Justice Delayed: The 13-Year Struggle of the Peshawar Church Blast Survivors 

On Sept. 22, 2013, twin suicide blasts tore through All Saints Church at Kohati Gate in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing nearly 100 people and wounding more than 200 others. 

The attack, claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan as retaliation for American drone strikes, stands as one of the deadliest assaults on the Christian community in the country’s history. Families were shattered in an instant; children lost their parents, siblings were separated, and spouses were left behind. The tragedy hit the very core of Pakistan’s Christian community. 

In the immediate aftermath, then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a 200 million-rupee endowment fund intended specifically for the rehabilitation of the victims and survivors of All Saints Church. However, officials never distributed the money to the grieving families. Instead, they transferred it to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), where it sat for four years. 

Frustrated by the gridlock, church leaders and human rights activists appealed to the Supreme Court. Following those hearings, the court ordered the funds to be transferred to the Auqaf, Hajj, Religious and Minority Affairs Department. Christian leaders criticized this shift. The original 200 million-rupee fund was explicitly created for the survivors of the All Saints Church attack. Still, under the new departmental jurisdiction, it was converted into a general minority fund. Officials expanded the list of beneficiaries to include all religious minorities in the province. Activists argued this was an injustice to the specific victims of the 2013 blast, diluting the aid meant for them. 

Even after this shift, the money remained undistributed for years. It was only recently, following sustained appeals by church representatives and human rights groups, that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government finally took a step forward. The KP chief minister doubled the endowment fund from 200 million to 400 million rupees. It remains a general fund for all minorities rather than a dedicated fund for the church victims. 

No Longer Eligible

In May 2026, the provincial government held a ceremony to distribute the first 37 checks, providing 2 million rupees to 11 widows, 1.5 million rupees to 24 orphans, and 1 million rupees to two people with disabilities. Officials have promised that this distribution will continue in gradual phases over time. 

However, the ceremony was marred by a glaring exclusion. Multiple survivors who were severely injured in the 2013 blast attended the event, only to return home empty-handed. Authorities turned them away, claiming that because they had “fully recovered” from their wounds, they were no longer eligible for compensation. 

This bureaucratic justification completely ignores the reality on the ground. These are individuals who barely survived the blast. Because of their severe injuries, many lost their livelihoods and took on massive debts to pay for their medical treatments.  

For more than a decade, they received zero government support, surviving only through the charity of NGOs and church organizations. These survivors underwent incredibly expensive and invasive procedures; some now live with prosthetic metal legs, while others have metal rods inserted into their spines. 

To turn them away after 13 years, on the pretense that they are “recovered,” is a profound systemic failure. They may no longer be bleeding on an operating table, but they permanently carry the physical bruises of religious hatred and the deep trauma of that day on both their bodies and their souls. They left feeling entirely hopeless. 

The government has already delayed justice for 13 years. As the distribution process slowly moves forward, we hope and pray that the authorities will recognize this oversight. Officials must compensate the injured survivors for their immense losses, and these resilient families must finally receive the full justice they deserve.

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The post Justice Delayed: The 13-Year Struggle of the Peshawar Church Blast Survivors  first appeared on International Christian Concern.