Holland: June 17, 2011. (PCP) Pak - Dutch Christian Community through Central Committee comprises upon Mr. Gulbaz Fazal, Mr. Johnson William, Mr. Nadeem K. Din, Mr. Parvez Iqbak under the chairmanship of Mr. Watson Gill has filed a petition to European Union appealing to repeal / ammend Blasphemy Laws and stop discriminating Christians in Pakistan. Petition re-produced hereunder as an update. Deputy Head of Unit – Desk Pakistan Directorate-General for External Relations European Commission, EU Parliament Building Brussels . Subject: PETITION TO REPEAL/AMMEND BLASPHEMY LAWS IN PAKISTAN We, the Pakistani Christian Diaspora in the Netherlands are greatly concerned over the treatment meted out to our brothers and sisters in Pakistan. Discrimination with Christians and other minorities takes place in social, legal, political, religious and economic spheres and other walks of life. Only recently, Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam (Samiul Haq group) (JUI-S) demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take suo motto notice of that portions of the Bible are extremely blasphemous. Abdul Rauf, a leader of JUI-S, demanded a total ban on the Bible as a blasphemous literature. A. Rauf further threatened that if the CJP would fail to take any action then the JUI-S would file a petition in the Supreme Court for this purpose and a panel of lawyer was already working on this. (reference) This news has shocked Pakistani Christians in the country and abroad. It is a systematic effort to deprive Christians of their identity. (reference) Systematic discriminatory treatment can be witnessed at every level. Much more it takes place at lower levels. A Christian, Naeem Nazeer son of Nazir Saroya, applied for the job of office boy with the Health Department in the city of Kasur , Punjab. Naeem applied for the job under two categories – 5 percent minority quota and son of an employee as his father was also an employee of the same department. Naeem was interviewed on March 16, 2010 for the job of office boy. However, the contract letter he received said that he was hired as a sweeper, the category in which he had never applied for. To rectify this extremely trifling illegality, the Minorities Affairs Minister Kamran Michael called the Health District Coordination Officer (D.C.O.) but to no avail. It shows how powerless are minority ministers and they are nothing more than showpieces. Finally, Naeem then took his case to the Lahore High Court (further detail to be added) and still the court hasn’t heard the case. Naeem Nazeer was given the job of sweeper because there is a sense in Pakistan that Christians should only work as sweepers, which is “the meanest and dirtiest occupation” in the Indian subcontinent. As the Pakistani Christian community, roughly makes up only 1.5 percent of the population, has roots in low caste, there is systematic effort to keep a maximum number of Christians in this dirty and humiliating occupation. The so-called 5 percent quota for minorities though in words applied to all jobs but in practice it is applied only to the job of sweeper. Even the government departments openly announce that only Christians can apply for the job of sweeper. On February 5, the Daily Express, Lahore edition, published a job advertisement from the government’s administrative department of Sheikhupura. The advertisement was for the job of a sweeper in scale 1, the lowest job scale. The eligibility criteria were “a person who can read and write, is healthy and the candidate must be Christian”. The Pakistani government successfully keeps the face of an Islamic state but it vehemently follows the caste based discrimination with Christians and low caste Hindus. There is also name calling of Christians in Pakistan on the basis of their origin in low caste. The Pakistani Christians are contemptuously they called “Chuhra”, a very offensive term of abuse. Its equivalent in English can be the n-word. India abolished caste based discrimination in 1950 and even the UK ’s Equality Act 2010 has criminalized this act in its clause 9. Pakistan has never even discussed how and why Christians and low caste Hindus are discriminated due to their caste origins while Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country. It may sound unfamiliar, but we can recall that Asia Bibi was implicated in a blasphemy case after a verbal clash broke out over touching water. Her fellow workers argued that she had ritually polluted the water as she belonged to the untouchable caste. (reference) Caste based untouchability, a tool used for segregation, is root cause of several blasphemy cases. In March 2010, Rubina Bibi was accused of blasphemy and she was sent to jail along with her one and a half months old baby she was nursing. An argument ensued after she asked the shopkeeper to return the oil she had bought. The shopkeeper argued that the oil had become paleet (ritually unclean) after