Vatican appreciates Pakistan's role

ISLAMABAD, 15 September 2010 (The Nation<)—On the second day of his visit to Italy, Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti Tuesday met with Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Dominique Mamberti and Cardinal Jean Louis, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, TheNation has learnt.Read more<

Pakistan flood survivor: "I have nothing but my family"

ISLAMABAD, 24 August 2010—As flood waters continue to cover acres of land in Pakistan, ICMC makes an urgent appeal to donors to support the organisation’s front-line response to the medical needs of thousands of families in flood-affected areas.

An estimated 18 million people have been affected by Pakistan’s most recent natural disaster, and the sheer scale of the catastrophe has been described by United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon as “almost defying comprehension.” “This is far more than a disaster for Pakistan alone,” he said earlier this week, “this represents one of the greatest tests of global solidarity in our time.”Read more<

Ban Ki Moon: Pakistan needs our help, now

18 August 2010 (NY Times<)—Standing under leaden skies in Pakistan last Sunday, I saw a sea of suffering. Flood waters have washed away thousands of towns and villages. Roads, bridges and homes in every province of the country have been destroyed.Read more<

Pakistan's Humanitarian Forum calls for urgent international support

16 August 2010— The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) urges the international community to play its part in meeting the immediate needs of millions of Pakistanis, as well as tens of thousands of Afghan refugees, and also warns that without long-term funding, rebuilding this devastated country will prove virtually impossible.Read more<

Crisis far from over: Lack of funding threatens life-saving aid to 1.3m people

Nearly a year since more than three million people were displaced by military operations in north-west Pakistan, the crisis is far from over. More than 1.3 million people are displaced, dependent on emergency relief to survive, yet funding for the emergency response is drying up.Read more<

Bishops' Conference President tells Fides: Action, not words, from the government in defending Pakistani Christians

Lahore, 23 March 2010 (Agenzia Fides<)—"We condemn the recent incidents and violence against Christians. We ask the government for justice and legality, so that such acts do not go unpunished. We demand that the rights of Christians are respected, as they should be for all other citizens." This is what Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, President of the Pakistani Bishops' Conference, told Fides in commenting on the latest cases of Christians being burned alive for refusing to convert to Islam.Read more<