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
June 12, 2026 ICC News — On June 6, Christian rights activists and legal experts revealed during a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan, that the documents used to validate the marriage of 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz were...
June 12, 2026 ICC News — Following Nepal’s nearly 200-year ban on Christianity, the faith has experienced steady growth since 1951 as the number of churches, Christian schools, and hospitals has gradually expanded. Despite this growth,...
June 8, 2026 ICC News — A Hindu nationalist mob brutally attacked a worship service on Sunday, May 31, in the remote Sadrapal village of Sukma district in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, injuring at...
June 2, 2026 ICC News — Alayan Johnson, a 22-year-old Christian auto-rickshaw driver in Punjab, Pakistan, was shot by police after being mistaken for a suspect. Now, police are reportedly pressuring him to call off an...
June 2, 2026 ICC News — With nearly 20 Christians gathered inside for prayer, Buddhists threw stones at Zion Church on May 21 in Southern Sri Lanka. According to local sources, at around 8 p.m., during...
June 1, 2026 ICC News — The sutures protruding from the deep, still-fresh wound on 32-year-old Mangu’s head are the latest evidence of the persecution faced by Christians in the tribal belt of Bastar in Chhattisgarh,...
June 1, 2026 ICC News — A two-day Christian spiritual convention organized at a private hotel in Ratlam town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh was disrupted by Hindu nationalist groups on May 27 over...
May 29, 2026 ICC News — This month, Catholic bishops from Pakistan visited the Vatican for their special Ad Limina visit. The group included three archbishops, four bishops, and a cardinal. During the visit, the bishops went to different Vatican departments to submit their reports and...
May 29, 2026 ICC News — More than 180 Christian families in 32 villages across Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district in India have reportedly been denied access to communal water sources and livelihood opportunities for the past three weeks as punishment for refusing to leave their Christian...
May 27, 2026 ICC News — Hours after gunmen killed three pastors returning from a peace conference on May 13 in India, other armed groups started kidnapping Christians. Today, 20 believers are still being held hostage....
May 27, 2026 Press Release — The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist organization widely regarded as the ideological backbone of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has launched an international outreach campaign aimed at...
May 26, 2026 ICC News — Though child marriage overall has decreased in recent decades in Pakistan, there has been a rise in the abduction of underage girls from minority faiths who then undergo a forcible conversion to Islam and ensuing...
May 21, 2026 ICC News — On Sept. 22, 2013, twin suicide blasts tore through All Saints Church at Kohati Gate in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing nearly 100 people and wounding more than 200 others. The attack,...
May 20, 2026 ICC News — Three tribal church pastors from the Thadou Baptist Association (TBA) of India were killed, and four others were injured in an armed ambush on May 13 in Kangpokpi district of...
May 13, 2026 ICC News — Each year in Pakistan, roughly 1,000 young girls — many of whom are Christians — are kidnapped from their homes. These girls are often found months later, after they’ve been...
May 11, 2026 ICC News — A people’s tribunal, led by prominent civil rights activists in India, submitted a letter last week to the Odisha government accusing the state administration of being complicit in the persecution...
May 11, 2026 ICC News — Around 5 a.m. on May 7, Shabbir Masih, a 33-year-old Christian sanitation worker in Pakistan, died after inhaling toxic gases while doing a dangerous job his supervisors forced him to...
May 5, 2026 ICC News — India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a sweeping set of state-level victories, tightening its political grip across key regions and signaling a renewed phase of consolidation under Prime...
May 4, 2026 — There’s no end in sight to the ethnic conflict that began three years ago between the Christian-majority Kuki-Zo and Hindu Meitei communities in Manipur, India. Even though mass riots have...
May 1, 2026 ICC News — This world has few certainties. But for Afghan Christians, one is clear: being known as a Christian in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan brings lethal danger. In this country of 44 million people,...
