Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: India&#39;s federal government would gain the power to take control of Catholic and other minority institutions&#39; property, funds, and assets under a new bill that the country&#39;s Catholic bishops have condemned as unconstitutional and a threat to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/execution-video-exposes-how-manipur-became-indias-invisible-conflict-zone" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">religious freedom</a>. According to a press release issued by the Catholic Bishops&#39; Conference of India (the apex body representing the country&#39;s Roman Catholic clergy) on Friday, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill poses a direct threat to constitutionally <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/indian-gujarats-uniform-civil-code-sparks-minority-rights-concerns" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">protected minority</a> freedoms. The bill, tabled in the Lok Sabha, India&#39;s lower house of parliament, seeks to amend the existing law that governs how Indian organizations receive and use funding from abroad. As per the CBCI, the amendment would allow the federal government, acting as the licensing authority under the law, to deny or cancel an organization&#39;s registration and subsequently transfer control of its institutions, funds, properties, and assets to a newly proposed government authority. The Conference described such provisions as &quot;unacceptable&quot; and raised concerns over fairness, transparency, and accountability. The CBCI also objected to how the bill was introduced. According to the press release, it was tabled without broader debate and over the objections of opposition lawmakers. The Conference called for wider consultation on measures affecting fundamental rights. Provisions allowing the government to assume control of foreign funds and assets when an organization&#39;s registration lapses are &quot;undemocratic, unconstitutional, and contrary to the principles of natural justice,&quot; the statement noted. The Conference urged the Indian government to &ldquo;withdraw all contentious provisions&rdquo; and ensure &ldquo;the constitutional rights of all citizens,&rdquo; particularly religious minorities, remain intact. Rising violence against Christians Reports from the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch show violence, legal restrictions, and discrimination against <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/antichristian-hate-speech-in-india-surges-41-in-2025-report" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Christians in Indi</a>a have increased over the past two decades. The United Christian Forum recorded more than 745 incidents of persecution in 2024, averaging over two per day. Vigilante mobs frequently attack prayer meetings and churches, often citing alleged &quot;illegal conversions.&quot; States including Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh report the highest numbers of violent incidents. In 2023, UN experts raised concerns over ethnic and religious violence in Manipur, where the predominantly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/in-indias-smoldering-ethnic-war-fresh-arrests-deepen-manipurs-wounds" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Christian Kuki minority</a> faced killings, sexual assaults, and the burning of hundreds of churches. Legal restrictions target Christians Legal and administrative measures have also affected Christians. At least 12 states have passed anti-conversion laws, which Amnesty International and USCIRF say are often used to falsely accuse and imprison Christians, including for private worship. The Indian government has applied the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act to freeze bank accounts and revoke licenses of thousands of Christian-linked NGOs, limiting their social and charitable programs. Father Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest, died in custody in 2021 after arrest on counter-terrorism charges, cited by Amnesty as an example of state action against minority advocates. Systemic discrimination persists Christians continue to face systemic discrimination. Dalit Christians are excluded from &quot;Scheduled Caste&quot; status, denying them government jobs and education quotas. UN and Human Rights Watch reports document police inaction or complicity in crimes against Christians, which critics say encourages attacks by extremist groups.

India

India’s new Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill, if passed, will let the government seize minority institutions’ funds, property, and assets, raising concerns over religious freedom, transparency, and the rights of Christians and other minorities.

