan state have protested the rising attacks on Christians just weeks after an anti-conversion law was passed by its government...
September 24, 2025 ICC News — Pakistan (International Christian Concern) — Maryam Hadayat, a fourth-grade student at a government primary school in Gujranwala, Pakistan, has been continuously harassed by her fellow Muslim classmates. “My fellows abuse...
September 24, 2025 ICC News — Pakistan (International Christian Concern) — A first information report (FIR) was filed at the Nishtar Colony Police Station in Lahore, Pakistan, against a young Christian man and his uncle, but...
September 17, 2025 ICC News — India (International Christian Concern) — On Tuesday, India’s Supreme Court requested responses from nine states regarding petitions challenging their anti-conversion laws. The court gave the states four weeks to respond....
September 16, 2025 ICC News — 09/16/2025 India (International Christian Concern) – After worship ended on Sunday, Aug. 10, in a remote Chhattisgarh village, most of the church members returned home. The few who stayed behind, however,...
