ICC Note:

Christian from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has demanded the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court take the necessary steps in ensure that the basic constitutional and human rights afforded them are protected and enforced. According the Christians in the FATA, they are being denied these rights by local government officials. Will Pakistan’s government stand up and take notice or will it turn a blind eye to the suffering of Christians in one of the world’s most dangerous places?

5/19/2014 Pakistan (Dawn.com) – Christians living in different parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have demanded of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court (PHC) chief justices to help ensure provision of the basic rights to them.

Christian Awareness and Development Society (CADS), Fata, argued in a letter it has sent to the chief justices of the Supreme Court and PHC that ‘though Article 25 (1) of the Constitution declares them as equal citizens of Pakistan, they are being denied their basic human and constitutional rights despite living for almost 100 years in different parts of Fata’. Copies of the letter have also been sent to heads of the major political parties, members of Senate and National Assembly and the federal minorities’ ministry.

The CADS said that though Christian population in Fata had exceeded 50,000 over last 67 years, they were being denied provision of domicile certificate of Fata and due share in government jobs under the quota allocated for residents of Fata. It said that about 5,740 Christian families were residing in Fata, but the local political administration had been issuing them only temporary residential certificates.

According to the letter, whenever a resident of Fata migrates to any other part of the country, he or she is granted domicile of that area after living there for five years, but the same facility is denied to Christians in Fata. Besides, it said that Christians living in Fata were not entitled to purchase properties and build their own houses. It also demanded jobs for Fata Christians in government departments besides representation in Senate and National Assembly.

…