Following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Christian institutions in Pakistan were closed while ordinary Christians suffered amid chaotic scenes. 

Newsroom (11/05/2023 20:40, Gaudium Press) Pakistan has been in turmoil ever since the arrest of Imran Khan the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader on May 9 by paramilitary rangers outside the High Court in the national capital Islamabad. Local media have reported at least eight deaths amid countrywide demonstrations.

As the chaos unfolded, Pastor Irfan James, a missionary, had to cut short his mission tour and take refuge in the house of a Christian family in Hangu, a hotbed of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants in the northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering Afghanistan.

The 34-year-old missionary who rode on a motorcycle to Hangu was stuck some 555 kilometres from his home in Lahore waiting for things to calm down even as Khan’s party announced a countrywide strike on May 10 to protest against the fascist government.

There were reports that PTI supporters had blocked the 1.85-kilometre-long Pak-Japan Friendship Tunnel to the northern districts.

“There is no public transport available. Families with patients are worried as major hospitals are only located in the nearby provincial capital of Peshawar. My family is also concerned for my safe return. Several Church gatherings en route to Punjab have been canceled,” James, a father of four reported.

He said the government should have chalked out a security plan to deal with the fallout and hoped the judiciary would step in to resolve the crisis.

Khan’s arrest follows months of political crisis and came hours after the powerful military rebuked the former international cricketer for accusing Major General Faisal Naseer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of plotting to assassinate him last November.

Protesters, armed with sticks, were out taking their wrath on the military, torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and laying siege to the army’s general headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Mobile internet services remain blocked across the country, according to the Pakistan telecommunication authority, and access to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter was restricted to prevent videos of arson and violence from being shared.

The Punjab Higher Education Department cancelled exams scheduled for May 11 owing to the uncertain situation in the province.

According to Asher Javed, chief executive of the Catholic Board of Education, Church-run schools were also closed on May 11 for at least a week in Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi dioceses.

“The principals of each institution will decide about reopening the schools as per their local situation. We are getting calls from worried parents. The political unrest will not favor anyone,” he said.

Church institutions in Lahore including the social communications commission and WAVE studio, the Church´s national audiovisual centre, are also closed.

“The staff come from distant areas and roads are blocked amid countrywide protests,” said Father Qaiser Feroz, director of the studio.

Meanwhile, reports said former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a close aide of Khan, was arrested by police on May 11, amid worsening political turmoil that has led to the deployment of the army in the country’s capital and three provinces.

• Raju Hasmukh with files from UCAN