The Catholic Church in Pakistan has issued the following press release to protest against the illegal destruction of its property in the Punjab. Further information here
Press Release
Destruction of Church Property by the Punjab Government in Lahore
The Catholic Church is
again shocked to experience the illegal capture and destruction of its property
by the Government of the Punjab, Pakistan. This property is more
than 18 Sq. Kanals worth Hundreds of Millions of Rupees and is situated at main
Allama Iqbal Road.
The Catholic Church used
to run a Sewing Centre that used to provide sewing skills for the girls of the
adjoining areas. Three Catholic families were residing in that campus. Earlier,
even the Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary and Franciscan Tertiary Sisters
of Lahore used to reside there. This property was registered in the name of
Lahore Charitable Association and was being taken care by the Caritas Pakistan
Lahore.
Not only the Catholics or
other Christians but even the Muslims of the surrounding areas know that this
property belonged the church.
In the present days, Fr.
Emmanuel Yousaf Mani (Director of National Catholic Justice & Peace
Commission, Pakistan)
was dealing the court cases in this regard.
The Government of the
Punjab, Pakistan
launched this illegal action on the 10th January 2012. They even did
not allow the residents to take their belonging out of their rooms. Normally
governments provide safety to the people especially the minorities in every
country. Ours is the different case. The rule in our country is “Might is
Right”.
We are astonished to note
that the Pakistani media in general has not given proper reporting of this
illegal action by the Government of the Punjab, Pakistan against the minorities.
They are supposed to safe guard the lives, rights, respect and the properties
but they themselves are Grambling and using illegal means against the
minorities. We strongly condemn their lawless action.
The Catholic Church in Pakistan makes
a special appeal to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to intervene and give us our
property back.
The Church has given a
call for the peaceful protest and prayer to take place on 16th
January 2012 at 12:00 noon. We make an appeal to the international media to highlight
our cause of struggle and give coverage to our protests to get back our
property.
Fr. Nadeem John Shakir
Executive Secretary,
National Catholic
Commission of Social Communications Pakistan,
Lahore, Pakistan.