Christians are calling on Scottish Parliamentarians to engage in dialogue with the government of Pakistan to seek improvement in the current human rights of minorities living there.
In the wake of the latest suicide bomb attack at Gulshan Park on Easter Sunday, the twin suicide bomb attacks carried out by the Taliban last March in Youhanabad, and the devastation caused by a similar attack on a church in Peshawar they are demanding that the Scottish Parliament take Pakistan to task on this issue.
The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), in collaboration with the Scottish Asian Christian Fellowship, will be staging a protest this Saturday 9th April 2016, outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP from 3pm – 5pm.
“Pakistani Christians are in the midst of a genocide but their plight has been ignored by western nations, most of whom believe they are severely discriminated against, not persecuted,” said Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the BPCA.
“The Gulshan Park bomb attack evidences the targeting of Pakistani Christians by the Taliban. A chilling statement by the leader of Jamat ul Ahrar Ehsan Ulla Ehsan clearly sets this premise, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Seven hundred Christian girls are kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriage every year. Fifteen per cent of blasphemy allegations are laid against Christians yet they make up just 1.6 per cent of the population. Eighty-six per cent of Christians are working as domestic servants, sewage cleaners, (for which the government promotes Christian only applicants in a twisted sense of positive discrimination), or are in bonded labour which is nothing more than modern slavery.
“A male family member will have sacrificed his freedom and that of his children and their children for little more than a loan of £50 – usually to pay medical fees. Millions of Christians are locked in bonded labour despite it being outlawed since 1992.”
Picture: Members of Center For Human Right Education Pakistan hold earthen lamps during a demonstration to mark Human Rights Day 2015, on Thursday 10th December 2015 in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary).
