"I want to show the world the Christian community in Pakistan has religious freedom,"

A giant cross is rising in a place where Christians often suffer persecution for their faith: Karachi, Pakistan.

The 140-foot cross stands at the entrance of a Christian cemetery in the center of the city. It's being built by Parvez Henry Gill, a Pakistani businessman who said the idea came to him in a dream.

"I want to show the world the Christian community in Pakistan has religious freedom," Gill said.

While some have criticized the cross, Gill said he "leaves that to God."

Pakistani Christians have faced church bombings and other attacks by Islamic terrorists.

In March, Taliban suicide bombers killed 15 people and injured nearly 80 others in the city of Lahore in eastern Pakistan. The group's spokesman vowed bombing attacks would continue until the government implements Sharia law.

In 2013, 80 people died when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives cache at the All Saints Church in the northern city of Peshwar.