Controversy is stirring up the Christians of Pakistan, a majority Muslim country, over what is alleged to be the arbitrary demolition of a charitable institution's installations in the city of Lahore. It was on January 10, that Gosh-e-Aman was demolished by the Lahore Development Authority in the presence of government officials. The Catholic Church lodged an appeal with LHC, and managed to secure a stay on the demolition. The plaintiffs argue that the property was therefore illegally demolished. Also demolished was a Christian church, while Bibles were also desecrated according to reports.
One of the displaced, Zenobia Richards (61), took a firm stand against the LHC and argued hat her house was illegally demolished, along with her Bible, a rosary and a statue of the Virgin Mary. Catholic Church authorities and other pressure groups have asked Richards to desist, and allow the Church deal with the matter, but she remains firm. "I am not afraid of anyone, the Minority representative Kamran Micheal is involved, the clergy is making a deal with the Punjab government and is taking the case back. Michael had announced that the land will be handed back, nothing has happened, there have been late night meetings between the clergy and the government officials to take back the case."
They have made a deal and have sold the land, they have stopped fearing God and have kept silent about the desecration, they are acting as if nothing happened. I can proudly say that I have fought against the corrupt system and will continue my struggle. In the central Punjab many innocent Christians are falsely charged with blasphemy, but here there was a clear desecration, but everyone kept quiet. How long will we be persecuted ? How long will we be silenced? This is our silence which has become their strength and have brought us to the state we are in. It is time to wake up or we will loose everything."
On the application filed by Richards, police officers and LDA officials were summoned by the LHC and questioned why allowed an illegal demolition and desecration. They maintained that they were following orders from the local government. The Catholic representatives are in constant touch with the government in hopes of reaching a settlement. The court rejected the appeal to register complaints against the LDA due to the pressure from the Punjab government, ignoring the fact that an institution was illegally demolished and the church and Bibles were desecrated.
Yousaf Diyal, Zenobia Richard`s lawyer said, " Richards was provided shelter and legal assistance by a humanitarian organization, It is a shame that a woman alone took a stand against the desecration, no one else stood by her. The Christian community has forgotten Gosh-e-Aman, the role of the Catholic Clergy has been very suspicious in this incident, they have been having late night meetings with Kamran Micheal and other government officials and never spoke against them nor have they ever spoken about the desecration, if they would have wanted, they could have made history by taking a firm stand, unfortunately the Church has become weak due to their interval affairs and this weakness is clearly visible now."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Catholic Church official told Spero, " We have been instructed by the Church not to comment on the matter and stay silent. This is a clear matter of contempt of court for violating a stay, illegally demolishing a charitable institution and desecration of the Church, but the Church is silent. This silence is making the Christians weaker. I praise Zenobia Richards for her bold stand against the government for their atrocity and lawlessness. It is time to break the silence and stand for our rights, this is for our next generations, if we don't speak up, our next generations will never forgive us."
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