Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) – There is also a Muslim, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada at the top of the Ministry for Religious Minorities, in which the government in recent days has given the new, permanent structure, after the murder of the Catholic Shabhaz Bhatti (see Fides 05/03/2011). With a last minute sudden reversal, Pirzada, lawyer of the Punjab and a member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q "- formation which has just joined the government - received the delegation for the Ministry of Minorities in the new government that emerged from the reshuffle. The lawyer will deal with economic and administrative issues, while Paul Bhatti, Special Adviser for Minorities, will be responsible for international relations. Next to them, another Catholic lawyer was co-opted as Deputy, Akrama Gill, who also belongs to the League-Q.
The choice of a Muslim leader at the helm of the Ministry was not well digested by the minorities in Pakistan, although in the past - before Shabaz Bhatti - the post was in the hands of Muslims. According to observers, the delegation was assigned to Pirzada for political reasons and because of the tensions that are already registered on the newly formed alliance between Pakistan People's Party (the relative majority party, which the President and Premier express ) and League-Q. The agreement already seems to creak: Pirzada had threatened to leave the government unless he received a delegation of Federal Minister and was satisfied; a group of senators of League-Q did not agree with the choice of the party and remained in opposition; after the oath, the new Ministers of the League-Q expressed open dissatisfaction for the lack of political significance of the seats occupied in the federal cabinet.
"The position which was Shabhaz Bhatti`s was in fact broken up into three parts - a source of Fides observes in the Christian community -. It is an operation which will create dispersion in the work. It is also unlikely that a Muslim can truly protect the rights of minorities, ignoring many of the issues and dynamics within communities. The choice leads to a weakening of the protection of minorities in the country, and was carried out only for reasons of political opportunism, to give a position. We will see how and if the government in this phase of maximum social and religious tension, will be able to protect our rights. " (PA) (Agenzia Fides 05/05/2011)
