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Holy Week a nightmare for Christians in Asia

Christians across the globe celebrated Easter Sunday, while many Christians continued to face abuses and violence in various Asian nations.

Published: April 14, 2023 11:26 AM GMT

Updated: April 14, 2023 11:27 AM GMT

Christians and people of other faiths in Myanmar have mourned the death of scores of people including women and children in an airstrike by the military junta on a village crowd in the conflict-torn Sagaing region. The attack on Tuesday is believed to have killed at least 100 people in the Buddhist Bamar heartland in what is dubbed one of the worst military atrocities in years.

The killing sparked an outpouring of sorrow with many people changing their profile pictures and backgrounds to black on Facebook in solidarity with the dead and those still suffering in the aftermath. At least 11 civilians were killed in another airstrike in Christian-majority Chin state the previous day.

As part of solidarity, a group of young people from Majayng town, in Kachin state painted murals showing airplanes dropping bombs on people.

Elsewhere, young protesters marched into villages in central Myanmar to condemn the airstrikes and called on the international community to stop supplying aviation fuel to the junta and impose an arms embargo. 

This handout photo from humanitarian group Free Burma Rangers taken on May 3, 2022, and released on May 4 shows a dog running past the burning remains of a building after airstrikes and mortar attacks by the Myanmar military on a village in Doo Tha Htoo district in Myanmar's eastern Kayin stat

This handout photo from humanitarian group Free Burma Rangers taken on May 3, 2022, and released on May 4 shows a dog running past the burning remains of a building after airstrikes and mortar attacks by the Myanmar military on a village in Doo Tha Htoo district in Myanmar's eastern Kayin state. (Photo: Free Burma Rangers / AFP)

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In a remote village in the restive Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, about 200 people fled their homes and took shelter in government schools after eight tribal Christians were killed in a gun battle between two insurgent groups. The violence took place in Khamtangpara, a village in the Bandarban district, on Holy Thursday.

Police recovered eight bodies the next day. All the dead were Christians — four Baptists and four Presbyterians and belonged to the ethnic minority Bawm community.

Famed for natural beauty Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts is also a hotbed of bloodletting insurgency. In the latest violence, eight Christians from the tribal Bawm community were allegedly killed by an insurgent group on April 6. (Photo: Amnesty International)

Local police chief Abdul Mannan said local people alerted police to the gunfight between insurgent tribal groups — the Kuki-Chin National Front and the United People's Democratic Front. Those killed are suspected members of the Kuki-Chin National Front, a newly emerged rebel group.

A two-decades-old deadly tribal insurgency for a separate tribal homeland in the hills ended with a peace treaty in 1997, but some tribal people opposed it and continued the armed struggle. Sectarian violence and rivalry between armed groups has left scores dead ever since.


Christian leaders in India's Manipur state have appealed for peace after government agencies demolished three churches. The state government, run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, demolished the churches claiming that they were built illegally on government land in the capital Imphal.

An official from Imphal Archdiocese said the demolition was carried out early morning on Tuesday, probably to avoid people's resistance and violence. The demolished churches belong to Catholic, Baptist, and Lutheran Churches. Imphal Archdiocese bought the land of the demolished Holy Spirit Church some 20 years ago from a person.

The pro-Hindu government in India’s Manipur state demolished three churches in the wee hours of April 11 to avoid communal clashes (Photo supplied)

However, a dispute over the land has been going on for more than four years. In 2020, the church challenged the government order for demolition, and in March 2023, the court stayed the order.

However, the court order was revered on April 4 and the church was demolished within days. 

Independent neo-Christian churches in Faisalabad city of Pakistan’s Punjab province complained of harassment after the Federal Investigation Agency began a probe into their financial dealings.

The agency issued notices to some 300 people including pastors, Sunday school teachers and officials of charities. The notice said those facing probe are suspected to be "involved in money laundering” and should personally present the details of their financial dealings at the agency’s offices in Faisalabad.

Pakistani Christians hold candles as they offer prayers during an Easter service on the rooftop of their house during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, in Islamabad on April 12, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

The details include their source of income, bank details, and proof of tax paid in the past five years besides personal and business details. Pakistan’s Anti Money Laundering Act stipulates a sentence of up to 10 years in jail along with a fine of about 61,000 US dollars for those convicted under the law.

Church leaders say the move is an attempt to harass Christians who face various forms of persecution and discrimination in the Muslim-majority country. Minorities Alliance Pakistan, a Christian group working to protect the interest of religious minorities, said they plan to resist the “harassment of Christians” through legal means. 


About 450 religious leaders, trade unions, and activists in Sri Lanka have jointly issued a statement to oppose a proposed anti-terrorism law, calling it unwanted and urging diplomatic missions to intervene to roll it back. The Anti-Terrorism Act will replace the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Activists say the new law is a more serious threat to democracy in the bankrupt nation. A new terror law was unnecessary as existing laws are sufficient to combat terrorism.

In this October 14, 2015 file photo, Tamil protesters hold placards demanding the release of activists being held under tough anti-terror laws in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. Religious leaders, trade unions, and activists are calling for the scrapping of a new anti-terrorism bill which they say is more draconian than the existing law. (Photo: AFP)

For years, anti-terror law has been exploited as a draconian tool to suppress dissent and detain activists, lawyers, religious leaders, journalists, student leaders, opposition politicians, and human rights defenders. The law was introduced in 1979 to help the government tackle the 30-year civil war waged by Tamil separatists that ended in 2009.

