Father James Channan, O.P., the former Vice Provincial of the Dominican order in Pakistan, is director of the Dominican-run Peace Center in Lahore, Pakistan, and provided an interview to a Catholic charity on the conditions of persecution of minority Pakistan Christians. In that interview, when asked about the number of Pakistan Christians imprisoned for blasphemy, he stated: ” there are 130 Christians whose trials are proceeding.” He also made clear that this cruel and unjust “blasphemy law” was regularly abused as “a tool to settle business disputes or personal vendettas.”

Father Channan also reported that this blasphemy law is also used against Muslims (who are the vast majority of Pakistanis), with 950 Muslims charged with blasphemy (as R.E.A.L has also reported on). He clarified however that: “there is a big difference between accusations of Muslims and Christians: if one Muslim is accused, just one Muslim is accused. But in the case of a Christian being accused, an entire community, an entire neighborhood is accused. And in several cases the entire Christian village or a Christian neighborhood has been burned to ashes.”

R.E.A.L. supports our Universal Human Rights for all people, including the freedom of religion, equality, security, and dignity, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the  International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),

Pakistan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ratified as of June 23, 2010, as well as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The Pakistan religious oppression of minorities, such as its repressive Blasphemy Law is in direct contradiction to its international agreement of ICCPR Article 18, which includes “1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”

We urge all – in Pakistan and around the world – to be responsible for equality and liberty.