Final research paper - Youhanabad

Running Head: CONDITIONS OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENS FOCUSING YOUHANABAD 1

Conditions of Christian Minority in Pakistan focusing Youhanabad

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Maqbool

Mehreen Hamza

Nida Nabeel

Samra Zafar

Ms. Rumessa Naqvi

Academic Writing

204

April 12, 2010

Lahore School of Economics

CONDITIONS OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENS FOCUSING YOUHANABAD 2

Acknowledgements

First, we would like to thank the Almighty God for giving us the courage to complete all the

tasks at time. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Rumessa Naqvi, for

motivating us to undertake such a rigorous research project concerning a serious issue of our

country. Further, we would like to offer special thanks to Mr. Amanat John, a resident of

Youhanabad for being our guide on the tours to the vicinity. T. Tariq Javed Tariq deserves a

thank you as he took his time out from his busy schedule to discuss the issues prevailing at

Youhanabad. Mr. Zafar Iqbal, for arranging appointments with Amanat John and the Ex-

Nazim at Youhanabad. A special round of applause for all of us in joining hands together

and helping each other at every corner to make this research a success.

Name Domain

Muhammad Ali Employment discrimination &

Government perspective on

infrastructural problems

Mehreen Hamza Educational Problems

Muhammad Maqbool Crimes and Drug Addiction

Nida Nabeel Infrastructure and Facilites

Samra Zafar Discrimination faced by Christian

citizens


Abstract

Majority of Christians in Pakistan experience life as nobodies and are de facto second-class

citizens subject to discrimination, depression and violence. This research paper gives an

analysis of the conditions of Christians living in Pakistan in general and Youhanabad in

particular. Unfortunately, the government of Pakistan has never succeeded in providing the

Christian minority with suitable rights they deserve as the citizens of our country.

Youhanabad, one of the largest Christian colonies in Lahore is no exception to this and

encounters an assortment of problems. It faces basic infrastructural problems grouped with

discrimination, lack of healthy education system and unemployment leading to drug addiction

and crimes. With the help of research tools and literature, detailed evaluations of the

problems and recommendations have been presented in this paper.


Conditions of Christian minority in Pakistan focusing Youhanabad and

recommendations for the improvement of this society

Problems are everywhere around us, let it be social, economical, environmental or

financial. Since we need to make our lives easier, we keep on trying to solve many problems

at hand which we are capable of. But sometimes, we are not able to solve our problems

ourselves and we might need some external intervention e.g. the government to come in and

make things better. Having this intuition, we thought of a minority of people living in

Pakistan, which by law enjoys equal rights with the Muslims but perhaps on real grounds

faces different treatment to what is written on papers. Again, it is not us who wish to talk

about Christians and their problems but many researchers have already thrown light on

problems faced by the Christian minority in Pakistan. To further narrow down our research

and bring about desired results and improvements, we are going to research a Christian

populated colony called “Youhanabad.”

This research projects the terrible conditions of majority Christians of Youhanabad

and investigation of causes and effects of these problems on their lives during the periods of

2006-2010.

The Scope of this research was to find out the problems that the Christian minorities

are facing. True that at this time almost all communities in Pakistan are facing

economical tensions but these communities with soaring prices are also facing soaring

discrimination in the society. To cover all aspects of the Christian society we divided the

whole research into five domains discrimination, infrastructure, education, employment,

crimes, and recommendations.

The major importance of this intensive research is to identify the related authorities

about the terrible conditions of the Christian minorities in general and Youhanabad in

particular through the voice of those getting affected at all times. The aim is not to just keep

our work on paper rather make it accessible to authorities and people at large so that they

may know what’s going on with these people and work together for the betterment of this

area and its people.

Literature Review

While carrying out the research, a major chunk of second-hand information was

collected through published articles by various authors giving their perspectives on policies

of the government towards the religious minorities (mainly Christians), discriminatory acts


done socially and professionally at different levels and also the causes and effects of these

acts towards the society.

From the articles, it was obvious that Christians are discriminated right from the

school level and moving forward in the organizations and society. The act of violence briefly

brought the international attention to the plight of Christian community in Pakistan. One of

them was the Gojra incident and the other was Shazia case. Gregory S. (2009) talks about

Gojra incident that took place on August 3, 2009 was one of the most violent act committed

in the history of Pakistan in which more than 80 Christian men and women were killed and

their properties burned down. All this violence was committed only on the fake accusation

that the Christians had done the acts of blasphemy. It took three days for the law

enforcement authorities to bring conditions to normal. The estimated death toll was above 80

and properties worth millions were left burned down to the ground. Another well-publicized

case that recently came to the light was that of Youhanabad known as Shazia case. Advocate

Muhammad Naeem was accused of murdering and rapping Shazia of Youhanabad, until now

no positive actions was taken on the part of law enforcing bodies and the culprits has not

been punished to the extent of the crime. This shows the helplessness of the Christian

community in Pakistan.

