Day 28

FEBRUARY | 2023

Pakistan

PRAYER FOR THIS COUNTRY

UN human rights experts have condemned Pakistan for the practice of abductions, forced marriages and forced conversions of young girls and women from religious minorities to Islam. Activists say the government has been inactive and unwilling to initiate legislation to protect religious minorities, and in particular girls caught up in these practices. Pray from these verses that say, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to Pakistan; therefore He will rise up to show her compassion.” Also declare that “the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!” (The Bible, Isaiah 30:18).

Source: Pakistan urged to act against forced child marriages, conversions (Al Jazeera)

MORE ABOUT THIS COUNTRY

Pakistan has the world’s third-largest Muslim population. Pakistan’s political and economic systems are crippled by the interference of refugees and radical Islamists. Pakistan officially hosts 1.4 million refugees, but it has been flooded with millions of people from Afghanistan in the last 18 months. At least 48 terrorist and extremist groups – including the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and IS – also find a home in Pakistan. The country’s culture of Islamization with its notorious blasphemy laws has led to devastating consequences for Christian Believers, who experience more violence than almost anywhere else. Threats of violence and terror attacks are a very real part of life for the Christian community. Despite obstacles, the Church continues to grow, though lack of sound teaching opens the door to corruption, immorality, and low spiritual standards among Christians. Pakistan has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic with the numbers of cases and deaths high, and the economic impact felt keenly among the nation’s poor.

CHIEF OF STATE
President Arif Alvi
HEAD OF GOV.
PM Shehbaz Sharif
POPULATION
199 million
CHRISTIANS
0.7%
EVANGLICAL CHRISTIANS
Unknown
DOMINANT RELIGION
Sunni Islam
PERSECUTION RANKING
5
REFUGEES
2,962,782
LIFE EXPECTANCY
67.39 yrs
LITERACY RATE
55%
POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE
12.4%