“I saw my son bleed, bruis-ed, unconscious. I shouted his name, splashed water on his face and gently slapped him to wake him up, but he no longer moved,” said Ghafoor Masih, a Christian, father of Saleem Masih, who was beaten to death in Baguyana village on 25 February.

The 24-year-old was punished for bathing in a tube-well pool used by Muslims. His father spoke about the incident that led to his son’s death in an interview with the British Pakistani Christian Association, a non-profit organisation.

Pakistan broke away from India for the sake of religious freedom, but it is now the home of many Ghafoor Masihs, who seek justice for their loved ones; all religious minorities are discriminated against in the country, not only Christians.

Why are minorities in Pakistan the victims of repression? Was the country founded only for Muslims? Of course not. Its founder, Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader) Muha-mmad Ali Jinnah paid great attention to religious freedom.

“You are free;” Jinnah said, “you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”

For not following Jinnah’s words, Pakistan has become the 7th most dangerous place in the world for religious minorities, according to Human Rights Watch.

The problem goes way back. Discrimination began in 1949, right after the Constituent Assembly approved the Objectives, Resolution whereby all laws must conform with Islamic precepts.

A few days ago, we received a letter from His Eminence, Charles Cardinal Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar and President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. It was an ardent request for prayers for Hong kong, on account of the signing into law of a new National Security Act. He explained in his letter how this new law poses a threat to the basic freedoms and human rights of the people of Hong kong, and how it potentially undermines especially their freedom of expression.

Apparently, the Chinese government assures the people of Hong kong that they have nothing to be afraid of, as long as “they don’t get involved in any activity that threatens national security.” Why does this sound eerily familiar to us Filipinos? Because we are in a similar situation. And so, while we responded with an assurance to His Eminence, Cardinal Bo, that we would join him in praying for the people of Hong kong, we also asked him to pray for the Philippines and explained why we are as seriously in need of prayers as the people of Hong kong. Like them, we are also alarmed about the recent signing into law of the Anti-Terror Act of 2020.

We are still in disbelief about the manner in which the contentious Anti-Terror Bill was fast-tracked and approved in both Houses of Congress while the whole country’s attention was focused on the Covid-19 pandemic. They did not even seem to care that many of the people they represent were against it—lawyers’ associations, the academe, the business sector, labour groups, youth organizations, NGO’s, political movements, faith-based communities, and even the Bangsamoro government.

The dissenting voices were strong but they remained unheeded. None of the serious concerns that they expressed about this legislative measure seemed to be of any consequence to them.

The federation of Asian Bishops conferences has conde-mned China’s imposition of a new security law in Hong Kong, arguing that it “destroys” the city’s autonomy.

Cardinal Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, issued a statement on 1 July 2020, condemning the new law and calling for Christians to pray for the people of Hong Kong and China.

The new National Security Law, introduced by the Chinese government on 30 June, introduces new crimes with severe penalties, such as life imprisonment, and allows security personnel from the Chinese mainland to operate in Hong Kong without oversight or restriction from the local government.
Some critics have claimed that the unpreced-ented expansion of central government powers over Hong Kong means that the city’s relative autonomy from the mainland has been effectively abolished. The law’s significant penalties for crimes such as “subversion” has led many Hong Kong residents to see it as an attack on human rights and democracy activists in the city. In his statement, Cardinal Bo attacked the law as “destroying” the region’s “healthy mix of creativity and freedom.” He added that the new law was “offensive to the spirit and letter of the 1997 handover agreement.”

The handover agreement, signed by the governments of the United Kingdom and of China when Hong Kong ceased to be a British possession, guaranteed for “at least 50 years” the city-state’s right to a democratic government and relative political autonomy from the mainland. The UK government has argued that the new security law violates the 1997 agreement, ending the “two systems, one country” model proposed in the document.

Vietnam has jailed an out-spoken Catholic blogger, known for commenting on social issues, for allegedly trying to undermine the state.

The People’s Court in Lam Dong province on July 7 senten-ced Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong, 29, to eight years in jail and three years’ probation for “mak-ing, hoarding and disseminating anti-state propaganda.”

The blogger from Don Duong district was arrested in September last year.

According to a four-page indictment, Vuong had posted and spread 98 video clips and 366 articles against the govern-ment on Facebook.

He was also accused of taking part in illegal protests in Ho Chi Minh City in 2018 against the approval of the country’s contro-versial cyber security law and proposed special economic deve-lopment plans. The indict-ment said his posts criticized the country’s socialist system and Ho Chi Minh, the father of commu-nism in Vietnam. It said Vuong was heavily influenced by his anti-communist father, who was a soldier in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.

