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For Immediate Release:
November 13th, 2005.
The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) joins all
American of Pakistani heritage in United States to highly condemn the
Church burning incidents in Lahore, Pakistan. It is the responsibility
of the state to protect all minorities and places of worship of all
people. Swift, effective and severe actions need to be taken place
against the perpetrators of these hate and anger based actions. There
is absolutely no justification whatsoever to damage a place of worship
of any religion. Such actions not only go against the principles of
creation of Pakistan and are absolutely against the core values of
Islam. We need to be reminded of the vision and speech of Mohammed Ali
Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan when on 11th August, 1947 clearly
stated, “You are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to
your mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan.
You may belong to any religion caste or creed that has nothing to do
with the business of the state.”
We ask the Government and the People of Pakistan to do whatever is in
their powers to protect all minorities and their rights in Pakistan
and identify and eliminate any hate based institutions which teach
intolerance towards others. Bigotry, intolerance, hatred and
disrespect for all religions are a common enemy of mankind, and should
not be allowed to flourish and act in any part of the world.
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