Faisalabad (AsiaNews) – Groups for the defence of human and religious rights in Pakistan are continuing their protest against the reintroduction of the 'religion' column in the country's passports.

Human Development Centre (HDC) and the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) held a joint news conference on Monday April 25 in Toba Tek Singh in the diocese Faisalabad in which they stated: "The religious minorities of Pakistan strongly reject the decision of the government to reinsert the religious column in the passport".

They also announced they would launch a countrywide campaign of protest against it.

Their campaign programme states: "We will not accept this decision which is unjust and contrary to democracy. A resolution against the religion column will be presented to the National and Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan by like-minded legislators".

The HDC had already organised a protest march a few day earlier in Toba Tek Singh, while the APMA held a rally in Multan on Sunday April 24.

HDC director, Fr Bonnie Mendes, said that the passport is a national document and as such it should be the same for everyone. In his view, adding religion would be a step in the direction of social sectarianism.

"Pakistan has already suffered from sectarianism," he said, "and the government should not open the door to this social phenomenon."
Shahbaz Batti, APMA chairman, added that religious minorities are deeply shocked and disappointed by the decision of the federal cabinet to reintroduce religion in passports.

"It is unfortunate and devoid of any logic, reason or civilized norm. It only shows that the government has once again buckled under the pressure of religious extremists," he said.

In his opinion, the reintroduction of religion "has created a sense of despondency and insecurity" in the public in general and religious minorities in particular.

He went on to say that "a passport is not a certificate of religious belief; it only certifies the nationality of holder".

Former Sindh assemblyman Michael Javed, who spoke at the press conference, said that the father of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, "gave absolute freedom to all religious minorities". "Jinnah," he pointed out, "said religion has nothing to do with state business. The inclusion of religion in the passport is a clear denial of that ideology."

Parvez Rafiq, a Christian Punjab assemblyman, told AsiaNews that "myself and two other Christian members—Najami Saleem and Navid Aamir—, submitted a resolution to the Punjab Assembly against the religion column in passports but the Speaker rejected [it]."