Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Pakistan: FATA Christians Are Still Without Domicile

It has been 100 years’ of permanent settlement in Fata and local tribal customs are the hurdles in allotting domiciles to the Christian community resident there.
Chairman Christian Community Fata, Arshad Masih said “Our forefathers settled in Fata in 1914 after migrating from Sialkot and since then we are here and our many generations have grown up and passed away, but we don’t have the right to purchase even an inch of land and property in the area,”.
Describing the intolerant attitude towards the Christian community in FATA, whose population crosses the number of 3,000, Arshad also said as the community did not fall in any tribe, it was not issued domicile, which permits a citizen to purchase property in the area.
He further added “Due to not having a domicile, we can neither purchase property nor have a share in the 5% job quota allocated for minorities under the Constitution. In addition, we don’t have any share even in the development funds in the area,”.
He said Christian community had move toward all the authorities – including the subsequent governors, chief ministers and officials in Fata secretariat to resolve the issue, but all efforts were ineffective.
Arshad, however, added that Christians living in Fata were still committed to not leaving the region, but wanted the authorities to resolve the century-old issue.
“With the passage of time our population has increased and our requirements have also expanded and that’s why it is the need of the hour to amend the FCR to pave the way for us to have our own property and businesses,” he eminent.
He said it could be resolved in just an hour by bringing an amendment in the Constitution through an Ordinance.
- See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/fata-christians-are-still-without-domicile/#sthash.LKgHIaie.dpuf

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