Aug 22, 2007 / 09:10 am
Father Emmanuel Asi, secretary of the Biblical Commission of Pakistan, denounced this week that Christians in that country are experiencing “social discrimination, political oppression and religious persecution.”
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, Father Asi explained that Christians in Pakistan are considered second-class citizens who are denied the most basic of human rights.
Father Asi made his comments as the 60th anniversary of the creation of Pakistan was marked on August 14. In his opinion, the ideal of the “father of the Pakistani nation,” Ali Jinnah, has faded and the openness to others without discrimination which he championed no longer exists.
He went on to note that aggression against Christians for religious reasons leads to “all kinds of problems one can imagine,” and thus many believers live in fear.