Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Clement Bhatti stated on January 3 while talking to a delegation comprising Lord Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester & Bishop Azad Marshal, Bishop of Middle East that minorities are enjoying equal opportunities. The statement came two days after two Churches were attacked in Karachi, Pakistan. Here is the link to the story published by Assist News Service on January 4, 2009 http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09010020.htm Neither the minister nor his cronies bothered to take calls from the panic-stricken Christians nor could they take any action to redress grievances of the poor Christian residents of Karachi. The minister preferred to maintain silence during and after protest. One could conveniently say that the power-hungry minister and his minions sealed their lips on the issue, fearing that any statement in favour of protesting Christian might not evict them from the corridors of power. By demonstrating a cold and callous attitude the Minister acted no different than his predecessors, who only proved to be excellent spokesmen of their respective governments instead of openly speaking against the incidents of persecution with persecuted and marginalized Christians of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. That the statement comes from a man who in the past has been claiming to champion the cause of persecuted Church in Pakistan is shocking beyond belief. Shahbaz Clement Bhatti started his so-called struggle for minorities' rights in 1985 from the platform of Christian Liberation Front (CLF), which was later renamed as All Pakistan Minorities Alliance with no other reason but to get funding from donors across the world because they had objected to the word "liberation". The controversial statement has not only hurt the sentiments of Pakistani Christians but they have also raised questions on the credibility of the Federal Minister but also weakened the cause of Pakistani Christians in the eyes of international community. Why would they ever lobby for Christians when a federal minister makes a media statement that minorities are enjoying equal opportunities? It is an absurd statement by all accounts because how come the situation of minorities could change overnight. Do Christians in Pakistan no longer live under the scare of Pakistan blasphemy laws? Have Pakistani Islamist organizations ceased to operate from Pakistan and from abroad? Have attacks on churches and other worship places of other religious minorities stopped? Have incidents of forced conversions ceased to happen? Is the witness of woman considered equal to that of a man? Have Muslims stopped forcible conversion of non-Muslim women by taking advantage of Islamic law? Have Muslim employers started inducting talented minority men and women without taking into consideration religion factor? Do extra-judicial killings of blasphemy accused and other Christian prisoners have stopped or can they ever stop in face of militancy and intolerance? Have the courts started appointing Christian lawyers as judges of High Court and Supreme Court? Does faith not hinder promotion of non-Muslims gazetted officers? Have they removed bias from curriculum taught in educational institution of Pakistan? The list of injustices against Pakistani minorities is unending. The minister keeps mentioning things that still have to see the light of the day. These include promised increase of minority seats in national and provincial assemblies, announcement on allocation of five seats in Senate, the upper house of parliament and official celebration of religious festivals of the religious minorities of Pakistan. Given the soaring persecution, intolerance, absence of interfaith harmony, absence of social and economic justice, third-rate treatment meted out to Pakistani minorities, it would be absolutely wrong to say that minorities are enjoying equal rights even though the miniscule package announced by Pakistan Peoples Party government was delivered to Pakistani religious minorities. Ideally, the Christians of Pakistan would like Shahbaz Clement Bhatti to use his powers with the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to get all discriminatory laws including Pakistan's disputed and most abused law, Pakistan Blasphemy Law. The less-privileged minorities expect of Mr. Shahbaz to ensure that the personal laws of minorities are not violated. Pakistani Christians desperately want to ask the so-called champion of Pakistani minorities, Shahbaz Clement Bhatti as to what progress he has made on repeal of blasphemy laws? If the laws are not repealed when Pakistani Christians have a minister in cabinet then the laws would remain there for ever. Shahbaz has been promoting himself by speaking against these laws all these years but now when he is part of Pakistan Peoples Party government he does not even mention about discriminatory laws? Have the "Black Laws" of the old days become "White Laws" for him today? Let's not forget the history, the former state minister for minorities Peter John Sohtra, who was one of the signatories of the blasphemy laws, and other Christian members of parliament of that regime, who stated that the laws would cause no harm to Pakistani minorities. It is interesting to note that the same former leaders-- ministers and MPs of the then regime took asylum under blasphemy laws in western countries after they were no longer in the government. A close study of the person of Shahbaz Clement Bhatti reveals that he never launched struggle for minorities but it was a struggle to promote his person, family members and relatives. Pakistan Christian Post did a wonderful job by letting Pakistani Christians know as to how his brother, Peter Bhatti in Toronto, Canada is collecting money by using the name of suffering minorities from the platform of a Christian organization. According to a well-thought scheme of family promotion Shahbaz manipulated his international contacts to get Peter settled in Canada so that he could do fund raising for him and for Bhatti family. Shahbaz Clement Bhatti exhausted all his resources and contacts to get his elder brother settled in Italy, who is acting no different than Peter Bhatti. Let's talk about another brother of Shahbaz Bhatti called Sikander Bhatti, who is rolling in wealth because of the government contracts that he gets with the help of Shahbaz Clement Bhatti. It would be any difficult for readers to understand that only Bhatti family is the beneficiary of the international as well as domestic network. Matter of serious concern: The story of CLF turned APMA is an open secret now, however, the Christian religious leaders who have been supporting Shahbaz Clement Bhatti and his "Personal and Family Promotion Project," also have a share in keeping Pakistani Christians and religious minorities in the dark. Why is it that none of the Christian leaders disputed Clement Shahbaz Bhatti's statement? They are not making any statement as they are not personally facing any discrimination. None of them gave any statement in electronic or print media. Have they given a call of prayer in the churches so that God could direct Clement Shahbaz Bhatti to change his ways and start speaking for the rights of Pakistani minorities instead of praising government all the time. Controversial statement of Federal Minster of Minorities Daily Mail http://dailymailnews.com/200901/04/news/dmcitypage02.html Daily Times http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C01%5C04%5Cstory_4-1-2009_pg7_23 Pakistan Observer http://www.pakobserver.net/200901/04/news/islamabad01.asp Why Voice of Martyrs alienated itself from Shahbaz Clement Bhatti? To know more click the links below: http://persecutedchurch.blogspot.com/2009/01/letter-to-shahbaz-bhatti.html http://persecutedchurch.blogspot.com/2009/01/bhatti-taken-out-of-context.html