Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - The Federal Ministry for religious minorities - which was the seat of the murdered Catholic minister Shahbaz Bhatti - is likely to be abolished by the central government and fragmented into four "ministries on a provincial level”. This is what Fides learned from Christian sources in Pakistan. There is a rumour around, confirmed by sources in the Pakistani politics, circulating in the government environment. The Ministry may be divided up and undergo decentralization, with the presence of four regional managers, one for each province: Punjab, Sindh, Beluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
"It would certainly not be good news for religious minorities”, observe the sources of Fides, as this will remove from the central government decisions on sensitive issues affecting the rights of minorities, already discriminated and oppressed in Pakistan. With regards to abolition and decentralization, the authoritative sources of Fides remember that the late Minister Bhatti always opposed, and had a very clear idea how the presence of a Federal Ministry was a necessary tool to protect the rights of minorities throughout the country and to prevent that persecutions could prevail in the general silence of the institutions and the public opinion.
As reported to Fides, the Christian communities intend to mobilize on a national and international level, to ensure that this does not happen. In this context even the role of Paul Bhatti, brother of the murdered minister and current Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Minority Affairs, "would be trimmed down and with no power, assuming a rather formal function and not essential”, observe alarmed sources of Fides.
The same sources reveal that in February, when the Pakistani government was on the point of operating a cabinet reshuffle and the Federal Ministry for Minority risked to be abolished, Shahbaz Bhatti went to the United States and had the support of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After pressure from the U.S.A, the Pakistani government confirmed, with an unpopular measure, the seat of Bhatti.
The news created an uproar more so after the recent incidents of violence against Christian girls (Fides 29/4/2011 and 04/13/2011) and after the denunciation of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan which in its recent report highlighted the deterioration in the respect for human rights and protection of minorities in the country (Fides 15/4/2011).
Meanwhile, as reported to Fides, in Pakistan, the "Shahbaz Bhatti Foundation" is born, on the initiative of his brother Paul and other Christian leaders, with the aim to keep alive the memory of the Minister and to continue his mission, on a national and international level, for the rights of Christians and minorities in Pakistan. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 04/29/2011)
