Human rights activists and political leaders in Pakistan are protesting the government's move to bar All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) leader, Clement Shahbaz Bhatti from traveling abroad, dubbing it a move to crush dissent in the country.
"The apparent reason is that we have highlighted the problems of all the minorities from the APMA platform," says Bhatti, who is also president of the Christian Liberation Front.
APMA represents Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Zoroastrians, who together constitute three per cent of the 147 million population of the Islamic Republic.
In a joint meeting Sunday, the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Christian Organizations for Social Action in Pakistan (COSAP) and APMA condemned what it called "the harassment of Clement Shahbaz Bhatti."
They alleged that Bhatti had been harassed by secret agents for the last one year, culminating in his name being included in the controversial Exit Control List (ECL), which prevents certain individuals from traveling abroad.
"If anything happens to Mr Bhatti, we shall hold the government responsible. We demand that all forms of harassment of the President APMA be stopped, and his name be removed from the ECL forthwith, failing which we reserve the right to seek any remedy we deem fit," they warned.
Bhatti had received a letter dated October 14 from the Interior Ministry informing him his name was on the ECL.
Federal interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, however, says this decision could have been taken on a complaint lodged by the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or any commercial bank. He says he can ascertain this by checking the records.
But the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), alleges that, "The same list has also been used in the past against political opponents, both by previous governments and the present set-up."
Currently, Bhatti is the only political activist on the list.
APMA has been demanding the repeal of discriminatory laws against minorities such as the Blasphemy and Hudood laws. The bid to restrict Bhatti's movements may be part of an officially devised policy, says the rights group.
Former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, Benazir Bhutto is demanding the government immediately remove Bhatti's name from the ECL.
She accuses the regime of wanting to silence voices being raised at international forums against "tyranny and injustice" in the country.
"Such tactics cannot silence the voice of justice and reason", she declares, asking her party leaders to raise the issue at all possible forums.
At the official level, interior minister Hayat says that if Bhatti thinks his name has been wrongly placed on the ECL, he should contact him. "If he still thinks injustice has been done, he should go to court. Many options are available to him," the minister adds.
APMA has been seeking protection for minorities, mostly Christians, often targeted by hardline Islamic groups in Pakistan.
In recent times, APMA termed as "religious terrorism" the murder of Catholic priest George Ibraheem in a church in Renala Khurd town of the northern Punjab province in July this year.
Catholic Archbishop of Lahore Rt Rev Lawrence Saldanha condemns such assaults in strong terms. "Coming hard on the heels of many previous savage attacks on Christians, Shias, Ahmedis and other religious minorities, we condemn these acts of terrorism in the strongest possible terms," he declares.
The HRCP's report for 2002 details the attacks using guns, grenades and bombs, sometimes wielded by suicide bombers, on churches or other targets.
The report says atleast 38 people, most of them Christians, were murdered in this way during the year.
"The attacks on Christians, both local and foreign, resulted in the community becoming the primary target of attacks by militant groups," the report concludes.
Bishop Ashaar Kamran of the southern Punjab city of Multan alleges that atleast 350 Christian women were abducted and forcibly married during the year. Very often they were divorced soon after their forcible conversion to Islam.
The HRCP has called for protection of the right of individuals to express their concerns, grievances and opinions. It has also reiterated its demand for the immediate scrapping of the ECL.
At the Sunday meeting, the minority bodies issued a statement saying, "We stand by our commitment of uniting the people of Pakistan as one nation without any bias to caste, color or creed. Our relentless efforts will continue towards making Pakistan a true democratic republic, where all
citizens will enjoy equal rights regardless of their religion, sect or ethnicity."
They pledged to continue struggling for the total repeal of all written and unwritten laws discriminating against minorities and women with the same zeal and gusto.
Incidentally, the authorities might have also been angered by APMA's support to Opposition political parties protesting Constitutional amendments by the government of President Pervez Musharraf under the Legal Framework Order.