Thursday, June 30, 2005
Religious freedom in Pakistan?
Karachi (AsiaNews) – Pakistani police have raided a bookshop run by Catholic sisters in the wake of publication of unfounded accusations leveled against the local Christian community. The raid took place in Saddar near Karachi on 13 June: police officers raided the library of the Daughters of St Paul and confiscated merchandise on sale. The police kept a shop salesman for more than 24 hours for questioning while the sisters were intimidated.
The raid came after an article appeared in a national Urdu daily and accusations by Islamic extremists. On 12 June, the Nawa-I-Waqt newspaper denounced the sale in open markets by Christians of audio and video tapes about the lives of the prophets. The article claimed that some CDs amounted to character assassination of the prophets. The daily reported also reactions of Muslims clerics to the news; these not only issued a fatwa but called for the opening of a blasphemy case.
The journalist who penned the article then indulged in mistaken conclusions and interpretations about the figure of St Paul and the films sold, all products – according to the author – of a Jewish company. He even underlined that St Paul was a devout Jew dedicated to the persecution of Christ and Christians.
Mgr Evarist Pinto, archbishop of Karachi, told AsiaNews this was a "grave" matter and it would be taken up with the Minister for the Interior.
Fr Arthur Charles of the archdiocese of Karachi said on 12 June at 2am at night, the police had already tried to enter the sisters’ convent of the Daughters of St Paul, but they were stopped by the security guard who did not allow them to enter at that hour of night. “The following day, the police went to the library, they shut some clients and sisters there and started to search through material, searching for CDs and videos”.
The Karachi archdiocese has issued a statement condemning the police incursion and the false accusations leveled against the library of the Daughters of St Paul: "The June publication of unfounded news in a small Urdu-language newspaper has deeply hurt the feelings of Pakistani Christians and damages the cause of dialogue and solidarity among Christians and Muslims in the country."
The raid came after an article appeared in a national Urdu daily and accusations by Islamic extremists. On 12 June, the Nawa-I-Waqt newspaper denounced the sale in open markets by Christians of audio and video tapes about the lives of the prophets. The article claimed that some CDs amounted to character assassination of the prophets. The daily reported also reactions of Muslims clerics to the news; these not only issued a fatwa but called for the opening of a blasphemy case.
The journalist who penned the article then indulged in mistaken conclusions and interpretations about the figure of St Paul and the films sold, all products – according to the author – of a Jewish company. He even underlined that St Paul was a devout Jew dedicated to the persecution of Christ and Christians.
Mgr Evarist Pinto, archbishop of Karachi, told AsiaNews this was a "grave" matter and it would be taken up with the Minister for the Interior.
Fr Arthur Charles of the archdiocese of Karachi said on 12 June at 2am at night, the police had already tried to enter the sisters’ convent of the Daughters of St Paul, but they were stopped by the security guard who did not allow them to enter at that hour of night. “The following day, the police went to the library, they shut some clients and sisters there and started to search through material, searching for CDs and videos”.
The Karachi archdiocese has issued a statement condemning the police incursion and the false accusations leveled against the library of the Daughters of St Paul: "The June publication of unfounded news in a small Urdu-language newspaper has deeply hurt the feelings of Pakistani Christians and damages the cause of dialogue and solidarity among Christians and Muslims in the country."