However, terror threats re-emerged in 2019 when an Islamist terror group carried out multiple suicide bombings on churches and hotels on Easter Sunday that killed more than 290 people. The international community has repeatedly urged Sri Lanka to repeal the repressive terror law. 


Global rights groups Human Rights Watch and ChinaAid have issued statements and slammed the Chinese regime for handing lengthy jail terms to two prominent human rights defenders, allegedly for subversion. The groups called for their immediate release.

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The uproar began after a court in eastern China's Shandong province sentenced Xu Zhiyong to 14 years in prison and Ding Jiaxi to 12 years. Human Rights Watch said their trials were conducted “behind closed doors and riddled with procedural problems and allegations of mistreatment.”

Chinese civil right lawyers Xu Zhiyong (left) and Ding Jiaxi (right). (File photo: Yaxue Cao, via Twitter/HKFP)

Zhiyong is a former lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He was a co-founder of the now-banned legal aid center, Open Constitution Initiative, and the New Citizens’ Movement, a nongovernmental group advocating for civil rights, government transparency, and education equality.

Jiaxi is a former lawyer who played key roles in both groups. They advocated for government officials, including President Xi, to disclose property documents. Their activism also sought to use China’s constitution to defend human rights. 


Ahead of Easter, a district head in Indonesia’s West Java province sealed off a Protestant Church after alleging it was built without a permit. Anne Ratna Mustika, head of the Purwakarta district, shut down the building of the Simalungun Protestant Christian Church in the first week of April.

She suggested the congregation use another church until the permit is finalized. Local church leaders claimed the church was closed after two visits by representatives of hard-line Muslim groups in March. Local Christians regretted they had no place to worship during Easter.

Anne Ratna Mustika, Purwakarta district head, sealing off the place of worship belong to the Simalungun Protestant Christian Church in West Java province on April 1. (Photo: Twitter)

The Union of Churches in Indonesia, an inter-church group, said sealing off the church is another act of discrimination against Christians who face challenges to obtain permits for churches.

In February, a mob stopped worship at the David Tabernacle Christian Church in Lampung province after alleging it did not fulfill the criteria as a place of worship. 


Bishop Crispin Varquez of Borongan Diocese in the Philippines has called on the government to take action against mining activities by four companies on the historical island of Homonhon due to the negative impacts on communities and the natural environment.

In a statement on Tuesday, the bishop said the diocese is “very much disturbed by the escalated mining operations in our beloved historical island of Homonhon.” The island is regarded as the place where Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed on March 16, 1521, marking the arrival of Christianity in the country.

Mining activities on Homonhon Island is negatively impacting the communities and the natural environment, says Filipino Bishop Crispin Varquez of Borongan Diocese. (Photo supplied) 

The bishop’s statement came after local residents, mostly fishing communities, complained about depleting fish stocks, forcing them to go further out to sea to catch fish.

They say mining activities have polluted the waters. The corporations have taken over 10,000 hectares of land to mine for deposits of nickel and chromite since 1983, despite opposition from locals. 


In communist-ruled Vietnam where religious groups face pressure and restrictions frequently, a Catholic Church welcomed 200 new members from the ethnic Hmong community.

The new converts joined the church as it observed Holy Week this year. The faithful cheered as they attended Palm Sunday Mass, Holy Week services, and Easter celebrations for the first time at Hong Ngai sub-parish.

New converts from the Hmong community attend the Way of the Cross at Hong Ngai subparish on April 7. Their parish in Mai Yen in Son La province is 70 kilometers away. (Photo: Supplied)

The sub-parish belongs to Mai Yen Parish in Hung Hoa diocese in northwestern Vietnam bordering Laos to the south. The new converts, assisted by a seminarian and a nun, decorated a small chapel, which was built in March this year, with images of the Ways of the Cross and Sacred Heart. They also learned how to fast on Good Friday, sing hymns, and recite prayers in the Hmong language.

Hmong people are an indigenous group mainly found in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and China. Most Hmong people in Vietnam are day laborers, eking out a living in tea gardens and rice fields. There are more than 20,000 Hmong Catholics living in remote and mountainous areas of Vietnam. 


About 4,000 Christians joined a rally in the South Korean capital Seoul on Easter Sunday in what was billed as the first large-scale Easter parade since Christianity arrived in the country four centuries ago. The parade was organized by the inter-denominational United Christian Churches of Korea.

The parade attendees added various displays as part of the procession which included both religious and non-religious elements. Some of the displays included models of the Ark of the Covenant, a cross, and large inflated chick balloons among others.

Participants attend a parade to celebrate Easter in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on April 9, 2023. (Photo: AFP)

Participants joined with musical instruments, skates, and unicycles. The parade also included a percussion band, a choir, and a traditional mask dance performance. As part of the festivities, the organizers organized an Easter music concert in the afternoon.

Over the past century, Christianity has experienced exponential growth in Korea, from about 1 percent in the 1900s to nearly one-third of the population today. About 30 percent of Koreans follow Christianity, making it the most followed organized religion in the country.

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