Whenever Christians have been subjected to injustice and oppression in Pakistan, whenever their rights have been violated, Christian political and social leaders and organizations have played their best role in raising an effective voice against it.Here, by political leaders I do not mean selected MNAs, MPs, minority wings at all, and by social organizations I do not mean NGO mafia either. I am talking about those organizations and leaders who you see protesting for the rights of Christians sometimes in front of the assembly hall and sometimes outside the press club. But the unfortunate thing is that instead of standing with them and contributing to the fight for their rights, the Christian nation places all the recognition in the hands of the religious leadership, from which they have never received any benefit. In fact, this is the leadership that has always sided with the government, putting the interests of Christians behind it, to hide its own actions.

From 1997 to the recent tragedies of 2023, the religious leadership appears to stand with the government at every  incident The religious leadership is responsible for the fact that no results were achieved in the 93 tragedies that occurred before this. After every tragedy, they reach the Chief Minister and Prime Minister's House and become part of the photo session, and the impression is given internationally that Christians are safe here. And then after some time, a new tragedy occurs, more severe than the previous one. This time, the Jaranwala tragedy is the biggest incident in the series of atrocities against Christians in Pakistan, in which 24 churches were burned down in a single day.  This incident was a huge challenge for the Pakistani Christian religious leadership because it is written in the Holy Scripture that the zeal for your house has consumed me. But the height of their zeal is that instead of protesting in front of the churches and mourning the government's failure by pouring ashes on their heads, they became hostages in the hands of a rejected politician and continued to circumambulate the Chief Minister and Prime Minister's House

History rejects the leadership of such people.

It should have been that the Bishops' Council of Pakistan announced a protest sit-in in jaranawala  and demanded that the Prime Minister and Chief Minister come to the spot, but the reality was the opposite. The Bishops' Council of Pakistan should have followed up on the case itself, but that did not happen, which gave the police the opportunity to take whatever action they wanted. All the consequences of which were going against the Christians. I remember that when some people from the Hazara tribe were killed in Quetta, they kept the bodies on the road for seven days and staged a sit-in and forced the Prime Minister to come to the spot and then this happened.  Just a few days ago, some members of the Hindu community were kidnapped by bandits from Kachha, after which the Hindus staged a sit-in for six or seven days, which shook the provincial government of Sindh, and the police there used all their strength to rescue the kidnapped people. I wonder if the burning of 24 churches and hundreds of houses in Jaranwala was a minor incident that could have been discussed by the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister sitting in the house.  The blasphemy case, which forms the basis of all the incidents, was an opportunity for religious leadership to hold protests across the country, especially in Jaranwala, and to point out that the misuse of this law leads to the massacre of non-Muslims. Settlements are burned down, but no one can harm the mob. It was necessary to demand that a similar punishment be made against those who misuse this law so that its misuse can be prevented in the future. But despite this great sacrifice, nothing happened and, like past events, this incident was preserved in the pages of history.

Just a few days ago, Christian leaders from across the province attended a meeting held at the office of the IG Punjab, in which they paid tribute to the IG Punjab's performance in protecting Christians and held a photo session to express solidarity.  My question to these religious leaders is whether they are satisfied with the performance of the police regarding the Jaranawala tragedy. Do you know that in Faisalabad, the SHO of Sadar police station is trying to take a statement by torturing Pastor Vicky, saying that he had shot himself, and then making the video of his statement viral is itself a cyber crime by the SHO. The 11-year-old minor girl, achild  Johnson, and other people involved in this case have been in illegal police custody for a month. Christians were subjected to severe physical violence in Kasur, but instead of the influential landowner, a case was registered against the aggrieved Christians. When Pastor Ghazala Shafiq raised her voice regarding Pastor Vicky's case, the police tortured the female pastor along with her lawyer in the police station.  This is the IG who, while holding a press conference immediately after the Jaranwala tragedy, said that there was strong evidence of Indian involvement in the incident, but later a case of blasphemy was registered against four Christians and they were sent to jail.

I also have a question for this religious leadership: Have you paid tribute to the IG and asked him for a fact-finding report? Have you told him that the Christian public is feeling uneasy due to the fact that the report of the incidents is not made public?  Photo sessions of Christian religious leaders from the Prime Minister's House to the Chief Minister's House are being held through Pakistani embassies to reassure Western media, including the US and Canada, that Pakistani Christians are safe in every way.As a journalist, based on personal connections, I have been asked by journalists from Canada, the Netherlands and Italy whether Pakistani Christian religious leadership is with the government or the church. I have replied that they are neither with the government nor the church, but with their own interests. Because all of them have assets that exceed their income, many of them are responsible for the sale of church properties.Including the political figure who sold church property in Murree by forging documents, for which a case has been registered against him. The church has never asked them and will never ask them. However, if they stand against the government, they will face NAB cases, FIA will bring many cases about foreign funding and their true face will be exposed As soon as the white hat comes down, the bad guy will appear.  Let me also point out here that the massacre of our democratic rights, the selection system that has been given by taking away our right to vote, is also the achievement of the Christian religious leadership, which they achieved by appearing before General Pervez Musharraf. Although the Jaranawala tragedy has caused the destruction of many families, it has brightened the future of a rejected politician in which the religious leadership has a huge role to play. Those who have no idea of ​​their own power, who have molded their honor, dignity and power into its sway, and who have defended the government in the best possible way, keeping their political future in mind. The religious leadership should have asked this senator that the Pakistan Peoples Party is requesting a Senate meeting on this tragedy. Shouldn't he, as a Christian senator, have demanded this meeting?