Gujranwala (AsiaNews/Agencies) Pakistani bishop, Timotheus Nasir, has decided to renounce his Pakistani citizenship in protest against the country's religious hatred and discrimination. A few days ago he sent he sent a copy of his identity papers and a letter to President Musharraf expressing his concern for the situation of Christians in Pakistan. According to local sources, more than a hundred Protestant clergymen plan to follow the bishop, who is a former archbishop of Siloam Biblical Church.
In his letter to the president, Nasir, who is near retirement age, said: "my pride and confidence in my 'Pakistani Citizenship' has been totally shattered" because of the "extreme hate, religious discrimination, intolerance for the Christian community at ever level of the Islamic society of Pakistan."
Churches are destroyed and Christians are persecuted, forced to become Muslims, or accused of blasphemy. These are everyday occurrences. Laws that are unfavourable to religious minorities have been passed.
Case in point as the bishop points out: while there are laws that prohibit offences against the Qur'an, Islamic scholars find pleasure "in insulting my Religion, the Holy Bible and the Holy Personage of Christianity."
For this reason, Reverend Nasir is prepared to give up his Pakistani identity. "Now," he said, "I am non Pakistani resident, an alien living in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a country of which I was once proud".
In the letter the bishop also reveals that he wrote to President Musharraf several times but received no reply.
His decision to renounce his Pakistani nationality is thus also due to the "silence" and "ignorance" shown by President Musharraf about "the deplorable conditions in which we live in Pakistan".