Jacob, P. (2009) talks about non- Muslim students being forced to study the religious

textbooks of other faiths mainly Islam in article “National educational policy 2009 infringes

religious freedom of Non-Muslims Students” which imposes Islamic studies on non-Muslim

students in the country. The author says that if the government fails to provide them religious

freedom then they themselves have to take action against that because their children are

suffering badly from the prevailing scenario. Peter Jacob as the executive secretary of the

National Commission for Peace and Justice (NCJP) hence appeals to Supreme Court to take

suitable action regarding the problem.

Christians in Pakistan who are educated, talented, and willing to work for their

betterment are also discriminated by narrow-minded employers of Pakistan and this situation

has been presented in another article at Christiantoday.com. Mackay M. (2006) mentions in

her article that the US-based human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC) has

learned that Christians in Pakistan continue to experience discrimination from a majority of

employers just as Africans had it from Americans before the Civil Rights Movement.

According to her, being a Christian means he/she is a second-class low waged janitor when it


comes to get employment in any organization. Being a religious minority, these people

having Christian surnames, deprives them of good jobs even being intellectually wise and fit

for the job. Same argument has been put forward by Gregory in his article where he talks

about Christian citizens being classified as de-facto second-class citizens.

The evidences used by Jacob are quite valid; he refers to the constitution of Pakistan,

which gives complete religious freedom to the minority, but this policy is not in conformity

with Article 20 and 22 of the constitution of Pakistan. The author is giving a logical

argument that the authorities are not paying much attention to the syllabi of religious books

that are being taught in the institutions, which creates further problems for the non-Muslim

students. Secondly, it is the very basic right of every person to practice its own religion. The

Christian minority as well as other minorities should be given liberty to take their religious

subjects in their schools and other religious subjects should not be made compulsory for

them. They should be free to study whatever they want. On the other hand, Mackay’s point

is true at some level, but it cannot be generalized to all the organizations, as with HR laws

properly applied in an organization minimizes the discrimination and encourages living

together as colleagues and not religious fanatics. She is mainly talking about narrow minded,

low profile, and corrupted employers who, due to lack of education are unable to recognize

the talent and look up on these people based on their religion. However, organizations with

strict Human Resource laws enforced have excellent conditions when it comes to interaction

at peer-to-peer level. She also talks about them being discriminated at government level for

they are not allowed to be the speaker of the National Assembly nor the chief of Army staff.

At large, after the critical review of all the articles, it is well assumed that the

Christian minority does face discrimination at local and national level proven by different

acts in the society. It was further explicated by surveys and interactions with many effected

Christian citizens as well as authorities.

Research Questions

Primary Research Question


Conditions of Christian minority in Pakistan focusing Youhanabad and

recommendations for the improvement of this society.

Subsidiary Research Questions

1) Are the students of Youhanabad studying Islamic studies prescribed by the

government and how they are coping with that?

2) Are their public or private schools in Youhanabad?

3) How well developed the schools are in Youhanabad in contrast to other schools in the

city?

4) What sort of employment do the people of Youhanabad mostly go towards? Do they

face discrimination at employment?

5) Are they able to get good employments? If not, what are the reasons for that?

6) What changes should be brought for these people to enjoy good employment benefits?

7) How is the infrastructure and facilities of Youhanabad in contrast with the

infrastructure and facilities of other areas of Lahore?

8) Does the government or any other officials take any interest in the development of

Youhanabad?

9) Are there any medical facilities in Youhanabad and if so are they good enough?

10) How are the Christian people of this area treated by other people?

11) How is this community generally perceived socially?

12) Do the other communities care for these people’s interests, values and traditions?

13) What is the general review of crime and other illegal activities taking place in

Youhanabad?

14) What is the root cause of such activities originating from Youhanabad?

15) What steps should be taken to control such activities?

Method

The sample size selected, keeping in view the convenience level, was 30.

Questionnaires were distributed comprising 15 questions aiming to identify and improve the

problems prevailing in Youhanabad. All questionnaires were distributed amongst the local

public at Youhanabad.


