Friday, May 31, 2013

Deception of PML N

Why anchors and TV channels are talking against Mr. Qaim Ali Shah who is quiet a gentleman? Shahbaz Sharif is also nominated as a Chief Minister of Punjab for the third time. Why Qaim Ali Shah is the only target, Of course it is the party leadership who appoints its members for any post. It’s not his own choice. Why Pakistan People’s Party is the only target? PPP has its roots in all provinces of Pakistan, is a sign of federation and has always supported the Minorities of Pakistan. Media should not be so biased; media has a duty of providing news by staying neutral. 

We know the propaganda of Pakistan Muslim League (N) that they are Anti Christian and Anti Women; we still remember the Shantinagar, Gojra, Badami Bagh and Josephabad incidents which are the gifts of PML N to Christians of Pakistan during PML N tenure. 

A Christian MPA is nominated as a Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly by PML N only to show the international community their so called liberal ideology. That Christian Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly is brainwashed and a remote controlled man whose remote will be in the hands of Nawaz Sharif (Chief of PMLN) and that Deputy Speaker will be the mouthpiece of Nawaz Sharif who will provide only positive reports about the Christians of Pakistan to the international community.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Christians are not safe in Pakistan

Christians are not safe in Pakistan, more than 1500 Christians are now homeless in a Christian Village in Southern Punjab Province of Pakistan. Political Parties and Civil Societies of Pakistan should highlight this case without any prejudice or Discrimination. That Police Officer should be punished who became the leader of Islamists and attacked the Christian Village. This incident is not new, same happened before in Shanti Nagar, Gojra, Mehrabadi - Islamabad (Rimsha Case), Badami Bagh - Lahore, Francisabad - Gujranwala. There is no example about the culprits who were caught and punished by the authorities. Wake up Government of Pakistan before it is too late. According to Article 20 - A of the Constitution of Pakistan "every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion;" Government of Pakistan, please try to implement this article in the Country and make sure that Christians are safe.

More on this can be read from here: http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=22594

Monday, May 20, 2013

Wake up Policy Makers


Over the Centuries people from different cultures and regions have always given more importance to the prevalent religion in that particular region at that particular time. Christianity has its roots in the Middle East which was preached and practiced in Europe while Islam which too has its origins in the Middle East found a permanent foothold in Asia and Africa. To openly claim that one’s religion is superior to the other is in itself an act of blasphemy.

Muslims live in North America, Europe, Australia and other non Muslim countries, but never have the education system in these countries ever tried to impose an alien religious subject on other children, nor have the Muslim children ever been brainwashed into believing that their religion is inferior to those of other religions. As a matter of fact all children in non-Muslims countries are taught the importance of national unity, patriotism, love for humanity & economic development of their respective countries.

Here in Pakistan Since the foundation of Pakistan special emphasis is given to Islamiyat (Islamic Studies) in all educational institutions from primary to under-graduate level. Diverse subject as Mathematics, Science, Geography, History and even language subject such as Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi have Islamic concoction in them. Alternative subjects such as Civics & Ethics are given little or no importance and even in these subjects, Islam is present. This is well and okay if all the students in Pakistan come from Islamic backgrounds – what happen to children from Christian backgrounds? What alternative subjects are taught to them that do not include Islam? I am afraid the answer to the above two questions is not positively reassuring.

Islamiyat is taught to Christian children from kindergarten to undergraduate level and when these children reach the upper level, they are reasonably brainwashed by then into believing that Islam is the only superior religion and that their belief in Jesus Christ or Christianity is wrong – Holy Bible has been amended and due to this fact it is no longer accurate and an inferior religion. Teachers also coax these Christian children (05 years old and above) to renounce Christianity & embrace Islam to redeem themselves from sin and teach them about a place in paradise. Our Christian children when at home pose serious & misinterpreted questions to their parents about the activities that took place in their respective school and begin to questions their faith creating an atmosphere of uncertainly, alienation & inferiority complex which later in life causes entrenched doubts about their religious conviction and even a switch to Islam, based on the earlier misinterpreted version imparted by their Islamiyat teachers. It is no secret that these Islamiyat teachers are in fact aggressively promoting Islam with the tacit approval of their respective educational hierarchy, which in turn is taking their instructions from the Government of Pakistan. Is this approach correct?

