Thursday, November 14, 2019
The fight for Christianity in Pakistan
Two years after fleeing to the United States, Lakeland resident Junaid Saqib is lobbying American politicians to support the protection of religious minorities in his home country of Pakistan.
Junaid Saqib’s political activities put his life in danger in his native Pakistan.
Two years after fleeing to the United States, Saqib is lobbying American politicians to support the protection of religious minorities in Pakistan. Saqib said he and other Christians in his home country faced discrimination, violence and restrictions on holding office.
Saqib, 35, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with some members of Congress as well as congressional staff members. He urged them to put pressure on Pakistan’s government to allow full equality and protection for Christians, who make up less than 2 percent of the country’s population.
Pakistan’s population of 208 million is about 96 percent Muslim, according to a U.S. State Department report.
“We discussed how it’s dangerous for Pakistani Christians to collaborate (with Muslims),” Saqib said of his meetings in Washington. “When you try to collaborate with people in Pakistan, you have fear inside because of the blasphemy law and the discrimination laws. They are so fearful of religious fanatics and cannot express their views openly.”
Saqib has been living in Lakeland since 2017, apart from his family, including daughters ages 4 and 7. He communicates with the girls daily through phone calls and video chats.
As Saqib met with a reporter on a recent morning, he received successive calls from each of his daughters. He briefly chatted in Urdu and promised to call the girls back.
Saqib said he became politically active as a student, and he founded the group Pakistan Minority Rights Commission. He still runs the organization, conducting phone calls and video chats through the night from his home in North Lakeland. (Pakistan is 10 hours ahead.)
Beneficial timing?
Recent news reports suggest Saqib’s timing might be good in renewing his effort to lobby American lawmakers. Politico reported that aides to President Donald Trump are developing plans to make foreign aid dependent on each country’s treatment of religious minorities.
White House officials said the plan is in the early stages, and it isn’t clear if the policy would cover military aid, Politico reported. In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September, Trump vowed to emphasize the promotion of religious freedom.
The United States provided about $837 million in aid to Pakistan in 2017, according to figures from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The majority of that was military aid.
Based on what he hears from friends and colleagues, Saqib said the plight of Christians in Pakistan has only worsened since he left the country.
“Since I moved, I have lost several political friends in Pakistan who were running campaigns with me for Congress, but now they are no more,” Saqib said.
He said the friends were killed at public rallies and meetings in targeted killings and suicide bombings.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Pakistan in November 2018 as a “Country of Particular Concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. A State Department spokesperson said the agency is particularly concerned about the use of blasphemy laws and abuses against members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and other religious minorities.
In its 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom, the State Department cited reports of at least 77 Pakistani residents imprisoned on blasphemy charges, with at least 28 receiving death sentences. The report said Pakistan’s government had not yet carried out an execution for blasphemy.
The report described cases of Christian women being abducted and raped by Muslim men and said victims were chosen as vulnerable because of their religious identity. Saqib said it is difficult for Christians to convince the authorities to bring charges in such crimes unless they can convince a Muslim citizen to serve as a witness.
The government report also said activists claim “widespread discrimination” against Christians in private employment.
Seeking connections
Saqib said the office of Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, helped arrange his meetings with members of Congress and staff members when he visited Washington in late September.
“Mr. Saqib reached out to me and my team with some real needs facing real people,” Spano said in an emailed statement. “Here in the United States where the freedom to worship is protected by the Constitution, it is sometimes hard to imagine the depth of persecution the Church around the world faces on a daily basis. I was happy to refer him to my colleagues and several nonprofits who work directly with these issues with the hope that they could find solutions for these unjust practices.”
Saqib said he met briefly with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and had a more extended conversation with Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-New Port Richey. He said he also talked to staffers for Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, and Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.
Saqib said he also gave an interview to Voice of America, the government-funded broadcaster, while he was in Washington.
Saqib said he told those he met in Washington about the threat of forced conversion to Islam faced by Christians in Pakistan. He also described government hostility toward Christian schools.
