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'Christians considered Westerners despite contribution to nation building'
Christians are considered 'Westerners' in Pakistan despite their efforts in the country's independence movement and nation building, said Community Development Initiatives (CDI) Executive Director Asif Aqeel at a seminar on Friday.
Aqeel said that about 90 percent of Christians had converted from the lowest stratum of the Hindu society, called the scheduled caste in the middle of the 19th century. He said, "It is also an interesting fact that these Christians are aboriginals and the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilisation. It was the Aryan conquest that brought these people to the status where they were considered untouchables." Keeping this heritage in mind, he said, Pakistani Muslims should understand that their fellow Christian countrymen had nothing to do with the West. He lamented that after 9/11, churches and Christian schools had been targeted. "More than 20 Christians were abducted in Peshawar recently during worship." At the time of independence, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah met Christian leader Chandu Lal to get the minorities' support for Pakistan. Chandu Lal assured Jinnah of the Christian community's support, Aqeel said. He further said Christians had supported democracy because it was the only way to transform Pakistan in accordance with Jinnah's ideals. He said the Quaid had envisioned a state where people were not discriminated on the basis of their caste, colour, creed or gender. Dr Dubash said that nations could not grow without education and if they focused on education, they became indispensable. He added that Pakistanis should focus on learning the English language because it had become the lingua franca. Posted by: Fred 2008-07-26 |
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