Christians in Pakistan have been working to restore democracy in their country since the imposition of emergency rule on 3rd November by President Pervez Musharraf.
Last week, Pakistan’s Catholic Bishop’s Conference (PCBC) demanded that security measures used to arrest lawyers, journalists and rights activists be put to an end. Many of those arrested under the laws were Christians.
President Musharraf, who stepped down as head of the army yesterday, proclaimed the emergency on the grounds that it was necessary to fight extremist militants and control the judiciary.
Since the imposition of the emergency, however, over 5,000 activists have been arrested, and some suspect that it is not, as is claimed, to combat extremism, but rather to weaken political opposition to President Musharraf.
Last Friday the PCBC said, “People detained after the imposition of emergency [rule] must be released immediately and unconditionally,” reports Compass Direct.”
Peter Jacob of the Catholic Church’s National Comission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) said, “It is a very positive thing that Christians were part and parcel of this movement for democracy.”
Irfan Barkat from the NCJP and Nadeem Anthony, who works for the UN Special Rapporteur Asma Jahangir were arrested with 54 others for “illegal assembly” on 4 November, reports Compass Direct. The group was meeting at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s offices to discuss the newly imposed emergency rule.
The charges against them were eventually dropped.