In the research conducted, five trips were made to Youhanabad in which interviews

were recorded with the local residents, school principal, school children, and the local law

enforcement authorities. For primary research, and to make this research reliable, and

authentic, interviews with the Ex-Nazim of the area, T. Tariq Javed Tariq, School principal,

St.John Model High School, Ms. Jennie Williams, and many other locals from Youhanabad.

Our observation about the area, surroundings, and people around was recorded using video

cameras and notes were jotted down on notebooks to assist in the research. Of course, the

questionnaires were also distributed among the local people of the area and the results of

these questionnaires have been summarized using bar charts, pie charts, and graphs in the

appendix. During the interview, it was made sure to use a video camera (with interviewee’s

permission) and used these videos for better analysis of the situation. These video clips and

recordings have been added in a DVD for the instructor’s further use and analysis.

For secondary research, authentic Christian forums online were utilized for the

articles and various sources from the internet. Besides, the research includes clippings from

articles published in Dawn News.

Tally charts were considered to record the responses from the questionnaires through

which the figures, graphs, and charts were designed to support the arguments presented in the

paper. Microsoft Excel 2007 served the purpose in this regard. Furthermore, videos were

watched carefully while analyzing the situation according to respondents’ point of views. Of

course, human mind supersedes all other analytical tools which was used the most in

observing and evaluating the situation and proposing recommendations.

Analysis of Data and Discussion

Discrimination of Christians in Youhanabad

Man was born free but chained in life. From the start of time discrimination is one

aspect of life that has haunted man. Whether it is from the planes of Africa to the deserts of

Arabia man has suffered at the hands of man. There is no country in the world where the

whole population consists of one social group. It has always been the case that where ever a

person or a group who is weak and low in numbers is most likely to face discrimination.

Islam preaches not to judge people based on cast, color, and religion. Islam is the

religion of peace and teaches equality. It is so shameful to see that our religion, Islam,


teaches a lot on the issue of treatment with minorities and it is in Islam itself that the rights of

fellow Non-Muslims should be protected more than ones’ own rights, but sadly, the opposite

is happening in our society.

The main ideology of Pakistan was that Muslims were suffering at the hands of the

majority Hindus and demanded a separate nation. Once Muslims of India were considered

minority, they were the ones who were discriminated After Pakistan came into being Quid-e-

Azam wanted to make sure that the minorities in Pakistan did not suffer the way the Muslims

did that is why he said:

Minorities to which communities they may belong, will be fully safeguarded, their

religion or faith or belief will be secure. There will be no interference of any kind

with their freedom of worship. They will have full protection with regard to their

religion, their faith, their life, and culture. (Pakistan studies Class 8th, 2004)

The flag of Pakistan also indicates what Quid-e-Azam said. The white colored

portion on the left side depicts minorities being a solid part of the nation. That is what the

constitution of Pakistan says as well. The section of Islamic clauses includes a clause that

says that minorities are ensured to have fundamental rights and security.

The Christians are indeed a silent minority of Pakistan and they existed as people who

were stereotyped and taken for granted by the mainstream majority, not to mention, belittled,

and ridiculed at every opportunity. Christians are minority here in Pakistan but that is not the

case in Youhanabad. The Christians residents of Youhanabad are not socially accepted

which is quite evident from that Christian community as they become target of religious

hatred and are dishonored. Their living standards are poor, they don’t get the equal

opportunity of employment and not even the political, civil, and social rights and this is what

has been discussed in this section.

Youhanabad is a poor Christian settlement on the fringes of Lahore. Thousands of

Christians are living in this area. It is a very congested area. The main objective of this

research is to find that whether the Christians are facing discrimination. If yes, then what

causes such discrimination with the Christian minority? To find the answers for these

Questions a visit was paid to Youhanabad. Amanat John, 41, a resident of Youhanabad and a

guide for this visit. He told that his brother-in-law was refused the job even though he was


fulfilling the requisite criteria and the main reason of refusal was that the part of his name

was” Masih” which reflected he belonged to a Christian community. Therefore, he become

the target of discrimination. Amanat was asked if he had ever tried to stop such

discriminating act. He replied,

“If any discriminating act is taking place we tend not to interfere there because we are

scared that we might also be involved and become the target of the violence that is

already taking place. Thus we tend to stay out of such matters.” (Personal

communication, John A. March 15, 2010)

