I write this statement with some reluctance, because I would rather write about a case than about a name. But families in trouble have begun to ask me which Christian Lawyers Alliance is mine, and church leaders abroad have asked the same. They deserve a clear answer, and it is this: there is one Alliance, one founder and one record, and the real CLAP in Pakistan is the one I founded in Lahore in 2020.
Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan (CLAP) was formed when I gathered a group of born-again, Spirit-filled Christian lawyers in Lahore so that no Christian in Pakistan would stand before a court alone. I am its Founding Patron in Chief. Every office holder serves under my patronage. The Alliance has no branches, chapters or affiliates other than those listed at clap.com.pk. If a group or a page is not listed there, it is not part of us, however similar its name.
Why this matters to a family in trouble
A name is not a small thing when a daughter has been taken or a son has been accused. The family will search for help, and the first name they find may not be ours. I say only that the record belongs to those who made it. Since 2020 the Alliance has defended blasphemy and forced conversion cases, filed habeas corpus and recovery petitions, documented persecution for Pakistani Christians in Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and funded the studies of young Christian lawyers in Pakistan from poor families. That record is ours, and we have never charged a persecuted Christian for it.
How to know you have reached us
- Our website is clap.com.pk, and our office holders and any branches are listed there.
- Our advocates never ask a persecuted Christian for a fee.
- Our office holders serve under my patronage as Founding Patron in Chief, and I answer for them.
- We do not promise outcomes; we promise that a lawyer who fears God more than men will stand beside you.
I have practised in the courts of Punjab since 1982 and before the Lahore High Court since 1996. I am, by God’s grace, the most senior practising Christian lawyer in Pakistan, and I put my own name to this Alliance so that the persecuted would know exactly who is answerable for it. That is what I mean by the real CLAP in Pakistan: one Alliance, one founder, one record, and an open door.
To those who have used similar names, I bear no ill will. I ask only that the families who need Christian advocates in Pakistan are not confused on the day they can least afford it. The Lord Jesus said that a good tree is known by its fruit. Look at the fruit, and you will know the tree.
— Founding Patron in Chief Advocate Soba Sorya, Senior Advocate High Court, Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan (CLAP)
