One Resident says, "I Will Be the First to Put Myself Down in Front of the Bulldozers"
November 11, 2008 The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has just learned that the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) issued a notice to about 48 Christian families in Lahore on October 28, 2008, to vacate their houses within 72 hours (3 days). At press time, none of the families had yet complied with the order.
Their neighborhood is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a widening of the main road in Mariyam colony, Quid-e-Azam town. In violation of eminent domain law in Pakistan, however, the government is not offering these families any compensation.
Mr. Mansha Bhagat, 67, the Chairman of Pakistan Masih Itehad (Pakistan Christian Unity) told ICC, "We will never allow the administration to demolish our houses, since the local government does not treat us as equal citizens, and we are not provided the basic civic facilities as well.
"Our forefathers sacrificed for us and faced hundreds of hardships to build this colony and now it is impossible for us to leave this place for the dacoits [notorious criminals]."
Mr. Bhagat started crying and said, "I will be the first one to put down myself in front of the bulldozers when they come to bulldoze our houses."
He urged the authorities to allot alternative plots with complete civic facilities and compensation to all the effected families.
A number of women in the neighborhood started crying and shouting slogans against government officials when they saw media personnel arrive. They demanded reasonable compensation for their houses and a realistic time-frame for moving out. A large number of people have already started moving to neighboring localities for fear of losing everything.
One widow, 47, said, "I bought this house consisting of two small rooms about two years ago and living with my five children, I have nothing except this property. I wash dishes and clean the bungalows to run my house and bear the educational expenses of my kids. This is injustice to us, the officials should set all of us on fire, instead of demolishing our houses."
This correspondent saw a number of people packing and moving their households with tearful eyes and downcast faces. A number of families have moved their belongings to their relatives' houses, but were determined to stay in their own houses even if that meant their deaths.
They complained that their children are experiencing severe emotional anxiety and could not go to school. Three children even refused to talk to ICC and started crying because they thought this correspondent was the official coming to bulldoze their houses. The crowd of around 70 people announced that they would commit collective suicide if the government officials bulldozed their houses.
Mr. Zafar Maish, the General Councilor of the locality, told ICC about a meeting he had with the LDA. He requested that they reduce the length of the road to 95 instead of 100 feet to avoid the demolition of the houses and was optimistic about his appeal. He told the officials that people have been living in this neighborhood since 1984 and regularly pay all their utility bills.
Please contact the Pakistani embassy in your country and ask them to protect the rights of Christians and all religious minorities.
Pakistan Embassies:
USA: (202) 243-6500, info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
Canada: (613) 238-7881, mailto:info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
UK: 0870-005-6967, hoc@phclondon.org
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ICC (International Christian Concern)
www.persecution.org.
Contact Samuel Wallace, 1-800-ICC (422)-5441,
mailto:samuel.wallace@persecution.org
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