a view from Pakistan:  courtesy the Pakistan Christian Post

Don't cry for us, Pakistani Christians: We can take care of ourselves: follows this post

Christians in India
Mauricio Soares
August 4, 2002

Pakistanis know better than anybody else what kind of communal discord and disparity ravages it. You don't get to read much because the religious minority hardly has a voice in the country.

But it is interesting ( read disgusting) to note that inspite of being treated like litter , they somehow muster the patriotism to indulge in anti-India propaganda thus justifying their being Pakistanis.

It is more than a coincidence that the Pakistan Hindu Patrika , a journal of Pakistani Hindus , also reflects the same diatribe directed at India.

Though I would not say , we the Christians, have no complaints of violation of our rights in a secular India, one can equivocally say that Indian Christians cannot complain about any sort of discrimination or segregation in the society.

Let us not forget that Indian Christians can complain and introspect without fear only because of the equality and freedom vested in themselves by the secularity of the Indian constitution which belongs to them as much as it does to anybody else.

India struggles from time to time with its pluralism but the equality and religious freedom it offers is exemplary.

Christians in India by and large live as equals though being a minority. They do not have and wish for special representation in society or government because they do not need it.

They are not marginalised by society in any way that the government need to organise their representation. To make a long story short , it is not wise on Pakistani Christian organisations to paint a false picture of their brotherhood across the border in India just to appease their government and their majority Muslim population.

But that they have to do that to merely survive in a largely theocratic state is understandable.

Mauricio Soares
August 4, 2002

*******

In reply to Article "Hounded, Beaten, Shot What you can do to help persecuted Christians in India" in the Pakistan Christian Post

Don't Cry for us, Pakistani Christians
Tom Ryan

I must say that i find it indeed very astonishing that with the atrocities being committed in your country against your community you still have the time and the effort to see fit to worry about Christians in India.

The only thing that I can say in this regard is "thanks, but we can take care of ourselves" and "people who live in glass houses ought not to throw stones on others'.

I do not doubt that there are serious happenings against the community in India, but compared to the travails that you have to go through it pales in comparison.

At least

1) In India people are free to convert to whichever religion salves their consciousness.

2) There is no bonded labour in India solely on the basis of community.

3) Even though as a percentage there are more Christians in Pakistan than in India (10% vs 2.4 %), in India,  Christians have been  heads of the Army, Navy, Air force, Supreme Court etc. How many Pakistani Christians have held the same post in Pakistan?

4) We have never had electorates on the basis of religion.

5) Christians almost made it to the highest posts of Prime Minister and President ( Sonia Gandhi and Alexander respectively)

6) large numbers of Christians are recruited into the Indian military / police. The Khalistani militancy that was launched by the ISI was largely checked by a Christian officer Julio Rebello. Are Christians even recruited into the Pak military?

7) There are quite a few Christian states in India viz, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland, etc. How many Christian states are there in Pakistan?

8) When there are atrocities against Christians in India, the accused go the jail. when there are atrocities against Christians in Pakistan the perpetrators get the Hillal-I-Jurat!

Thus, please save your sympathies for your selves. The Christian community in India can go without it.

Tom Ryan, Bombay,  India

VFTB editorial note: While the above Tom Ryan post contains a few inaccuracies, it makes an excellent general statement about present day religious freedom in India vis-a vis Pakistan.

The inaccuracies are as follows:

Neither Mrs. Sonia Gandhi (widow of late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) nor PC Alexander (retiring Governor of the State of Maharashtra ) have made it to the post of Prime Minister and President respectively. At least, not yet.

The Police Officer who finally brought the troubled State of Punjab under control is not Julio Rebello but Julio Ribeiro, a Goan Catholic .

August 18, 2002

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