Catholics in Indonesia have welcomed the appointment of Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta as a new member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Many of them stressed the need for him to promote tolerance in the multi-religious country. Cardinal Suharyo, also the chairman of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference and an ordinary of the Military Ordinariate of Indonesia, was among more than 20 new Pontifical Council members announced by the Vatican on July 8.

Groups of Muslim volunteers are burying Christians who have died from the coronavirus. This is seen as a great example of interfaith harmony, and videos of their work have gone viral in Bangladesh.
According to World Health Organisation data, almost 160,000 cases have been reported in Bangladesh with about 2,000 deaths, including a dozen Christians. Fearing contagion, very few people in the country are willing to touch the bodies of infected people, living or dead.

Muslim volunteers, who live isolated from their families, have been trained to bury those who die from the respiratory disease.

As part of the burial process, they first spray a disinfectant (a mixture of water and alcohol) onto the body of the dead, then bathe it with a solution of soap and water, and rub it with a cloth. Finally, the body is wrapped in a shroud and placed inside a special plastic bag.
Sahidul Islam, head of Al-Manahil Foundation, a charity based in Chittagong, notes that the burial of Christians is a new experience for his group.

“Despite the current Covid-19 pandemic, which is posing its share of challenges in Pakistan, religious intolerance and discrimi-nation in recent months have increased”: is the complaint of the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), within the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The statement sent to Agenzia Fides states: “Recently, Nadeem Joseph, a Chri-stian from Peshawar, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Masih were brutally attacked by the Muslim Salman Khan and his sons a few days after Nadeem Joseph bought a house in the Colony in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 4, 2020, in a Muslim dominated neighbourhood and his neighbours did not tolerate the pre-sence of a non-Muslim in their neighbour-hood.” Police arrested several members of Salman Khan’s family in connection with the incident.

NCJP strongly condemns this act of violence. In a joint statement, Archbishop Joseph Arshad, Chairman of the Commi-ssion, National Director Fr Emmanuel Yousaf and Executive Director Cecil S. Chaudhry declare: “Pakistani society has become increasingly intolerant and living as a religious minority is becoming more and more difficult. There are many similar incidents that are not reported. Religious minorities continue to face discrimination as part of their daily lives,” it stresses, citing refusal to give food supplies or provide relief to non-Muslims during the pandemic, or that of poor personal protection for health workers, who are at the forefront. Bishops call on law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to catch the main culprit who brutally killed Nadeem Joseph and bring him to justice, noting the “clear violation of human rights” and “an act against the law that cannot go unpunished.”

Cardinal John Tong Hon, administrator of the Hong Kong, announced that the city will return to public Masses from June 1, at the same time China’s parliament is expected to pass a new national security law that already has pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong taking to the streets.

“Thanks be to God that the situation is easing,” Tong said in a May 22 statement posted to the Diocese of Hong Kong’s web-site, speaking of the coronavirus pandemic.

Noting that public Masses have been suspended since February, he said daily Masses started up again on June 1, while public Sunday liturgies resumed on June 7, on Holy Trinity Sunday.

For those who still fear they will be infected by attending Mass, Tong said that “for the time being,” they can fulfill their Sunday obligation by attending a live streamed Mass and making an act of spiritual communion.

Since the number of people who can be admitted to churches is limited to half of the normal capacity due to social distancing requirements, Tong said that if some people wish to attend a weekday Mass in place of the Sunday Mass, that will also be allowed.

“I would like to thank everyone for being so considerate and accommodating,” he said, noting that, “The pandemic is far from being over. We must carry on with our preventive measures. When we stand by each other with hope and count on our Lord, I am sure peace will be with us.”

Yet Tong might have spoken too soon in his confidence that peace will abide, as his announcement came at the same time that China is attempting to pass a national security resolution in Hong Kong banning treason, secession, sedition, subversion, foreign interference and terrorism.

Christian activists are visiting the family of Asia Bibi after her brother-in-law was murdered in a village of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The body of Younas Masih, 50, was found on May 25 morning in a furrow amid the crops of Dao Ki Mallian, a village in Sheikhupura district.

The father of two was married to Najma Bibi, the younger sister of Asia Bibi, the Catholic woman acquitted of blasphemy in 2018 after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan.

“He used to take care of the cattle at the farmhouse of a local landlord. We had been searching for him after he went missing a day earlier. His throat was slit. We handed over his body to police,” the victim’s brother George Masih stated in a first information report to police.

Masih accused Najma Bibi of conspiring to kill her husband with the help of Irfan Dogar, a local Muslim. “She had illicit relations with Dogar. My brother often used to stop them. The accused [Dogar] murdered him at the behest of Bibi,” said Masih.

Punjab police spokesman Sohail Akhtar Sukhera told Dawn newspaper that Sheikhupura police had arrested Najma Bibi and Irfan Dogar. He said they had confessed to the crime and the victim’s body had been sent to a morgue for an autopsy.