Apart from the social discrimination Christian women who are working as

housemaids are also highly discriminated by the Muslim families. This can be justified by

the conversation that was held with a girl named Fozia, dressed in dirty shalwar kameez. She

belongs to a poor Christian family. She had four brother and three sisters. Her mother and

one of her sisters do domestic work in the houses on wages. She was 15 year old when she

started working as a house cleaner with her mother and now she is 20. While sharing her

bitter experience she said, “We are looked down upon by our employers and we are

underpaid as compare to the amount of physical labor we do. The behavior towards us is

very harsh. Mostly we are given sweeping and cleaning related jobs which Muslim maids

refuse to do and also we are not offered to do kitchen associated work”

For further research we met a retired Pakistan Air force pilot named Saleem bahadur

to also know his perspective about discrimination and he said:” in my opinion it is only the

state of mind or kind of thoughts that one person have otherwise I never felt discriminated

throughout my 45 years of serve in the Air force due to my religion. I was given the equal

opportunities in my whole career purely on my merit basis”

It was disappointing to know that Muslims engaged in such discriminating act as

Saleem B.H said that religious intolerance is present in our society but he has never being

subjected to it until a while ago when a few Muslims boys come to Youhanabad and

distributed a small book in which they tried to ruin the basic but the most important

Christianity belief which is that Jesus Christ is the son of the Lord and Mary was virgin when

she gave birth to him (see appendix-picture D ). In this book, the author who tried to posed

Christianity as a fake religion. It was shocking to see that a Muslims who was trying to

criticize Christianity, did not even have that basic knowledge of islam which clearly teaches


that Hazrat Issa’s birth to Hazrat Maryam was a miracle of ALLAH. After seeing such

evidences, we concluded that discrimination was present for discriminate s sake.

Then we visit to a catholic school to find out more facts regarding to our domains.

“Well being an educationist believe that with the increase in literacy rate this social menace

of discrimination is being minimized ,if not, completely eradicated , said Sister Jenny

Williams, the principal of Saint John Model school for boys in Youhanabad. She also said

that even if we are the second citizen of the country but we should serve for our Pakistan.

The statistics of survey conducted and the compiled post survey results are making it

evident that Christians are a victim of discrimination and they are facing it at all levels

including institutional, Government, social level. In addition, 90% of the interviewees

supported the subject that Christians are facing discrimination.

Well after the interview with Saleem Bahadur it was quite evident that there were two

sides of the picture and that one of them was that not all Christians were facing

discriminating acts and that it was more of the perspective of thought that was being followed

rather than the evident truth. But from the interview with Amanat John we got the picture

that all Christians are facing discrimination in all fields and that Muslim majority only gave

preference to fellow Muslims and not to other minority especially Christians. From our

research on the topic the end conclusion that can be made is that Yes, there is discrimination

present in the society and yes, there are people who are facing intense violence on the basis of

their religion at the hands of the Muslim majority. However, there is an educated class

present in the societies who do not judge people based on their cast, color, creed, and religion

but based on their qualities how they tackle various issues in daily life. In reality, there are

more important issues present then the ones that have been “made.” Our country is facing

various Economic and domestic issues and the continuation of these discriminating acts is not

helping solve the problem.

Educational Problems in Youhanabad

Education is considered as one of the most important things in today’s world. History

has witnessed how the educated nations had reached the heights of success whereas the

uneducated nations were crushed to their decline. A country can only expect a good future if

its people are educated enough to meet the severe challenges. To produce an educated and

successful future generation it is very important to have the present generation educated as


well. “Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and

world better than you found it” (Marian Wright Edelman, 1939). American activist for the

rights of children). But in Pakistan we have unfortunately a very low literacy rate and the

situation is even worse in the minorities. So the most important question is this regard is, are

the minorities living in Pakistan have the same chances to get their children educated

properly?

Youhanabad as considered the largest Christian settlement, with a population more

than 0.1 million and has 35 to 40 schools with not even a single college. Yet one should be

very impressed by just looking at the quantity of schools but the reality is quite different.

Yes, schools are present there but without proper school buildings, without other educational

facilities and most important without the quality education the children need. The shocking

thing is that all the schools operating there are private schools without a single public school,

which shows clearly the ignorant attitude of government towards the Christian sector. On the

other hand, it was so encouraging to see that the people of Youhanabad are so willing to send

their children to schools. Within Youhanabad there are both English and Urdu medium

schools. Sister Jennie Williams, a principal of St. Cathedral School in Youhanabad told that

on the demand of the parents they made the school English medium at the nursery level. She

further said that now the government has ordered to end the Urdu medium system so they

have to make the school English medium at all levels (personal communication, March 15,

2010.)