poured into other bowl. (reference) Hence, rather than just focusing on the blasphemy laws and other discriminatory laws, there is also need to address the root causes like untouchability that prevails Pakistani culture, especially in the provinces of Sindh and the Punjab. Currently, it is only India that is internationally compelled to end caste based discrimination but not Pakistan . Along with this, there is need to address religious extremism and inefficacy of state institutions in providing safety to religious minorities and non-government institution that work for minorities. On June 1, 2011 the office of Community Development Initiate (CDI), an affiliate of European Centre for Law and Justice, was illegally raided by dozens of policemen for providing free legal assistance to the Christian families of Sheikhupura. The matter arose after a Muslim girl, Saliha Noreen, eloped with the Christian boy named Sajid Ashraf on May 13, 2011. Since then the Christian families were routinely harassed, assaulted, tortured and taken into illegal custody by the Muslim girl’s Gujjar caste members. On June 1, 2011 the Gujjars beat Christians in the Sessions Court of Sheikhupura in the court premises the presence of three police vehicles. In this all illegality, the local police of Saddar Police Station, Sheikhupura remained a close aide to the Gujjars. The Muslims also held Sajid Ashraf’s two unmarried sisters Rakhal Ashraf (25) and Mariam Ashraf (23) hostage for several days. So frightened that the girls could not dare to speak up their ordeal they had gone through. Several Christian leaders informed the District Police Officer of Sheikhupura about the ongoing tribulation the Christians of Sheikhupura going through but the police did not take any step to protect these poor Christians.(reference) When the CDI began providing legal assistance to these Christians, the Saddar Police Station reached in Lahore on June 1, 2011, broke the doors of the office and trespassed the building. The police also raided the house of CDI Field Officer Napoleon Qayyum and harassed his family. In most of the cases, as we have seen Sajid Ashraf’s case, the police prove a brutal force against the Christian community and it clearly sides with the Muslims. For example, on (date) City Police Station registered a blasphemy case against Saleem Masih in Chichawatani. (reference) The first information report, (numbered) clearly states that Masih was “addressing the stars” while using foul language against the sage of Islam. It clearly shows that even the complainant of the case was sure that Masih was mentally ill. Masih’s family provided prescription and medicine to the police to prove that he was mentally ill, but the police still filed a case against him and now Masih is in jail. Due to the communal tensions in the area, even a bail application has not yet been moved in the court because of the local Muslim clerics have warned the family of serious repercussions if they helped mentally ill Masih. This all is going on under the nose of the local police. Who can then stand for justice when the local police are part of problem rather than part of the solution? Lastly, the development process should be based on the principles of equity and justice. Again, there is systematic discrimination towards minorities in this process. Minority areas are deliberately ignored in development schemes. Hindu areas in the province of Sindh and Christian areas in the Punjab are comparatively underdeveloped. Often development schemes announced for the minority areas are not implemented and the funds are later diverted to the areas of Muslims. Christians have long been pointing out this injustice. On June 6, 2011 it was also pointed out in a very famous TV talk show, named Khari Baat with Lukhman, on Duniya TV news channel that a Christian colony, Yahounabad in Lahore, had a population around 100,000 but there not a single public school or health facility in this area. Hence, the (the person or agency to be given the letter) needs to make the Pakistani government accountable for structural discrimination present in state institutions. Pakistan should also be urged to end caste based discrimination which is still part of everyday life and it is supported by state machinery rather than being discouraged. The Pakistani government must take concrete steps to make its law enforcement mechanism work which actually becomes a tool in the hands of influential people of the area. We hope, top and main issues of persecution and discrimination with minorities will be highlighted to the Pakistani Government very soon with strong recommendations of fastest steps for repeal of BPLs or amendments in it to avoid its misuse especially against minorities and particularly against Christian living in Pakistan . With Kindest Regards, Gulbaz Fazal , Johnson William, Nadeem K. Din, Parvez Iqbal, Watson Gill. Central Committee, Pak – Dutch Christian Community.