Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - The Pakistani government is ready to abolish the Federal Ministry for Religious Minorities, fragmenting it into "divisions" that will be distributed in the Pakistani provinces. The responsibilities of the Ministry will be diverted, then, from the federal level to the provincial level, according to a plan of "devolution" that will touch other federal ministries.
As sources of Fides in Pakistani politics say, the measure, unless there are last-minute changes, will enter into force on 1 July and will mean "removing from the agenda of the central government issues related to minority rights", note sources of Fides in the Christian community, expressing disappointment and concern. "So this- sources of Fides continue - kills the late Minister Shabhaz Bhatti a second time: the first was his physical elimination, the second is to eliminate his project and his political legacy,on which he had dedicated so much time".
The project to eliminate a department that has become "uncomfortable" was already in the cabinet reshuffle announced in February 2011 (see Fides 07/02/2011), but then the clever move on behalf of Shabhaz Bhatti, who had obtained strong support from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had warded off that hypothesis, widely circulated even after the death of Bhatti (see Fides 29/4/2011).
The failure to mention the Ministry for minority groups in the 2011-2012 budget law presented by the government a month ago, which left it without funds giving it a purely decorative function(see Fides 06/04/2011), was - note Fides sources - the preparatory step to the final abolition of the Department by the federal cabinet.
The current Minister of State for Minorities (a kind of vice-minister), the Catholic Ackram Gill protested vociferously against the abolition: in recent days, Gill led a delegation of parliamentarians and politicians in an interview with Prime Minister Raza Gilani, and also organized a protest outside Parliament. The Permanent Committee of the Pakistani Parliament for Minority Affairs expressed strong opposition to the measure that will implement the decentralization. In recent days, Christians and Hindus organized press conferences and public meetings calling for a rethinking of the government. A priest from Lahore told Fides: "We are disappointed and saddened. Thus the rights of Christians will be put further into obscurity and disappear from the national political agenda. We will be even more helpless. For the fundamentalists this will be a 'green light' to new aggression, violence and persecution against Christians. " (PA) (Agenzia Fides 06/28/2011)