Particularly talking about the teachers who are teaching in Youhanabad, the situation

does not seem very satisfactory. In some schools, the qualification of the teachers is just

matric or intermediate. Moreover, there are only handfuls of teachers who are bachelors.

The reason behind is, that most of the teachers who are teaching in Youhanabad are residents

of Youhanabad, in fact they are the alumni of the schools they are teaching in and because

they at their times had the same educational conditions that’s why today majority of them are

unable to get jobs out of youhanabad at any renowned institutions. According to ex-nazim of

Youhanabad Tariq Javed Tariq it is sad to see that the teachers who are teaching the

matricular classes are themselves matric and intermediate qualified (personal communication,

April 7, 2010.) The salary scale of the teachers is quite shocking. Most of them are getting

from Rs.3000 to Rs.3500 monthly. But the conditions are not same everywhere, Sister Jennie

Williams told that they take good care of their school staff. They pay them increments and


even the provident funds. Her schools is 35 to 40 years old and they have some teachers who

are working there are for 25 years (personal communication, March 15, 2010.) But again

there are some matric and F.A passed teachers to whom Sister Jennie William does not want

to fire on the basis of their qualification as they have a good experience now. But I do not

find it a well justified point because though experience counts a lot but the students of

Youhanabad need an effective guidance of educated people rather the guidance of those

people who are working there for the sake of working.

Students of the schools of Youhanabad comprise both boys and girls. As there are no

colleges in Youhanabad so, the students have to go out of Youhanabad to get into colleges.

The students are quite bold and friendly. The strangest thing to see was a boy of class seven

who could use English words like “yeah” (which he frequently was using) but that boy was

unable to spell the name of his school. On the other hand, it was encouraging to see in some

schools that the students do participate in the extra curricular activities that are held inside

and outside Youhanabad and such competitions mainly include letter writing and art

competitions. And according to the school authorities their students do an incredible job

(personal communication, March 15, 2010.) Although the facilities present in the schools are

not enough. T. Tariq Javed Tariq, the ex- nazim of Youhanabad mentioned that there are no

proper facilities in schools: No playgrounds, no labs and no libraries (personal

communication, April 7, 2010.) He was actually right because the lack of facilities in most of

the schools is a big hindrance in the provision of effective education to students.

As most of the schools of Youhanabad are affiliated with Punjab Board, so the

curriculum, which is being used, is in accordance with it. According to residents of

Youhanabad, the syllabus of different schools varies from one another (personal

communication, March 15, 2010.) Overall, the subjects being taught are English, social

studies and science subjects. When asked from the group of school children in Youhanabad

whether they like to study Islamic Studies/Arabic, their answer was “No.” (Personal

communication, March 15, 2010.) Their reply is completely justified because it completely

depends on the choice of individuals if they want to study the books on other religion or not.

Also Islamic studies are not being compelled on the students by the authorities, it has been

proved with the help of the questionnaire filled by the people in Youhanabad.( See appendix

A, Figure B). According to Sister Jennie William, they have to hire a Muslim Teacher for the

subjects of Islamic Studies and Arabic as they have some muslim students in the schools as


well. She also told that they (The Christians) want their separate religious syllabus and they

did contact the government official in this regard but their demand was rejected on the basis

that such kind of system cannot be adopted in Islamic Republic of Pakistan (personal

communication, March 15, 2010.) This act by the government is completely unethical. The

Christian people hold their separate identity so they have the complete right to practice their

religion in Pakistan.

It is disappointing to see that the government is playing a nil role in promoting

education in Youhanabad. It is quite evident from the fact that there is not even a single

public school in Youhanabad. Schools operating there are either helped by the missionaries

or they are being operated privately. Even if the government does not own a public place in

Youhanabad but they can buy it from the residents. But such steps have not been taken yet

which clearly shows the negligence of the government towards this sector. Tariq Javed Tariq

the ex-nazim of Youhanabad told us that during his tenure he several times applied to open at

least one public school and one Government College but it was of no use (personal

communication, April 7, 2010.)

The residents of Youhanabad do not seem satisfied with the educational conditions of

Youhanabad, as it is quite evident from the results of questionnaire. They are of the view that

despite of the fact that there are many schools in Youhanabad, there is not quality of

education given to students. In fact, according to Mr. Saleem Bahadur the teachers are not

well qualified and they are teaching because they believe that it is better to teach than to stay

at home. He further told us that there is a big fraud, which is going on in some of the schools

and that is, when students go to schools the girls are asked to clean the classrooms first and

the boys are asked to do the dusting. And after that children play for hours without any

proper check from the school authorities (personal communication, March 15, 2010.) it was

quite evident that the owners of these schools are doing nothing but making money.

