wfn.org | Churches Welcome Pakistan Promise to Ease Restrictions on Minority

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Note #5880 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Faiths
02-May-2000
00177

	Churches Welcome Pakistan Promise to Ease Restrictions on Minority Faiths

	Major changes announced in blasphemy law enforcement

	by Anto Akkara
	Ecumenical News International

NEW DELHI -- Pakistan's military government has promised to make several
concessions to ease restrictions on the nation's minority Christian
community of about 3 million.

	The promises have been welcomed by church officials as further signs that
last October's military coup d'etat has been beneficial for Christians and
other minority faith communities in
Pakistan, even though the military government led by Chief Executive General
Pervez Musharraf has no democratic basis.

	The government of Prime Minister Nawa Sharif which was overthrown by
General Musharraf last Oct. 12 was deeply unpopular.  However, churches in
Pakistan are also calling for a swift return to democratic rule.

	Addressing a national seminar on "Human Dignity" in Islamabad on Good
Friday (April 21), General Musharraf announced major changes to the
application of Pakistan's blasphemy law, which is part of the nation's
Sharia (Islamic) law code and widely feared by Christians and members of
other minority faiths.

	Declaring that the government was determined to stop the "misuse" of the
blasphemy law (which imposes the death penalty for sacrilege against Islam),
General Musharraf said that
blasphemy cases could no longer be registered merely by a complaint, but
only after "preliminary investigation" by a deputy commissioner of police
and a thorough scrutiny of the charge.

	The Penal Code's section 295C, which dates from1986, reads: "Whoever by
words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any
imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly defiles the
sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed -- Peace be upon him -- shall be
punished with death and shall also be liable to a fine."

	Legal experts say the insertion of section 295C completely transformed the
previous clause on blasphemy, which was considered innocuous, by rendering
the definition of blasphemy arbitrary and by providing for a mandatory death
sentence.

	Several Christians have been sentenced to death by courts on what churches
claim are framed or flimsy blasphemy charges, but these verdicts have been
overturned by higher courts.

	However, a handful of Christians accused of blasphemy have been murdered by
Muslim fundamentalists even before their cases reached the courts.

	In May 1998 in a protest against the law, John Joseph, the Catholic bishop
of Faislabad, took his own life with a gun outside a court that had
sentenced a Christian to death on a blasphemy charge.

	Of the 140 million people of Pakistan, more than 95 per cent are Muslim. 
Christians are the biggest minority faith, followed by Hindus and Sikhs.

	Before General Musharraf's announcement, Khalid Ranjha, law minister in the
province of Punjab, also gave hope to local Christians when he promised to
promote a return to the joint
electorate system for Pakistan's religious minorities and to return to
Christian ownership hundreds of schools nationalized by the government in
1971.  A delegation from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in Pakistan at
this time negotiating numerous property disputes.

	Addressing a convention in Lahore on 18 April, Ranjha said that the
Pakistani electoral system, under which religious minorities vote separately
from Muslims and can elect only a handful of representatives, was imposed
under a political conspiracy which usurped "the fundamental rights of
minorities."

	The convention was arranged by Punjab Minorities Advisory Council, with
support from the National Council of Churches of Pakistan (NCCP), "to end
the political alienation of Christians and other minorities," according to
Victor Azariahs, the NCCP's general secretary. (The NCCP groups the
Protestant Church of Pakistan, the Presbyterian Church, Salvation Army and
Association of Reformed Presbyterian Churches.  Together they account for
almost half of Pakistan's Christians. The remainder are Roman Catholics.)

	Speaking at the conference on human dignity, the NCCP president, Bishop
Pervaiz Samuel also criticized the electoral system and called for change. 
"The idea of equal citizenship means political equality and active
participation in national mainstream [politics]," said the bishop, who is
from the Church of Pakistan.

	"To create an egalitarian society, religion or caste or creed must have
nothing to do with the affairs of the state," said Bishop Samuel.  He called
for the restoration of the "joint electorate" that was abolished in 1985 and
which had allowed Christians to vote on the same list as other Pakistanis.

	Christians and others complain that the introduction of a religion-based
electorate has alienated religious minorities and made their voices
irrelevant to mainstream politics.

	The human dignity conference was organized by the government in
collaboration with non-governmental organizations.  More than 300 delegates
including parliamentarians, senior government officials, social activists
and diplomats, as well as five Christian leaders participated in the meeting
which was opened by General Musharraf.

	Another Church of Pakistan leader, Azad Marshall, Bishop of the Arabian
Gulf and Associate Bishop of the Middle East, told the conference: "There is
a change in the attitude of the government towards Christians and other
minorities."

	Talking to ENI from Lahore about the signs of a more open policy from the
military government, Bishop Marshall said that "for the first time in the
history of Pakistan minority issues and rights of the under-privileged are
getting proper attention."

	Bishop Marshall, who responded on behalf of Christians to General
Musharraf's speech at the conference, said: "Christians have many reasons to
be happy.  We hope the government will fulfil the assurances it has made."

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