ASIA/PAKISTAN - Church tells government: “No to religion in politics,” like Bangladesh

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - No to the use and abuse of religion in politics, which is the cause of many ills in the country and is a fact that generates misunderstanding and discrimination against religious minorities, is the request being sent by the Catholic Church to the Pakistani government in Islamabad. According to information gathered by Agenzia Fides, the President of the Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha, signed a document sent to the executive of Pakistan, calling on the Government to make "progress towards reform of the Constitution and legal system,” including addressing the delicate question of the presence of religion in politics.
The document was drafted by the Commission for Justice and Peace "at the Conference of Bishops, which for years has been leading a campaign against the political use of religion, exemplified by measures such as the" blasphemy law "or the electoral law, which divides voters according to their religious affiliation.
In the document, a copy of which was sent to Fides, Archbishop Saldanha said that "growing extremism in the country is one of the key issues in the abuse of religion in politics. Religion, in fact, is the main excuse in the hands of 'religious parties', who have played a key role in leading the country to this threshold.”
The Church refers to what happened recently in neighboring Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan, before its independence), where a verdict of the High Court ruled that the political arena will no longer admit parties that make explicit reference to religion. The ruling will force political parties to remove religion from their name and has led to protests by Islamic movements. "Pakistan should take example from Bangladesh and learn the lesson," the Church document emphasizes. "The affairs of state and politics must be treated independently and not under the flag of any religious belief," he says.
Indeed, the text notes, "a political system influenced by religion discriminates against minorities and their rights," while the Constitution may not be a "document that serves as guardian of a faith," as in the foundational Charter of Pakistan. The Constitution, which in Article 2 already proclaims Islam a "religion of state," was amended in 1985 by "undemocratic forces" with the addition of so-called "Objectivity Resolution," an attachment that has a strong imbalance in favor of the Islamic religion in the Charter.
In this campaign for the independence of politics and religion, the Church seeks the consent of the other minority religious communities and civil society, even in its segments Muslims. The aim is to revive these arguments in public, asking the government for constitutional reform and the abolition of all those laws that lead to religious discrimination among Pakistani citizens. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 19/01/2010)