Punjab Christian Movement

What it is: The Punjab Christian Movement (PCM) is a Christian advocacy body based in Jalandhar. The Tribune names Hamid Masih as its president in reports of 2016, 2022 and 2026, and a 2016 report names a PCM United Pastor Association that called a sit-in. The reports opened do not say when the movement was formed.

Key moments

• 14 February 2016: a sit-in outside the Jalandhar deputy commissioner's office, with effigies of Maharashtra's chief minister, the Prime Minister and the RSS chief burnt. The speakers protested attacks on pastors in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mumbai and said Hindu organisations were threatening pastors on false conversion charges (The Tribune).
• 17 October 2022: at a protest at PAP Chowk, Jalandhar, Masih demanded an FIR under Section 295A of the IPC against a Sikh activist, Amritpal Singh, over alleged remarks about Jesus Christ. The protest was organised by the Masih Action Committee (The Tribune).
• 28 June 2023: a demonstration outside Jalandhar's district administrative complex over the vandalism of churches in Manipur and against the Uniform Civil Code, with a memorandum to the President of India (The Tribune).
• 17 March 2026: at the Punjab Press Club, Jalandhar, Masih objected to Home Minister Amit Shah's Moga rally speech. Shah had said the first bill a BJP government would bring would stop religious conversions. Masih said such comments "sow discord and bitterness" (The Tribune).
• 9 April 2026: Masih called the Supreme Court's 24 March judgment in Chinthada Anand v State of Andhra Pradesh, which held that converting to a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism means losing Scheduled Caste status, "controversial and discriminatory" (The Wire).

The wider dispute: The SGPC and Sri Akal Takht Sahib have charged that missionaries lure Sikhs into conversion by force or money. Giani Harpreet Singh said so of the border villages (ThePrint). Christian voices reject it: Kamal Bakshi of the United Christian Front told ThePrint that what people look for in the church is equality (ThePrint). The reports opened do not record the PCM itself answering the Sikh bodies' charge.

Where it stands: It was still active in April 2026, with Masih as its public voice.