Whatever they are getting from government and NGO’s is not spent on schools but for

personal motives. Mr. S.M.Bahadur told an interesting story regarding this that once a

foreign team visited the schools of Youhanabad. On the day of their visit, the school

authorities moved the whole furniture of the school to some other place and presented their

school in a miserable condition in order to gain funds from them (personal communication,

March15, 2010.) The unfortunate thing in this regard is that the funds these schools are

getting are not properly being utilized. For instance, one of the schools got an amount of


rupees 8 million from a NGO (which is quite a generous amount if allocated properly) but the

condition of the school was making it hard to believe that this school ever got such an

immense amount. In addition, whatsoever assets the school authorities are getting free from

the government are being sold to the students and these things mainly include uniform,

books, and notebooks. Therefore, the dishonesty that is being conducted by the school

authorities is contributing a lot to the poor educational conditions in Youhanabad. The ex-

nazim of Youhanabad T. Tariq Javed Tariq told that there are 3 to 4 schools, which are

actually making a good effort in promoting quality education out of which he specifically

mentioned the name of St. John Cathedral School (personal communication, April 7, 2010.)

By looking the overall conditions of education in Youhanabad, the situation seems

quite displeasing. Whenever we go outside Pakistan, we generally say that we are treated as

second-class citizens there. But we do not realize that we are making the minorities living in

Pakistan as second-class citizens too which shows that we are not against oppression but yes

we are against it when it comes to us. The areas like Youhanabad are lacking educational

facilities and the children living there are lacking quality education. However, we do not

realize this loss because we are having all kinds of educational facilities. Muhammad Ali

Jinnah said

You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to mosques or to

any places of worship in the state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or cast

or creed -that has nothing to do with the business of the state…we are starting with

this fundamental principle: that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state….

(Gregory, 2008)

We, as Pakistanis are not following the rules of our leader and hence today Pakistan is facing

uncertain conditions. It is because in Pakistan the affiliation to the religion is more important

than the nation. Therefore, the basic question, which arises in this regard, is how we can

expect the Christian children to give Pakistan a bright future when Pakistan is not giving

anything to them in return. In addition, it is so embarrassing for us when the Christian people

in Youhanabad asked us that their ancestors have given equal sacrifices for Pakistan so now

why are they not getting equal rights.

Infrastructural problems at Youhanabad


Infrastructure are the basic structures necessary for an economy to function it brings

to mind the technical structures such as roads, water supply system, sewages,

telecommunication and so forth, which are the rights of citizens n a country no matter what

cast or reed they belong to. The area that is discussed in this section is “Infrastructure and

facilities of Youhanabad.”

Infrastructure of any community can give you deep insight into the lives of the people

living there, it tells us about the problems they face, the struggles they make, the advantages

they have, the benefits they enjoy.

Pakistan is a developing country and its infrastructure is still in the developing stages

but the conditions in Youhanabad are much worse not only they are facing economical crisis

with the rest of the country but these people are also privileged with a total lack of

infrastructure and basic facilities such as roads and drainage system.

Pakistan is an Islamic country and most of its citizens are Muslim. There are people

who belong to other religions such as Hinduism, Christianity and so forth. Our religion Islam

teaches us equality.

Do not treat people based on cast, creed, or color. All human beings are the off

springs of Hazarat Adam. No Arab has precedence over a non -Arab, no non-Arab

has precedence over an Arab, and no white has any precedence over a black and no

black has precedence over a white (Pakistan studies, 2004).

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said these words on hajatuyal-wida, the last sermon.

He declared that no human is superior to another or better than another in any way. Allah

and his prophet have made it very clear that all are equal in the eyes of the Lord.

Unfortunately, that is not the case when it comes to the people of the Lord.

Infrastructure of any community can tell us a lot about the lives of the public and this

was proven true in case of Youhanabad. From roads to market areas, from market areas to

houses it would not be wrong to say that Youhanabad is a very inadequate community.

Youhanabad is the largest Christian colony in Lahore. Even with so many people

living there the infrastructure and facilities available to the people of Youhanabad are not


even up to mark. Moreover, because of lack of infrastructure and facilities people of

Youhanabad encounter many problems while going about their daily routine.

