Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

October 2020 – In more than one area of the world, Christians have been prohibited from receiving relief aid during the global COVID-19 pandemic. In at least two countries, Vietnam and Pakistan, Christians were denied government aid solely because of their religious affiliation.

A field representative for Open Doors in North Vietnam reported that government officials told 18 impoverished Christian families that they “were not on the list” to receive the much-needed food that other local families were given. “You are Christians, and your God shall take care of your family!” said the official. “The government is not responsible for your families.”

Likewise, in Pakistan, International Christian Concern (ICC) documented more than 100 Christian families from Sandha Kalan, a village in the Kasur district of Punjab, who were denied aid designated for any needy family. Not one single Christian villager received food on April 5, when aid was distributed. The decision to block all aid to Christian families was made by a cleric in the local mosque, Sheikh Abdul Haleem Hadid.

Shahakeel Ahmed, a local Muslim and human rights defender, reported the Christian persecution. “I condemn this inhumane and discriminatory act by my Muslim village fellows,” Ahmed told ICC, “and I stand with the poor Christian population of the village.”

persecution.org, 4/7/20; opendoorsusa.org, 5/28/20