Hundreds of angry Christian men and women gather in Lahore to protest the razing of a compound by LDA.
LAHORE: As hundreds of angry Christian men and women gathered on Monday to protest the demolition of a compound in Lahore, the city’s bishop has alleged Punjab Minorities Minister Kamran Michael of involvement in attacks on the minority community’s property.
Speaking to protesters, Right Reverend Dr Alexander John Malik, the bishop of Lahore, referred to an announcement that Michael had made but which hadn’t fallen through. “The Punjab government was to gift 1,500 square yards of land in the Garhi Shahu area to the church. The government has not even reached out to us yet.”
The bishop said that the protest will continue until the district land collector retracts his order, declaring the land as government property. The Catholic Church claims ownership of the land.
Until then, however, problems are aplenty for the families for whom Gosha-e-Aman, the institute that was razed to the ground by the Lahore Development Authority on January 10, was home.
Zanobia Richards, who works for the Catholic Church’s social arm Caritas Pakistan, said she felt as if she had no family to go to. “My home of 25 years was razed in front of my eyes at seven in the morning,” Richards, 61, told The Express Tribune.
“Everything we owned is under the rubble of the demolished building,” said a teacher Mariam Augustine, who had been living at the institute for 14 years with her husband and two daughters. “I had to buy new uniforms to send my girls to school today.”
Gosha-e-Aman, built at a compound sprawling over 8,093 square metres, included living quarters for two families as well as a sewing school for underprivileged women. The church claims that the property was registered in the name of Lahore Charitable Association, a board of the Catholic Church. A structure was built in 1887 and used to include a convent as well. However, last week, built structures on the compound were demolished and residents were not given so much as a warning to evacuate.
But for the aggrieved community, which has come together in protest, and protesters who had come to show support, land is not the core issue – it is the denial of rights. Protesters included representatives from 20 churches of Lahore and sisters from different convents stayed at the three-hour-long protest, carrying placards denouncing the demolition.
“This protest is not a matter of land for us but the violation of the rights of all minorities in this country,” said Father Morris Jalal of Saint Francis Church in Kot Lakhpat.
“I say this with immense regret that this is not Jinnah’s Pakistan,” said rights activist Shahtaj Qazalbash, of the Women’s Action Forum, in her address to the protesters.
“The Punjab government portrays itself as an anti-people administration at every step,” said Neelum Hussain from rights NGO Simorgh.
The incident also points to a greater problem of governance. The Lahore District Office had told The Express Tribune that the land is the government’s property but a woman belonging to the land mafia was illegally occupying the property with armed gunmen.
The claim was corroborated by residents, who they identified as Mahrukh Ali and said that she was from the mafia and even the church had been unable not make her leave the property. But, they said, the woman’s belongings were not bulldozed and the district officers allowed her to pack and leave the compound before it was razed.
Although it feels betrayed by the state, the community has approached the court to resolve the matter.
“The church has a stay order from a court,” Father Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, director of the National Commission of Justice and Peace, told The Express Tribune. He said that the Lahore Charitable Association and a number of other churches have filed a petition with the Lahore High Court against the demolition and possession of Gosha-e-Aman by the LDA. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah heard the case on Monday and has issued a notice to the Lahore district officer for January 17.
Source:http://tribune.com.pk/story/322368/christian-property-demolition-bishop-points-to-ministers-involvement/
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