When one visits Youhanabad he/she gets to experience firsthand what a lack of infrastructure

really means. As soon as a car enters the premises of Youhanabad it bounces high and makes

one hit his/her head on the roof of the car. Because where there should have be roads there

are only a wide enough path so the cars could pass (See appendix, picture A). However, of

the residences of the Youhanabad seem to think that the conditions of the roads are

satisfactory. (See appendix A, figure J)

A few of people standing around the market areas at the time of the visit were

interviewed and those interviews yielded a combination of different results. It is a known

fact that everyone has a different opinion but it was disappointing that people of Youhanabad

did not consider the lack of infrastructure and facilities as a big problem. They wanted to

discuss the bigger problems they face on the daily basis such as unemployment, religious

intolerance, education, crime rate. The only thing the people talked about with great zeal,

which came under the infrastructural problems was the water problem which according to

them was the biggest problem.

Door to door, survey revealed that in addition to the load shedding of electricity and

the load shedding of natural gas, load shedding of water is a common occurrence these days

in Youhanabad. Interviews also revealed that the shortage of water is not the only problem;

the problem is that whenever the water is coming it is not clean enough to drink. People with

resources have dealt with the water problem by privately installing small tube wells in their

homes. Sister Jenny Williams, Principal of Saint John Model School for boys in

Youhanabad, was the first one to bring forward this problem. She said that educating the

next generation is very important to her and for making children stay at school little more

comfortable she has also collected funds and used them to install a small hand pump so the

children can have access to clean water in the upcoming summer months. (Personal

communication, March 15, 2010) Saleem B.M, a retired air force officer, age 75, was

dressed in shalwar kamiz, welcomed us in our home and treated us to a cup of tea while he

explained to us how he had dealt with the water problem in the same way. (Personal

communication, March 15, 2010)


Health care is another basic facility. At first, it was believed that Youhanabad’s

people are well cared for. Because after every few stores there was a clinic, which promised

good health to, whoever stepped into their clinics.

“Not all the doctors are unqualified. The doctors that I take the elder sisters to are

very much qualified and seem to know what they our doing. But that cannot be said about all

the doctors offered by Youhanabad.” (J. Williams, personal communication, March 15,

2010).

All of the people replied in the same manner to the following question. Where do you take

the patients in case of emergencies? In addition, the answer was the same: General hospital.

Mr.Kamram Saleem, age 41, owner of private business, revealed that whenever there is any

major medical emergence people do not trust their or their families’ health to the doctors

available in Youhanabad. About 87% of the people in our sample agree that those emergency

cases are taken to the closest government hospital which is General hospital. (See appendix

A, figure J)

Most of the people living in Youhanabad are not what we term as being well of. They

do not have luxurious cars to take them from place to place in matter of seconds. In addition,

if the roads and the lack of better transportation are taken into account then General hospital

is too far away the best option for the people is that they take care of their health as to avoid

going to doctors at all. That is: Precaution is better than cure.

Unfortunately, that is not the case with the people of Youhanabad. After the

uncomfortable ride on our first visit to Youhanabad, the next thing we noticed was that

Youhanabad could not be called a clean community. After a few houses, there was an empty

plot, which was dumped with rubbish. It was not like the areas full of garbage was the only

place where one found the garbage. Youhanabad was littered with plastic bags, household

waste and so much more. There was a faint odor in the air, it was not unbearable, and not

something, which will make one cover ones nose, and it was just there indicating that there

was waste lying around. What do people do about all this junk that is lying around? “They

do not do anything about it. Why should they when it is the most convenient way for them to

get rid of their rubbish.” Replied Mr.Amanat John, age 41(Personal communication, March

15, 2010). Sister Jenny William said that the people throw their waste like this because it is

convenient, there is no one there to stop them from doing it, and there is no proper waste

disposal system (See appendix B, picture B).


There is not only the problem of rubbish lying around where there are children

playing but the sanitation system is to up to mark at all either. The drainage pipes seem to be

an alien concept when it comes to Youhanabad. The sewage pipes rather drains run along

the roads sides full of dirty water and garbage (See appendix, picture C). The most horrifying

thought was, what if the children fall into these drains while playing? Are not the citizens

aware that these open sewage drains full of dirty water house in them many diseases: such as

malaria, dengue fever? People do not seem to care. Sister Jenny William said that is not the

case. She said that she, Father Yaqub and Father Ashiq along with other few sisters

organized a small movement called “Green and Clean Youhanabad” which was to create

awareness among the people that it is their responsibility to keep Youhanabad clean, the

movement turned out to be quite a success because everyone participated in it women and

children alike. However, the things return to the way they were before the movement just

after a few days.

