Karachi’s Churches, Land Marks in the City Heritage By Aziz Sanghur

Karachi’s Churches: Land Marks in the City Heritage is a shortage documentary, produced, directed and written by Aziz Sanghur. Mr. Sanghur is a documentary film-maker from Pakistan. The documentary shows that there are more than 24 churches in Karachi. About one dozen churches have been declared as heritage including Brooks Memorial Methodist Church, Christ the King Church, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Philadelphia Pentecostal Church, Sacred Heart Church, Keamari, St. Andrew's Church, also known as Scotch Church, St. Anthony's Church, Cantt, St. Anthony's Church, Manora, St. Lawrence's Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Church of Our Lady of Fatima etc. St. Patrick's Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi, is situated on Shahrah-e-Iraq, formerly known as Clarke Street, located near the Empress Market in Karachi, Pakistan. The first church in Sindh (except for possibly one in Thatta) was initially built on the grounds of this cathedral in 1845, and was called St. Patrick's Church. The present-day cathedral is built in Gothic style; it measures 52 metres by 22 metres, and has the capacity to accommodate at least 1,500 worshippers at the same time. Holy Trinity Cathedral, is the seat of the Church of Pakistan, Diocese of Karachi, situated on Fatima Jinnah Road, near Zainab Market, in Karachi, Pakistan. Sacred Heart Church is a 150 year-old church in a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi in Pakistan. The present church building was built in 1922 with funds provided by the Karachi Port Trust. There were approximately 200 Christian families living in Keamari at the time. In 1923 the Sacred Heart school was constructed. The medium of instruction was originally the Marathi language. The parish has two conferences of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Pakistan. The parish is also home to the Sacred Heart Secondary School. The Apostleship of the Sea is based in this port parish. St. Lawrence's Church, Karachi is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi. It became a parish in 1912.The Church was constructed with elements of Mughal architecture in it. Lawrence Cajetan Duarte donated the life-size statue of the patron saint which was ordered from Rome in 1930. The church was built by parishioners through personal contributions (1903 -- 1929), and formally opened on August 10, 1931. Christianity is the largest religious minority in Pakistan. The total number of Christians in Pakistan is approximately 2,800,000 in 2008, or 1.6% of the population. Of these, approximately half are Roman Catholic and half Protestant. All modern Christians in Pakistan are desended from recent converts during British rule, they are not descended from any historical community of Christians from ancient times. From 1947 to the mid-1970s, the governments of Pakistan were largely secular in policy and judgment.However, with the Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization and forced implementation of Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan marginalized the Christian minorities and caused intense persecutions. In 1971, East Pakistan became independent as Bangladesh, and a large chunk of Pakistan's Hindus and Christians were de-linked from Pakistan. Pakistan became a culturally monolithic, increasingly Islamic state, with smaller religious minorities than ever. The All Pakistan Minority Alliance said "We have become increasingly victimised since the launch of the US-led international war on terror. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the international community to ensure that the government protects us.