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PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF OF PAKISTAN ASSURES RELIGOUS MINORITIES
OF HIS PROTECTION October 12 2001 Religious minorities in Pakistan were reassured of state protection when they met with President Musharraf earlier this week. In a two-hour meeting on October 9, which the President initiated, he assured them their lives and property would be fully protected. The delegation, which was led by Col (Ret'd) SK Tressler, the Federal Minister for Minorities, included Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, Sikhs, Parsies and members of scheduled castes. There have been isolated attacks on Christians in
Pakistan, including an attack by extremists on the Christian community at Quetta
on the border with Afghanistan. Islamic extremists told believers at the
Christian Colony University in Peshawar to leave the country and beat several
before police intervened. President Musharraf admitted these attacks were due
to the failure of the local administration and blamed them on Afghan refugees
who support the Taliban regime. He has recently taken action against Islamic
extremists, banning two militant organisations in August and prohibiting
fundraising to promote jihad or holy war. He also passed laws to regulate the madrassahs
(religious schools) which are believed to be training grounds for mujahideen
(Islamic militants). Finally, he ordered key leaders of several pro-Taliban
organisations to be placed under house arrest for three months last weekend.
This included Maulana Fazal Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, one of three
extremist Islamic parties who issued a joint statement on October 11 condemning
President Musharraf's decision to offer the US logistical support and declaring
a jihad against the US-led coalition forces. Minority faiths in Pakistan have already set up a
National Communication Network to liase with local authorities and inter-faith
conferences have already taken place. Successful meetings have already been held
in Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad with representatives from Jamait Ulema-e-Islam
at the Lahore meeting. At a local level, faith communities are already talking
to each other, attempting to curb inflammatory statements and running seminars
on conflict resolution. Rev Stuart Windsor, national director of Christian
Solidarity Worldwide, said: "We welcome the courageous steps taken by
President Musharraf in the past few months to curb fundamentalist activities
within Pakistan. "We are also grateful that he has taken the initiative to
meet with Christians and members of other minority faiths and welcome his pledge
to safeguard their lives and property. "We continue to call on the
Government of Pakistan to protect the rights of religious minorities and to
reform the law relating to blasphemy which has left Christians like Ayub Masih
on death row." For more information, contact Richard Chilvers at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8949 0587 or 020 8942 8810 |
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