Let’s take another example. There was a hue & cry in France and other European Countries about the issue of Muslim female students not allowed wearing the scarf while in school. The Government of France made it amply clear that all students in France must all follow the rule & regulations and that the dress code did not include religious insignia or restrictions. The point is that extremists prefer to adhere to their religious values in non –Muslim countries but force Islamic value to non-Muslims in their own countries. Why the double standard? According to the constitution of Pakistan, every citizen is equal in the eyes of the state. Holy Quran explicitly forbids Muslims from discriminating against other religions & non-Muslims and clearly instructs Muslims to treat non-Muslims better than they would their own kind. Islam also preaches that all men are equal and that tolerance towards non-Muslims should be happily accepted by Muslims. Why then the unnecessary discrimination? Pakistani Government boasts about the rising number of coverts to Islam in the non-Muslim world but in almost all existing Muslim countries, other religions are not allowed to flourish, instead other religions are demonized. Since the foundation of Pakistan, the government is busy in preaching Islam. Muslim Fundamentalists and extremists never provide a level playing field and usually resort to unethical & provocative methods to inflict physiological torture on non- Muslims in their countries.

Religion can never be forced onto others, we the Christians in Pakistan are guaranteed religious freedom both by the constitution of Pakistan as well as the United Nations (Pakistan is a veteran member of the United Nations) but this guarantee only exists on paper- the reverse is actually applicable.

To compound problems Islamiyat is taught in the Arabic language – once again an alien and irrelevant language both for Muslim & Christian students alike, whom face extreme difficulty in comprehending this language. Then there are a few schools that teach civics or Ethics instead of Islamiyat but it becomes difficult for children whom are studying these particular subjects to successfully pass their examinations because there are no teachers of Ethics. Besides the books of Ethics cannot be found anywhere in the market. Moreover the books of Ethics are full of Islamic Studies and are against Christianity. This is another hand testing method adopted by the educators into compelling students from opting out of Civics/ Ethics in favor of Islamiyat.

Interestingly enough Christian students, who complete Islamiyat examinations, are given good grades, even though they may not have made a serious attempt to pass.

Peace Worldwide strongly urges the Government both at Federal & Provincial level to cease teaching Islamiyat to Christians, instead appoint teachers from Christian background to teach Christianity to Christian students. This will improve the unemployment situation for the Christians, create an atmosphere of tolerance and brotherhood and will give Christians a sense of security – sorely missing in Pakistan.

We the Christians of Pakistan applauds the Government into allowing Aga Khan Board to be established; similarly we recommended that a Christian Board to be created to facilitate children from Christian background.

Forcibly eradicating other religious value & beliefs will only create an atmosphere of distrust, contempt, intolerance, discrimination & loss of self-esteem, a situation currently in existence here in Pakistan. Wake up Policy makers before it’s too late.


Hector Aleem
Chairman
Peace Worldwide
(NGO in Special Consultative Status
With the ECOSOC of the United Nations)


SCAM ???

Christians are facing discrimination in Pakistan since its inception, and then the tyranny of their own leaders who are not their true representatives but the supporters and promoters of their own parties. True and honest leaders of Christians are the ones who live among them and those who have social connections with their community i.e. Christians.

All parties including PPP, PML N and F and MQM have ignored Christian representatives while awarding their tickets for the reserved seats. They had given their tickets to those who have no or less social connections with Christians. The awards of tickets for reserved seats have become a business of political parties and millions of rupees are involved in this business. The ECP should ensure that the reserved seats list was prepared by parties on merit and the nominations reflected the population ratio of Christians. A committee should be constituted to probe this matter and a new list of candidates should be prepared.

Christians of Pakistan have suffered badly during these years due to unfair practices relating to their representation in the elected houses. Many candidates could not get into the elected houses because they do not have money to buy party tickets. It is observed that usually tickets for reserved seats are given to some particular Christians. Akram Gill, who have been selected as a MNA for 10 years and Shahbaz Bhatti whose so called party have always promoted its own MNAs and now his imported brother who is imposed on Christians, does not have any social connection with Christians neither he know anything about their problems and issues. How can a representative who got his Computerised National Identification Card after 37 years on his return from Italy understand the issues of Christians? This leads us to think that only those candidates can get the party tickets who are rich enough to buy one.

Big populations of Christians is still poor and failed to get their pressing issues resolved during these years and are still facing discrimination in educational and health sectors as well as other fields only because the minority lawmakers were not their true representatives, even constitutional rights of Christians could not be given to them.

Christians should be given dual voting right so that they could get reserved seats in addition to general seats. All political parties of Pakistan have ignored the majority segment of Christians to as their handpicked candidates from their own parties and this selection process keeps them absolutely unaware of the real issues of Christians because they know that they are not the one who has selected them.