Islamabad’s Christian slum dwellers pray for Christmas miracle

ISLAMABAD: As the winter sun sets on Pakistan’s leafy capital Islamabad, residents of the city’s largest Christian slum use bicycles, donkey carts and their backs to haul jerry cans filled with water to their homes.

Situated on the capital’s periphery, the neighborhood that is home to around 10,000 people is now at the heart of a debate over the rights of Christians in this predominantly Muslim country of 200 million, with city authorities claiming such settlements threaten “the beauty of Islam.”