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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani Christians ask Imran Khan to scrap 25th Dec rally |
| 2011-11-25 |
| [Dawn] A Christian rights group in Pakistain on Thursday urged cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... to scrap a major rally planned for Christmas Day, calling the move insensitive to the minority group. Khan set Pakistain alight and surprised critics last month by drawing tens of thousands of people to a rally in his hometown of Lahore, transforming overnight from a wannabe to potential kingmaker in polls expected next year. He now hopes to top that success with a rally in Bloody Karachi, Pakistain's largest city, on December 25, which holds special significance as the birthday of the country's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and a public holiday. But in an open letter, the Centre for Human Rights Education called on Khan to change the date and send a positive message to persecuted minorities that he would work to reverse decades of discrimination. "Arranging a rally on Christmas Day shows they are not sensitive to the Christian community," said Samson Salamat, director of the Lahore-based group and a Christian human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... activist. "This is an important day for us and it is our basic right that we should be given respect," he told AFP. Arif Alvi, secretary general of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) told AFP the party would "consider the suggestion" but said it would hamper preparations to change the date. "We will cooperate with the Christian community and facilitate their celebration of Christmas. We will also provide them transport, if they contact us, for Christmas celebrations or to attend our rally," he said. But Michael Javed, a Christian community leader in Bloody Karachi, dismissed any problem, saying that Christmas rituals would be largely completed before the rally gets underway in the evening of December 25. There is a tiny Christian minority in Pakistain, where only three per cent of the population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Mohammedan and where the Vatican has said Christians are often victims of violence and discrimination. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 There is a tiny Christian minority in Pakistain, where only three per cent of the population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Mohammedan and where the Vatican has said Christians are often victims of violence and discrimination. India/anywhere else bar Saudi would be safer! |
| Posted by: Paul 2011-11-25 12:22 |
| #1 Pak muz accomodating religious minorities? Can't happen. |
| Posted by: Shomonter Crasing4122 2011-11-25 04:11 |