India could seize Catholic Church assets under proposed law

ISLAMABAD: Violence and discrimination against religious minorities in India have sharply increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, with Muslims and Christians increasingly targeted by groups aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.&nbsp;According to the WSJ, India&rsquo;s Muslims, around 14%&nbsp;of the population, have faced the most severe physical attacks along with systemic discrimination in employment, education, housing and voting rights. Many Muslim communities have been effectively ghettoized, the report said.&nbsp;The newspaper noted that Christians, who make up just 2.3%&nbsp;of India&rsquo;s population and largely belong to poorer segments of society, are also facing growing hostility.&nbsp; Despite being a small minority, Christians have become frequent targets of violence justified under laws in at least 12 Indian states that prohibit religious conversion by &ldquo;force, fraud, or allurement,&rdquo; terms that critics say are broadly and arbitrarily defined.&nbsp;Citing recent incidents, the WSJ reported that mobs disrupted Christmas celebrations across several BJP-ruled states. In Uttar Pradesh, Hindu groups gathered outside churches on Christmas Eve, chanting threats while services were under way.&nbsp;In Madhya Pradesh, a BJP leader was filmed storming a church, disrupting a Christmas feast and assaulting a young blind woman, accusing her of facilitating religious conversions. In Chhattisgarh, Hindu extremists vandalized Christmas displays in a shopping mall, smashing religious imagery.&nbsp;Citizens for Justice and Peace, an Indian human rights organization, described Christmas 2025 as &ldquo;a national flashpoint for majoritarian assertion,&rdquo; saying such attacks were symbolic efforts to signal that &ldquo;Christian visibility itself is unacceptable,&rdquo; the WSJ reported.&nbsp;&#39;Sharp increase in attacks on Christians&#39;Data cited by the newspaper from the United Christian Forum showed that recorded attacks on Christians rose from 139 incidents in 2014 to 834 in 2024, with 706 incidents already documented by November 2025.&nbsp;The WSJ also referenced the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom&rsquo;s 2025 report, which recommended that India be designated a &ldquo;country of particular concern&rdquo; for allowing serious violations of religious freedom to continue with impunity.&nbsp;The commission highlighted cases in which police failed to intervene during mob attacks and noted instances where village councils pressured Christians to renounce their faith or leave their homes.&nbsp;While Prime Minister Modi attended a Christmas Mass in New Delhi and spoke of &ldquo;love, peace and compassion,&rdquo; the WSJ said critics viewed the gesture as hollow, pointing out that he has not publicly condemned the attacks carried out by Hindu extremist groups.&nbsp;The newspaper added&nbsp;that India&rsquo;s constitutionally enshrined secularism has steadily weakened under the Modi government, with critics arguing that official silence has emboldened radical elements and deepened insecurity among the country&rsquo;s religious minorities.

Report says India’s Muslims, around 14% of the population,face the most severe physical attacks along with systemic discrimination in employment, education, housing and voting rights.

India sees surge in attacks on Christians, Muslims under Modi: WSJ

ISLAMABAD: The United Christian Forum (UCF), in a letter to Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, said that it had documented an alarming increase in incidents targeting Christians across India as of November 2025. The UCF is an Indian civil society organization that works on issues related to the protection of Christians&rsquo; rights, documenting violence and discrimination against the community, and advocating for religious freedom and social justice in the South Asian country. According to an Indian media report, in the letter dated Dec. 23, the UCF said that 834 incidents of violence against Christians were recorded in 2024, averaging 69.5 incidents per month over the past 10 years. It said that allegations of fraudulent religious conversions were cited as the primary reason for many of these attacks. UCF identified Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh as the states reporting the highest number of incidents, with 157 and 184 cases, respectively, till November 2025. Burial-related disputes&nbsp;The letter highlighted burial-related disputes in tribal regions, stating that Christians were routinely denied burial space and, in some cases, forced to exhume the bodies of their dead. According to the forum, 23 burial-related incidents were recorded in 2025, including 19 in Chhattisgarh, two in Jharkhand, and one each in Odisha and West Bengal. It further stated that around 40 such incidents were recorded in 2024, with 30 reported from Chhattisgarh, six from Jharkhand, and others from Bihar and Karnataka. The letter cited specific incidents, including one on Dec. 15 in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, where a body buried according to Christian rites was allegedly sought to be exhumed by a mob. Disruption of prayer meetings&nbsp;It also referred to a burial being denied in Balod district in November 2025 and another incident in Odisha&rsquo;s Nabarangpur district in April 2025, where a body was exhumed and burnt after the family reportedly refused to renounce Christianity. UCF referred to a report by the People&rsquo;s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Karnataka, which documented alleged police collusion with Hindutva groups, disruption of Christian prayer meetings, and the filing of complaints under sections 295A and 298 of the Indian Penal Code. The letter also noted that freedom of religion laws, commonly referred to as anti-conversion laws, were in force in 12 Indian states and stated that, in practice, these laws target religious minorities. Increase in attack incidents&nbsp;<img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/34f0dcf2-5566-432c-8f1d-2e0a0f5f6da6.png" style="width: 482px;" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-fir">The forum cited an Article 14 analysis of police reports registered under conversion laws in Uttar Pradesh, stating that many were based on third-party complaints. It also referred to recent incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh involving arrests, demolitions, and cases registered during prayer gatherings and Christmas celebrations. According to other Indian media reports, the UCF has earlier pointed to a steep rise in cases of attacks against Christians in India over the past decade, with annual incidents increasing from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024. According to UCF data, violence has increased significantly since 2014 (graph).

India's United Christian Forum has highlighted a steep rise in cases of attacks against Christians in India over the past decade, with annual incidents increasing from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024.

Articles tagged with "Attacks on Christians in India"

India could seize Catholic Church assets under proposed law

India sees surge in attacks on Christians, Muslims under Modi: WSJ

Advocacy group decries sevenfold increase in attacks on India's Christians in letter to home minister