Source: AsiaNews.it
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11920&size=A
The Church welcomes the new government of Pakistan that should be set up over the next hundred days, but is mindful that some important questions that concern the country have not yet been addressed. Reforms are needed to improve the human rights of Pakistani citizens, this according to a press statement released today by the National Commission for Justice and Peace and signed by the Archbishop of Lahore, Mgr Lawrence Saldanha, and its Secretary General Peter Jacob.
The prelate, who chairs the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, welcomes the new government’s desire to establish “the rule of law and justice”.
“We urge the government to remove discriminations and biases in education policy, substantive and personal laws and ensure affirmative action for the marginalized communities in employment and other economic opportunities,” he said.
Pakistani Catholics (about 1.2 million or 0.9 per cent of the population in a country that is 97 per cent Muslim) have complained for years that they suffer from unjust policies at both the national but especially provincial levels.