{"id":30201,"date":"2018-08-13T10:15:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T10:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=30201"},"modified":"2018-08-13T10:15:23","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T10:15:23","slug":"pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>PAKISTAN<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The Christian minority in Balochistan is facing greater security issues<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pakistan&#8217;s new prime minister, Imran Khan, said that the \u201cmajor focus\u201d of his government will be to \u201caddress the plight of the oppressed and weakest segments of the society, including minorities, and to fight poverty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">One region to which the term \u201coppressed and weakest segments of society\u201d could be applied is the southwestern area of Pakistan known as Balochistan. The Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan has been helping the rebels in the region who are calling for independence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Catholic minority in Balochistan\u2014about 30,000 out of a population of 8 million\u2014live mainly in the capital, Quetta, where security concerns are becoming a major issue for many.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Local priests told Aid to the Church in Need that there are many checkpoints throughout Quetta and in many areas of the city one needs a special permit, which has to be requested several days in advance, to travel. Bishop Victor Gnanapragasam says that he cannot travel freely and is subject to constant police checks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cMy cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, is situated in the same area as an army barracks, which means that a special permit is required to enter it. As a result, many of the Catholic faithful cannot even get there for Holy Mass,\u201d he told ACN.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Bishop requires a special permit in order to gain access to his own cathedral and has to call the authorities in advance to request permission every time he goes there.. Even then he is regularly stopped and searched by the security forces at the checkpoints.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The situation is getting more and more difficult for priests too, as the area within which they can move freely is becoming smaller. Many places are now completely off-limits because of the fighting between the rebels and the government.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cAs soon as the fighting stops, we endeavour to visit our Catholic faithful,\u201d Bishop Gnanapragasam said. \u201cIn doing so, however, we risk being killed by landmines and rocket-propelled grenades. It saddens us greatly that we cannot visit the people more frequently.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The province of Balochistan is roughly equivalent to the size of Germany and many of the Catholic faithful live in very small communities scattered across a vast area of the province. This makes it difficult for the diocese\u2019s five priests to get to some areas and any kind of regular Church life in Balochistan is hard to attain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ACN is helping the priests in Balochistan by sending Mass offerings from donors to Bishop Gnanapragasam. \u201cWe were able to send them Mass stipends to a total value of 10,100 euros,\u201d an ACN spokesperson said.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAKISTAN The Christian minority in Balochistan is facing greater security issues &nbsp; Pakistan&#8217;s new prime minister, Imran Khan, said that the \u201cmajor focus\u201d of his government will be to \u201caddress the plight of the oppressed and weakest segments of the society, including minorities, and to fight poverty.\u201d One region to which the term \u201coppressed and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues\u200b-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PAKISTAN The Christian minority in Balochistan is facing greater security issues &nbsp; Pakistan&#8217;s new prime minister, Imran Khan, said that the \u201cmajor focus\u201d of his government will be to \u201caddress the plight of the oppressed and weakest segments of the society, including minorities, and to fight poverty.\u201d One region to which the term \u201coppressed and...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues\u200b-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-13T10:15:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1229\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/\",\"name\":\"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-13T10:15:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-13T10:15:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg\",\"width\":1229,\"height\":976},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b &#8211; ACN Malta\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\",\"name\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"description\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\",\"name\":\"ACN Malta Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACN Malta Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues\u200b-acn-malta\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","og_description":"PAKISTAN The Christian minority in Balochistan is facing greater security issues &nbsp; Pakistan&#8217;s new prime minister, Imran Khan, said that the \u201cmajor focus\u201d of his government will be to \u201caddress the plight of the oppressed and weakest segments of the society, including minorities, and to fight poverty.\u201d One region to which the term \u201coppressed and...","og_url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues\u200b-acn-malta\/","og_site_name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","article_published_time":"2018-08-13T10:15:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1229,"height":976,"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACN Malta Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACN Malta Media","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/","name":"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg","datePublished":"2018-08-13T10:15:23+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-13T10:15:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ACN-Urgent-security-measures-for-St.-Francis-Xavier-Major-Seminary-in-Lahore.jpg","width":1229,"height":976},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/08\/13\/pakistan-christian-minority-is-facing-greater-security-issues%e2%80%8b-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PAKISTAN: Christian minority is facing greater security issues\u200b &#8211; ACN Malta"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/","name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","description":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2","name":"ACN Malta Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACN Malta Media"},"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30201"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30237,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30201\/revisions\/30237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}