LAHORE:The civil society and Christian minority observed May 6 as a day of remembrance of self-sacrifice of Bishop John Joseph (1932-1998). He was the first Punjabi Catholic priest and the first Punjabi Bishop of Diocese of Faisalabad, who took his life in protest in front of the Sahiwal court, which had passed death sentence for a young man Ayub Masih on May 6, 1998.
The organisers of the memorial seminar eulogised efforts of Bishop John Joseph for removing religious intolerance in the country, which has unfortunately only grown to date. Sporadic sectarian violence and organised crimes involving hate and bloodshed, particularly of minority sects and religions, caused immense suffering, migration, loss of life and reputation to the country. Peter Jacob, executive director of CSJ said, “It is time to stop the use of religion card as it has destroyed lives and undermined the justice system. No government made serious effort to stop the misuse of the law. He emphasised the implementation of the recommendations made by the judicial inquiry after the Gojra incident in 2009 to address the issue of abuse of blasphemy laws.” Human rights activist Hussain Naqi said it is the state’s responsibility to protect the minorities. In Pakistan many Muslims were killed on blasphemy charge where the intention was to get hold of their property,” he said. Lawyer and Senior Counsel for Asia Human Rights Watch Saroop Ijaz said, “Religious intolerance in Pakistan is enabled and sometimes even encouraged by discriminatory laws and policies which violate the foundational principle of any modern, egalitarian state: equal citizenship”.
Chairperson of CSJ Wajahat Masood said, “New forms of faith-based injustice have emerged including mob-lynching, forced conversions, displacement, extortion, desecration of places of worship and kidnapping under the garb of marriage. Our job is to protect their right to faith. We were told we were going to be equal citizens of Pakistan. It’s a long journey but Pakistan has the potential to rise above discrimination and injustice,” he concluded. Ahmar Rahman, rights activist, recalled Justice Arif Iqbal Hussain Bhatti, the Lahore High Court judge who was killed for acquitting two Christian men accused of blasphemy. In the court of law, it could not be proved that they had committed blasphemy. Ahmar also recited a powerful poem he wrote himself ‘Shuhuda k Naam’ on this occasion.