No equal rights for Christians in Islamic Republic of Pakistan
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (Worthy News)– The president of Pakistan’s Christian Congress said Christians don’t have equal rights despite claims to the contrary made by Pakistan’s prime minister before the UN General Assembly Friday, according to the Pakistan Christian Post.
President Nazir Bhatti said that whenever Prime Minister Mian Sharif comes to power, violence against Christians rises.
Bhatti said that Pakistani Christians are still treated like second class citizens: Christians can’t elect representatives to parliament by their own votes and Christian youth don’t have equal opportunities for jobs, or higher education admissions; if these are examples of equal rights for minorities, then equal rights in Pakistan is a mockery.
In his address to the General Assembly, Premier Sharif had demanded rights for Palestinians, but Sharif’s speech fell far short of addressing Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws, which are the root cause of violence against Pakistan’s minority communities.
Bhatti said that the repeal of the nation’s blasphemy laws and the right to elect Christian representation in both the Provincial Assemblies and the National Assembly through Christian votes would be only the first step towards equal rights for all religious minorities in Pakistan.