The bomb went off just metres from a gathering of Christians celebrating Easter in a public park in Lahore. At least 72 people were killed -- the majority women and children -- and more than 300 injured.
The devastating suicide attack happened on March 27, but its effects are still reverberating some 3,000km away in the suburbs of Bangkok.
Here, living discreetly in nondescript buildings, scores of Pakistani Christian families are still in shock from news of the attack.
"I learned about the bombing an hour after it happened," said Arsalan Magray, a 20-year-old Christian from Lahore. "One of my cousins was killed by the blast. He was far away from the suicide bomber, but he was hit by a ball bearing in the head and died instantly."
"Many of our brothers and sisters died in the bombing. I am devastated, but in Christianity we try not to look for revenge," said Sadaqat Khan, a sturdy 29 year old from Islamabad, as he was leaving a church service organised in a simple room to commemorate the Lahore victims.
For the roughly 7,000 Pakistani Christians who fled their country for Thailand because of religious persecution, the Lahore blast is only the latest confirmation that there is no longer a place for them at home.
'I WILL NEVER GO BACK'
The story of Mr Magray is a familiar one for these Pakistani Christians, who constitute one of the largest populations of asylum seekers currently living in Thailand. "My brother spoke against the blasphemy law in 2011. Then, an Islamist movement called the Movement for the Protection of the Prophet threatened to kill us. A cleric spoke against us at the mosque," he said.
In Pakistan, blasphemy is legally punishable by death, but communal retribution is often faster and more brutal than the judicial process.
"We went into hiding for two years, but the Islamists said they would find us anyway. That is why we finally decided to come to Thailand," Mr Magray said.
Wallis Raza, a shy young man who worked as an accountant in Karachi, told of how his sister and brother-in-law were kidnapped by Islamists in 2012 and forced to convert to Islam.
"We went to the police, but they told us, 'We cannot do anything for you. The best is that you leave the country,' " he said. "I will never go back there. Since I left the situation has only worsened."
Mr Khan, who has a master's degree in arts, was dating a Muslim girl. "Her family threatened to kill me," he said.
NOWHERE TO RUN
Persecution of Christians -- as well as against other religious minorities like Ahmadis, Hindus and Sikhs -- in Pakistan has been well documented by rights groups.
"Women who are members of religious minorities are particularly vulnerable," wrote Human Rights Watch in the Pakistan section of its 2015 World Report.
"At least 1,000 girls belonging to Christian and Hindu communities are forced to marry male Muslims every year. The coercion often originates from the prospective bridegrooms' families, and failure to comply can prompt serious violence against the girls and their families," added the New York-based rights group.
"Hundreds of young Christian girls are raped every year. Pakistani Christians represent 1.6% of Pakistan's population but they constitute 15% of the blasphemy cases. And those are often settled by assassination," said Wilson Chowdhry, a London-based Pakistani Christian who founded the British Pakistani Christian Association to assist families stranded in Thailand.
Thailand is a popular destination for those fleeing Pakistan because it is relatively easy for them to obtain three-month tourist visas and because plane tickets are not too expensive. But some also go to Malaysia and Sri Lanka, or even to Japan and South Korea. The Pakistani Christians who manage to escape their native country are not from poor families -- the destitute have no means to flee overseas.
"My perception is that the ones who come [to Thailand] are quite well educated and have some money. They are kind of middle-class refugees. But their money runs out within the first few months," said Tim Eady, the vicar of the Anglican Christ Church in Bangkok, where a lot of Pakistani Christians asylum seekers attend services.
Once the tourist visa expires, the situation of these stranded Pakistanis becomes dire.
"Currently, 99% of the Pakistani Christians in Bangkok have no visa. They don't dare to venture too much outside for fear of being arrested by police. And they don't have the right to work, so supporting themselves is a challenge," said Mr Magray.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
Arrests do occur; between 200 and 250 Pakistani Christians -- men, women and even children -- are currently being held at the Immigration Detention Centre on Suan Phlu Road, making up the largest community there.
Conditions at the centre are notoriously bad, with up to 200 people held in a single cell with only one or two toilets.
Numerous Christian organisations, NGOs and even charitable individuals used to bring daily food for the jailed Pakistani Christians. But as of March 21, the Department of Corrections has been restricting access to the prisoners.
On that day, Spectrum witnessed about 20 people who were trying to bring food to the detainees refused access to the centre. They were told they needed an official letter from a Thailand-based church to visit the prisoners.
