CHRISTIANS HOPEFUL IN PACKISTAN reports monitoring group: In Summary: Pakistan’s Christians appear to have thrown some of their political support to Nawaz Sharif in the May 11 national election, even as they have reason to be wary of his return to power June 5. Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PMLN, won 124 of the 272 directly elected seats in the lower house of Parliament. In Punjab province, home to more than half of Pakistan’s population and 80 percent of its Christians, the PMLN won a two-thirds majority in the provincial government. Though Pakistani Christians historically have supported more liberal parties, there is evidence significant numbers backed the PMLN this time. Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Nawaz and chief minister of Punjab for the past five years, got the majority of votes from the predominately Christian neighbourhood of Yohannaabad of Lahore, the Punjab capital. Christians are the largest minority in Punjab. “There is going to be unbelievable positive change for the Christians,” said Pastor Saleem Inayat, founder and chairman of S.I.M. Ministries. If there is to be change, the PMLN will have to overcome a history that Christians find worrisome. “The majority of Christians are not optimistic about Sharif’s forthcoming government because of their religious approach and close linkages with fundamentalist groups,” said Nadeem Anthony, a Christian lawyer and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 01:47:30 +0000
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