As an example, Saqib cited Edwardes College in Peshawar, a Christian institution founded in 1900 in what was then British India. He said the government nationalized the private college earlier this year, prompting demonstrations throughout the country.
Saqib said the Pakistan Minority Rights Commission has provided free legal services to the college. The PMRC has an executive board of about 500 and about 50,000 supporters, he said.
Among its other activities, the PMRC seeks changes in political representation. Pakistan’s constitution designates a small number of seats in Parliament for non-Muslims, and only Muslims are eligible to be president or prime minister.
“We love our country, Pakistan,” Saqib said. “We don’t hate it, but we need equal rights. We want them to treat Christians as equal citizens. We don’t have any conflict with the government, but if the government wants to make conflict with minorities then definitely we are stakeholders and we will fight for our rights.”
Saqib said he also urged the elected officials to lobby for an increase in the number of Pakistani Christians given asylum each year to enter the United States. Meanwhile, he seeks to form alliances with churches and business groups to support Pakistani exiles already in the country.
“They are facing the same huge difficulties when they come here,” he said. “They don’t know how to apply for asylum, and asylum is so expensive. And they don’t have health insurance, so life is very difficult for them here. I want churches to stand up for them and approach me — or organizations — and I can assist them culturally (on) how to help them.”
Pakistan - Sit-in: a comparison
Saleem Safi
Polybius, the Greek historian, propagated the notion of historic recurrence and the historic cycle of striking similarities. In other words, he believed that history repeats itself. However, his soul would be restless to see the repetition of political history and events in such a short span of five years in Islamabad.In 2014, Imran Khan marched over Islamabad and staged a sit-in at D-Chowk to protest alleged rigging in the 2013 election. Today after five years, Maulana Fazlur Rehman is leading a sit-in for the same reasons – rigging in the 2018 elections. Imran Khan stood on a container demanding the then prime minister’s resignation. Maulana too has a container and the same demand. In 2014, when Imran Khan was assaulting the capital with protest, Pakistan was facing daunting challenges on the national and international fronts. Internally, terrorism was playing havoc with deadly suicide bombings on a daily basis. Military operations had been launched in North Waziristan resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands Pashtuns. Externally, relations with India and the US were strained. However, in such a testing time, the Chinese president was coming to Pakistan to inaugurate the CPEC project. Unfortunately, this historic visit was postponed due to Imran Khan’s sit-in. Similarly, today in 2019, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has come to Islamabad with his highly charged but well disciplined followers at a time when the Jammu and Kashmir issue has become a tragedy and the Afghanistan issue has entered a decisive stage. On this account, it seems that there is no difference between Imran Khan and Maulana’s politics and sit-ins. However, in some respects, there are glaring differences between the 2014 and 2019 sit-ins. First, Imran Khan's sit-in was legal as long as it remained at Abpara Chowk, since it was permitted by the then government. But it became illegal after moving ahead towards D-chowk by breaking its promise. Maulana's sit-in is democratic and legal as long as they stay at H-9 Park and do not break the agreement which they have respected so far. Second, police officers were assaulted and government officials were threatened during Imran Khan's sit-in but nothing such has happened yet in Maulana's sit-in. Third, in Imran Khan’s sit-in the sanctity of state institutions was violated with impunity: dirty clothes were hung in the premises of the honourable Supreme Court, and parliament and the PTV center were attacked. But in Maulana’s sit-in, nothing of the sort has happened yet. Fourth, Imran Khan’s sit-in did not even spare the media. They pelted the Geo office with stones and misbehaved with female journalists like Sana Mirza and Farhat Javed. But in Maulana's sit-in we have seen touching scenes of a female reporter who is reporting in the rain while Maulana’s supporter is holding his own umbrella over her to protect her from the rain. Moreover, Imran Khan's sit-in split the media while Maulana's sit-in helped, albeit for some time, with a slight decline in media censorship. Fifth, Imran Khan's sit-in was widely alleged to be a scripted show and fingers were also raised towards the umpire but Maulana's sit-in is free from such allegations and impression – and