"In the first place, these asylum seekers should not be arrested and detained," said Philip Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, reacting to the new restrictions.
"Thailand has an obligation to provide access to relatives, legal representatives and others. Restricting the access to these people is violating their rights."
LIVING IN LIMBO
Some Pakistani Christians are criticising the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office in Bangkok, accusing it of failing to help those who have been arrested. As almost all of the detainees have obtained "person of concern" status -- indicating they have applied for refugee status with the UNHCR and that their case is under review -- Thai police are not supposed to put them in jail.
Some are also sent to the central prison in Samut Prakan, where they have to wear heavy shackles which hurt their ankles when they try to move.
In emailed replies to Spectrum, the UNHCR denied that it was ignoring the plight of the Pakistani Christians or any of the other asylum seekers being detained by Thai authorities.
"In the absence of refugee legislation in Thailand, refugees and asylum seekers are considered illegal aliens under the Immigration Act if they do not have valid documentation," said Vivian Tan, UNHCR's regional press officer in Bangkok.
"They are often caught up in routine immigration crackdowns.
"UNCHR has been working over the years to sensitise the authorities to respect UNHCR-issued documents and not to arrest or detain refugees and asylum seekers.
"When alerted in time, UNHCR seeks to undertake interventions [in] arrest incidents. In the last six months, we have managed to prevent the arrest of over 400 people of concern."
But the biggest complaint of the Pakistani Christians is about the time it takes for the UN agency to review their asylum requests. They say it can take up to four or five years after the first contact with the UNHCR.
Mr Magray, who arrived in Thailand 28 months ago on a visa which expired three months later, had a bitter experience at the end of last month. He received a phone call informing him that the interview appointment for his asylum request, initially planned for March, had been postponed to March next year.
"I was devastated and sad. For them, it is a 10-second phone call. But for me it is another year," he said. "I have been waiting for 28 months, with no UN support. Without the right to work, how am I supposed to survive?"
Ms Tan said the UNHCR office is overwhelmed, particularly as UN resources have been reoriented due to mass displacement in Syria, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Iraq.
"UNHCR in Bangkok currently has eight trained legal staff to process some 7,000 asylum seekers," she wrote, adding that the waiting time varies according to the number of asylum seekers, the number of vulnerable individuals who need prioritising and the complexity of the cases.
MAKING ENDS MEET
Meanwhile, the thousands of Pakistani Christians in Bangkok are trying to scratch out a basic existence while keeping out of trouble. Some are working a few times per week as gardeners or in restaurants for 200 or 300 baht a day. Others have opened small businesses, in dressmaking or other fields. As is often the case in these kinds of situations, the community is tightly knit. The children of detained parents, for example, are cared for by other families.
Significant assistance is coming from Mr Chowdhry's British Pakistani Christians Association, which gathers funds to finance food distributions four times a month and provides a salary to volunteer teachers who take care of the hundreds of children who would be otherwise without any education. Several improvised schools have been organised, where children from the ages of four to 15 learn Urdu language, English, mathematics, arts and sciences.
Some Catholic organisations, like the Jesuit Refugee Service and Caritas Thailand, as well as foreign-sponsored churches, have also been supportive, although some Thai churches are described as "hostile" by some Pakistani Christians.
But help is also coming from individuals moved by the plight of these people. An Australian expatriate, for example, has been taking care of 16 Pakistani Christian families, supporting them financially but also liaising with Australian authorities to try to get their asylum requests accepted there.
Mr Raza, the former accountant, had his asylum application rejected by the UNHCR last year. Now, he is surviving by crafting rosaries and selling them to compassionate parishioners.
Mr Arsalan, who left Pakistan more than two years ago as he was about to enter university, is trying to obtain a UK-recognised diploma through distance learning.
"Thailand is not the ultimate solution," he said. "I hope to be able to go to another country where I can be an integral part of society and enjoy the same rights as other citizens."
BEADS BRING BAHT: A Pakistani Christian shows the rosaries he is crafting and selling.
PLEA FOR HELP: Pakistani Christians display messages addressed to the UNHCR during a public meeting in Bangkok.
SCHOOL SUCCESS: A school for children of the Pakistani Christians run by volunteer teachers and self-supported by the community.
COURTING ARREST: A Pakistani Christian child is taken to court. Pakistani Christians are being held at an Immigration Detention Centre.
BRITISH ASSISTANCE: Some Pakistani Christians with Wilson Chowdhry, founder of the British Pakistani Christian Association, who came from the UK to visit and assist.