Church promotes peace amid escalating violence in Pakistan

(July 11, 2011) The Catholic Church in Pakistan is sponsoring peace seminars and prayer vigils amid ongoing violence in the south. Six clerics and three priests in Lahore on Sunday joined together to light candles in memory of those who have been killed in recent violence in the area. The group also prayed and released pigeons. The National Council for Interfaith Dialogue last week organized a prayer service following ethnic violence in Karachi, in southern Sindh province, where hundreds of families have been evacuated. A heavy contingent of security forces have now taken control of the area, but 100 people, including one Christian, are said to have been killed in the violence. “The media have dubbed the violence a ‘mini civil war’ as the situation slips out of the government’s control,” said Fr. Francis Nadeem, coordinator of the interfaith council. “A sense of fear and insecurity is prevailing among citizens who are compelled to stay indoors, and the business hub of the country presents a gloomy and deserted look.” Last month some 40 participants from different religious backgrounds and tribal communities attended a workshop, titled “Peace and Composite Heritage,” organized by the Christian Study Center at the Caritas Pakistan office in Quetta. A recent NGO report titled Voice for Missing Baloch Persons has claimed that state agencies have kidnapped more than 800 local residents in Balochistan province since 2006, with more than 140 people killed. Caritas Pakistan Quetta says that nine Christians have been shot dead in the last decade.