Pakistani Christians demand fundamental rights and equal status
ICC Note:
In Pakistan’s constitution, Article 2 states that human rights are protected, including the “freedom of thought, expression, belief, and worship.” Yet, also within the constitution are discriminatory laws, including Article 18 that states that the Prime Minister must be a Muslim. Christians and other political leaders concerned with minority rights held a conference to demand that discriminatory laws which were made on the basis of religion, creed and caste be repealed, the Pakistan Christian Post reports.
11/8/2012 Pakistan (Pakistan Christian Post)- Under banner of National Minorities Alliance of Pakistan NMAP, a conference was organized to claim fundamental rights and equality in status in Pakistan for religious minorities in city of Faisalabad on November 4, 2010.
The leaders of WE CARE, ICOF PAKISTAN, PAKISTAN CHRISTIAN CONGRESS, HUMAN RIGHT FOCUS, WOMEN HELPING WOMEN, INTERFAITH DIALOGUE, SERVE ORGANIZATION, RESEARCH CENTRE participated in conference.
The following articles of constitution of Pakistan were discussed by the delegates; [Article 2(A)] ; Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights including equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to law and public morality.
18th Amendment of the Constitution: – Prime Minister will be a Muslim.
(Substitution of Article 91 of the Constitution; (3) After the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the National Assembly shall, to the exclusion of any other business, proceed to elect without debate one of its Muslim members to be the Prime Minister).
18th amendment of the Constitution un-guaranteed and bulldoze fundamental rights including equality of status and political justice of the non-Muslim citizens. These discretionary attitudes have already developed ethnic conflicts in the country.
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The following demands of the resolution were unanimously passed by the participants of the conference.
1- Repeal all discriminatory laws which were made on the basis of religion, creed and caste.
2- Supreme Court of Pakistan takes so-motto action and review the constitution for the removal of laws which violate equality of status and political justice.
3- Religious minorities claim that they are the aborigine, claim rights of inheritance, they were totally ignored in previous agriculture land reforms based on discrimination, claims that agriculture land must be allotted through new land reforms to each family.
4- Solve the problem of marriage registration of Hindu and Sikh community.
5- Religious conversion is being forced, kidnapping, murders are beating are frequent for Hindus and Christian girls, they are being harassed.
We claim that crystal clear law should be passed to stop religious conversion which is only used to fulfill sexual desires.
6- Minorities claim for their true representatives in National and Provisional Assemblies through duel vote before General Elections.
7- Remove discriminatory syllabus from education system, it will be necessary for the promotion of nationalism.
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