St Andrew’s Church: Law to protect minority places of worship promised

Bill to focus on fighting commercialisation of churches, temples, Gurdwaras, graveyards, schools of minorities.


Express November 30, 2011

KARACHI:


A bill to protect the places of worship for minorities will soon be presented in the Sindh Assembly, promised MPA Saleem Khursheed Khokhar on Wednesday.


The bill will focus on fighting the commercialisation of churches, temples, Gurdwaras, graveyards, schools and other such places for the people of these faiths.

Khokhar’s announcement comes at a time when he is in the centre of a controversy over building shops on the free land around the strategically located St Andrew’s Church in Saddar. “A church is only to be used for worship and nothing more,” he said on Wednesday.

A standing committee of the Sindh Assembly that acts as a watchdog for the Sindh Revenue Board has unanimously decided not to use the land around the church. Khokhar said that its members were not in favour of constructing shops and plazas and their recommendations have been sent to the Sindh Assembly. The MPA has locked horns with Sadiq Daniel, the bishop of the Diocese of Karachi for the Church of Pakistan, over the St Andrew’s land. “Bishop Sadiq Daniel accused me of wanting to sell the property of St Andrew’s Church,” he said. He served him with a legal notice, which asks him to apologise, or face a defamation suit.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2011.

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