Eliminating the Dalit identities of these Christians will mean that they are deprived of economic benefits. A number of Dalits who have accepted the Christian faith are thus reluctant to register themselves as Christians for census purposes. Authorities have reportedly closed two churches, one of them founded in 1902, in the southern part of the country. The number of families affected by this closure earlier in the year is between 50 and 100. Three years ago there were 20 churches open in Savannakhet alone.
Today there are only five.
Lao authorities have so far closed 58 churches throughout the country during the last 18 months. Christians in Laos are accused of being enemies of the state. Pervaiz Masih was arrested at his home on April 1 during a late-night police raid. According to Masih's accuser, a Qur'an course teacher named Sajjad Ahmed, the Christian had made the offensive comments two months earlier to three teenage schoolboys he was tutoring privately. One of Masih's Muslim neighbors, who had an ongoing feud with the Christian teacher, convinced village leaders to agree a case should be filed against Masih.