in some aspects has even been seen as the opposite. Sixth, Imran Khan's sit-in was dominated by the middle class, mainly from central Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Maulana's sit-in has brought the poorest class of society from KP, Balochistan, Sindh and the Seraiki Belt. However, there is no meaningful participation from Central Punjab. Similarly, Imran Khan was seen on the container along with citizens of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, but there is no one of dual nationality on the container with Maulana. Seventh, Imran Khan’s sit-in was more like a party with full entertainment for participants. But nothing of that sort is happening in Maulana's sit-in. Only poems and Naats are being played. Except for Eid, there were no congregation prayers in Imran Khan’s sit-in, but in Maulana's sit-in prayers are held five times a day on a daily basis.Eight, the Imran Khan sit-in was a single political party show and there were no leaders of other opposition parties with Imran Khan. Even the Chaudhry brothers, who supported the sit-in, used to go stand with Tahirul Qadri – the imported political cousin of Imran Khan. Ninth, no opposition parties – like the PPP, ANP and the MQM – supported Imran Khan's sit-in. On the contrary, opposition parties like the PPP and ANP backed the PML-N government despite their own grievances against the system. But now all of the opposition has stood with Maulana on the container and demanded the resignation of the government and fresh elections. Tenth, Imran Khan's sit-in benefited Musharraf and his successors and damaged the democratic forces. But Maulana's sit-in has been a great test for Musharraf's successors and rejuvenated the democratic forces. Last but not the least, the PML-N faced the main brunt of Imran Khan's sit-in but now the PML-N seems to be the main beneficiary of Maulana's sit-in. This is the difference which is visible between the two sit-ins. However, what hasn't changed is the stance of students of politics like us. In 2014, we accepted Imran Khan's right to protest but opposed the toppling of an elected government though coercion and sit-ins. Today, we also support Maulana's right to protest but strongly oppose any forced overthrow of the government. In 2014, we were requesting Imran Khan that, while he had a right to protest, he should not take the law into his hands. But he was not in the mood to listen. Now we make the same request to Maulana. He has listened so far. Let see what he does next. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/555310-sit-in-a-comparison
In Udta Pakistan, tomatoes selling at Rs 320/kg for everyone but Imran’s finance adviser
By NAILA INAYAT
Imran Khan’s finance adviser Hafeez Shaikh insists tomatoes are being sold at Rs 17/kg. He is in charge of Pakistan’s economic policy.
Pakistan has a tomato problem. Shortage of tomatoes has meant that it is being sold in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi for as high as Rs 320 per kg. It seems that in Imran Khan’s Pakistan, tomatoes have won the battle against the rising dollar, which is at Rs 156.
But not to worry, for Finance Adviser to the PM, Hafeez Shaikh, knows something that we don’t. He said that tamatars were available in the market for Rs 17 per kg. Wait, what? Then why did we buy them for Rs 320? Where did he get his tamatars from? And when did Shaikh last step out to go to the sabzi mandi? So many questions, so few tomatoes.
“Karachi sabzi mandi mein…,” Shaikh started saying, when a shocked reporter interjected: “What, which sabzi mandi?” Shaikh told him to go and check it for himself and smiled. Then he said something about tracking the tomato rates on television – this is yet another remarkable quality of the Pakistan government, to find out about things from the TV. PM Imran Khan found out about the falling Pakistani Rupee after watching TV news.
#Pakistan #PPP - Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asks govt to stop playing with lives of political opponents
In a tweet on Wednesday, Bilawal said the way in which this regime plays with political opponents’ lives and exploits illness for their own pressure tactics and political objectives is disgusting.The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday said the government should stop playing with political opponents’ lives.
He stated that the government should stop politics on health and give all political prisoners medical facilities which the courts and law allow. The tweet of Bilawal came in the wake of government’s conditional permission to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the government’s alleged act of not giving access of private doctors to former president Asif Ali Zardari.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/555362-bilawal-asks-govt-to-stop-playing-with-lives-of-political-opponents
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