The Christians of Horizon Plaza, a district in Karachi, continue to face threats, violence and discrimination, and the police and authorities stand by and do nothing. What lies behind the attacks are economic interests and the issue of land ownership for business and commercial purposes. Even the Pakistani organizations fighting for human rights have found themselves unable to resolve the situation and restore security and peace to the people. Now the religious community has approached the Catholic Church and asked them to intervene.<\/p>\n
Father George Montgomery, a parish priest in Karachi, confirms that the case is currently being heard by court judges, but that there has been no significant progress so far. \"We demand redress for those who are suffering,\" adds the priest, who describes the situation in the city in the south of the country as \"precarious\". \"The land mafia - he explains - is taking advantage of this situation, which affects the most marginalized groups\".<\/p>\n
The drama of the Christians in Horizon Plaza began in 2011 when some landowners in the area, with the support of leading political parties, illegally occupied apartments and houses and evicted the tenants, even though they had leases and rights as owners. Complaints to the police were ignored, while the nasty squatters committed all kinds of violations against the residents, especially the women. Not even an appeal to the Supreme Court, which is still pending, has had any effect. All complaints to political leaders and authorities have so far fallen on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the number of attacks on buildings and property owned by Christians has increased, which is why Christians are now left with no other option but to seek help from the Catholic Church in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
There have been several examples of land and property disputes in the past: In October 2011, two Christian brothers from Faisalabad were kidnapped by a Muslim family of landowners they worked for. The kidnapping took place against the backdrop of an economic dispute between the landowners and the workers, and the police remained completely passive. A month later, Catholic activist and father of four, Akram Masih, was killed by the land mafia for fighting for the rights of the poor, especially Christians.<\/p>\n
Source: AsiaNews<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The church in Horizon Plaza faces threats, violence and discrimination. Since 2011, the local land mafia, aided and abetted by the authorities, has been stealing homes, belongings and valuables. Despite complaints, neither the police nor prosecutors have taken any action in the case. The parish priest demands redress for \"those who suffer\".<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"gamle_kategorier":[],"land":[],"class_list":["post-2475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ikke-kategoriseret","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n