THE REVEREND Fredrick D’costa has started work on his Christmas message to his congregation, which he will be delivering in Urdu. He has also selected the carols to be sung on the day, mostly by young children, in the same language.

The dress code for males on Christmas Day is likely to be flowing sherwanis with shalwar kameez for women. And once the service is complete around 200 worshippers will retreat to the community hall within the New Mercy International Church in Glasgow’s West End, where they will sample their festive meal.

The menu will range from chicken biryani and tandoori lamb chops to chapli kebabs and saag paneer. Alcohol will not be served. Instead mango and strawberry lassi will be available. And for dessert the trifle will be replaced by gajar ka halwa.

Welcome to Christmas, Pakistani style.

According to the British Pakistani Christian Association the 2011 census shows there are 17,000 Pakistani Christians living in England and Wales. However there is no reliable data about numbers north of the border.

D'costa, originally from the Pakistani port city of Karachi, has been living in Scotland for 14 years. His pastoral duties are not restricted to his parishioners, as he also conducts home visits to Pakistani Christian families in Edinburgh and Ayr.

“It is sadly true that many Scottish people will be celebrating Christmas within a very small family unit or even in isolation. The Pakistani way of doing things is very different, as you know,” he says.

“A Pakistani Christmas has a lot of colour and noise. It is about getting as many people involved, not just in your immediate family but also distant relatives. Generally Pakistanis tend to have big families so everyone gets together.

“In Scotland there is more emphasis placed on the commercial aspect of Christmas. However, there are countries around the world where more importance is attached to spirituality. This could be due to the discrimination many Christians face in certain places and as a result they have become stronger and more practicing in their faith.”

He continues, “Scottish people do tend to get confused when I tell them I’m a Christian. They automatically assume that I’m a Muslim because I’m originally from Pakistan and that I have changed my name. However when you tell them about the history of Christianity in Pakistan then they take a keen interest.”

Christians in Pakistan are the second largest minority group in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan, thought to be 1.6 per cent of the 185 million population. In the main they are descendants, or can trace their roots, to low caste Hindus, who turned to Christianity during the British Raj, in order to escape the discrimination a caste system brings.

At the home of Yusuf and Asma (who did not wish to give their full names) the Christmas tree is decorated, with presents in the process of being wrapped up. The couple originally moved from Lahore to England before settling in Scotland in 2002.

Although they are excited at the prospect of celebrating Christmas with their children and grandchildren they do admit their minds are never “far away” from friends and family "back home".

Yusuf reminisces, “When I was growing up in Pakistan the bells would toll on Christmas day and there would be public processions. But I would say the situation has got progressively worse especially in the last ten years. Although the Pakistani Government does offer full security for churches, people generally don’t feel comfortable gathering in large crowds.”

Earlier this year on Easter Sunday a suicide bomber targeted Christians in Lahore, killing more than 70, although many of them who were in fact Muslims. Human rights groups have also expressed concern at Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, which carry a potential death sentence for anyone insulting Islam. Human right campaigners say such laws are unjustly used against religious minorities.

In 2013 a double suicide attack in a church in Peshawar led to the deaths of 80 people. It later transpired that a Church of Scotland Minister based in Grangemouth, Aftab Gohar, lost several members of his family in the blast including his mother.

Although both Yusuf and Asma regularly travel to Pakistan their children are reluctant to travel with them.

“Scotland is their home. As far as they are concerned Pakistan is the Taliban, suicide bombing, sectarian violence and they get this image from the media. However this is not the Pakistan I recognise,” Yusuf sighs. “I’m not saying there are no problems but I wish the media was more balanced in their reporting of my country.”

At this point Asma takes over: “Christians are discriminated against when it comes to jobs. They are stuck in low paid menial ones even though they are qualified to do higher better-paid positions. Christian girls are kidnapped, raped, forced into marriage and converted to Islam and the police, especially in the villages, are powerless to help. They are frightened themselves.

“I regularly hear Pakistani [Muslims] complain about the treatment they receive as a religious minority living in the UK but they are silent over the treatment non-Muslims have to suffer in Pakistan."

Back at the New Mercy International Church D’costa has appealed to the new Pakistani Consul General to Scotland, Muhammad Rumman Ahmad, to open the doors of the consulate to all Pakistanis.

“There have been occasions when we have arranged a demonstration outside the consulate after attacks on Christians in Pakistan, and no one even comes out to acknowledge us,” he says.

He continues: “Every year the Pakistani Consulate hosts a flag raising event marking Pakistan’s independence. The white strip on the flag represents Pakistan’s non Muslim population. Yet how many Pakistani Christians receive an invite?”

The Pakistani Consulate failed to respond to a request for comment.