Christians decry forced occupation of trust property

Shared by Bishop Sadiq Gill

Christian community leaders on Monday have decried the forced occupation of Christian Missionary Trust building Mission Compound in Sukkur by builder mafia with active help of police.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Christian leaders Bishop Kaleem John, Father James, Father Daniel Fayyaz,Pastor Nazir Masih and others told that builder mafia was threatening Christian families residing in Mission compound to vacate the building as the builder wanted to build a plaza there.

They told that on the night of the New Year, about 30 police personnel on eight mobile vans accompanied with few private persons attacked the Mission Compound in Sukkur and started to beat men, women and children and threw them out of houses. Police torture continued for two long hours during which a two year old child was injured under police boot, while police had tortured Prof. Sohail Rashid and many others.

They claimed that the police team led by Inspector Abdul Malik searched the homes and took away gold jewelries with them.

The Bishop and others told that Mission Compound was not a property of any individual but it was Trust Mission's property and under Pakistan's law cannot be sold or purchased.

They said Diocese of Hyderabad Church of Pakistan was a religious trust with Bishotp Kaleem John as its chairman and also caretaker of all Churches in Sindh. They said that Christians were patriotic citizens of Pakistan and had laid down their lives alongside Muslims for creation of Pakistan.

Further, when the Christians went to police station in Sukkur to register their complaint, they were denied by duty officer. Christian communities had also held protest in front of press club Sukkur but were denied justice.

Builders want to create a law & order situation in Sindh. Later, the Christians held protest demonstration in front of press club Hyderabad and chanted slogans and demanded protection for their religious buildings.

They also demanded of the President, Prime Minister, Sindh Governor, Sindh Chief Minister and the Chief Justice to take notice of the violence against them.

Stop aid to Pakistani government unless it defends Christians, says Peter Tatchell

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has spoken out after the Pakistan government announced further restrictions on Christians’ civil liberties.

Pakistan’s education minister, Mohammad Balighur Rahman, has said that Koranic education will be compulsory for all schoolchildren.

Tatchell, a veteran activist best known as a gay rights campaigner, said: “This is the latest escalation of the country’s bias against Christians, other minority faiths and non-believers.”

He argued that the British government “should make overseas aid to Pakistan conditional on Islamabad’s protection of the human rights of Christians and other minorities.

“If Pakistan’s rulers do not comply, the UK should switch aid from the government to NGOs that do not discriminate.”

Tatchell was speaking in the wake of a report from the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), which detailed the many hardships Pakistani Christians face. These include frequent violence and prosecutions, as well as the kidnapping and forced marriage of Christian girls.
BPCA estimates that 86 per cent of Pakistan’s Christian population work as sweepers, domestic servants, or sewage workers, or in bonded labour – a form of modern slavery.

Tatchell said the BPCA’s report “reveals shocking inequalities, disadvantages and outright oppression of
Christians and other minority faiths in Pakistan, such as Hindus and Sikhs. Atheists, secularists and humanists are also persecuted.

“Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth. By failing to ensure equality for Christians, other non-Islamic faiths and non-believers, Pakistan is in breach of its human rights obligations under the Commonwealth Charter, as well as under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

Earlier this year, Tatchell said the prosecution of two Northern Irish Christians for refusing to bake a cake with a pro-gay marriage message was “a step too far”.

Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association said the new requirement to learn verses from the Koran “is the latest of many instances where Islam is privileged and people of other faiths or no faith are disadvantaged or discriminated against.

“For example, 15 per cent of blasphemy allegations are laid against Christians who only make up 1.6 per cent of the population. This is evidence of their pariah status.”

Chowdhry echoed Peter Tatchell’s call for British government action. “Britain and America plough money into Pakistan,” Chowdhry said, noting that “£225 million pounds of Britain’s £445 million budget given to Pakistan last year was allocated towards holistic educational reform.

“This places Britain internationally as a de facto funder of state-sponsored hatred towards Pakistani Christians. I pray our MPs see sense and either terminate aid to Pakistan, their largest aid recipient, or insist upon improved human rights as a condition for continued funding.

“Removing this latest risible drive towards compulsory Koranic studies has to be a priority.”

Chowdhry pointed out that Pakistan’s constitution forbids religious indoctrination of non-Muslims. It states: “No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction … if such instruction, ceremony or worship relates to a religion other than his own.”