So are the basis goods like flour, rice, sugar, vegetables and so forth available on the

numerous general stores doing business in the vicinity? Yes. Every basis commodities for

daily use are readily available. This was confirmed with the help of the survey that was

carried out by all the members of the group. After splitting up, we took a sample of five

stores and asked them for a few household items. 67% of the people in our sample say yes

basis commodities are available in the general store (See appendix A, figure A).

It is the responsibility of the government to take care about the infrastructure

and basic facilities provided at residential area. Recently, Nazimship has been terminated

and there is no immediate incharge of this area currently. Therefore, the provincial minister

for minorities Mr. Kamran Michael was tried to approach several times but it turned out to be

mission impossible for due to his busy schedule, a meeting could not be arranged. Kamran

Michael had also been an immediate incharge of this colony some time before; nevertheless,

the Ex-Nazim or the last Nazim at Youhanabad; T. Tariq Javed Tariq, was approached, and

interviewed as a last resort that turned out to reveal the inside story of what steps were taken

by the government to uplift this area.

Tariq J. Tariq was elected as the Nazim for Youhanabad and surrounding towns in

2004. He continued to be the Nazim for 4 years and again in 2008, was selected again by the

people. According to him, he was the first Christian Nazim for any colony in the history of

Pakistan.


Upon investigating the reasons for such terrible conditions related to infrastructure

and facilities at Youhanabad and what government had been doing to uplift the area, the

answer was quite political. As before 2004, there used to be a separate election system in

Pakistan, where a handful number of candidates from the Christian minority would be

selected for five minority seats in the provincial assemblies and four in the National

Assembly. Only Christian citizens were allowed to vote them and those five Ministers of

Provincial Assembly were responsible to take care of Christian colonies in the whole

province. Now, for instance, if a Muslim MPA from one these areas’ unions was selected as

an MPA(Member of Provincial Assembly) or MNA (Member of National Assembly), then he

would not do any constructive work for Christian societies since Christians would not have

voted him rather just Christian representatives. However, the system was changed during

President Musharaf’s reign and a Joint Election system was selected where regardless of

religion, any citizen, whether Christian or Muslim, was able to vote any representative from

that area, again regardless of religion. For instance, Ch. Mansha Sandhu was the MPA from

the union including Youhanabad, and this time he had Christian voters too, which encouraged

him to work for Christian colonies such as Youhanabad. Therefore, according to his answer,

from 1955, with the efforts of the catholic church called, Karitaas, this society was formed

and till then, due to separate election system, no constructive work was done for this area till

2004, when joint election system was introduced. (T. Tariq, personal communication April 7,

2010)

The main sewage system in Youhanabad was established in 2004, when the former

Nazim Tariq J. Tariq requested the former Governor, Mr. Khalid Maqbool, for the

development of a main sewage system in Youhanabad. During the interview, when the

former Nazim heard us calling the current sewage system as pathetic, said that it is better than

before. “If you had visited Youhanabad in 2004 or before, even this sewage system was

unavailable and it was because of his team’s efforts that we could see at least an average

sewage system there,” said the former Nazim. (T. Tariq, personal communication, April 7,

2010). Although, it was clearly observed that there was an open sewage system going along

the road creating diseases amongst the people around.

The roads are already uneven in Youhanabad, and further to worsen the condition,

houses are build in a very irregular way creating hurdles on the way along the road. Here, a

weak perspective was given by the representative of the government. According to him,


there were many private estate agencies working in Youhanabad, and due to their corruption,

a very irregular infrastructure was observed in the area. “We, being part of the government

are also people’s elected representatives, hence we cannot force them to leave their homes

and construct the infrastructure all over again” said the former Nazim. Once again, if this

place were visited before 2004, the roads would not allow a car to enter the area from the

main side.

All the respondents of this research expressed that the water coming from WASA was

not fit for human consumption. Therefore, while helping themselves, the residents of the

community have made a “Consumer Usage Community” which has installed five tube wells

for this area, which is used by the majority of the residents. Again, its water was not fit for

human consumption. Again, a lame answer was given in this regard from the authority. (T.

Tariq, personal communication, April 7, 2010)

Government’s steps for this area were not plausible at all. Likewise, Youhanabad is

not the only area with terrible conditions but there is big list of those areas. It is not only the

Christian community that is suffering but also majority of Muslim population encounters the

same problems in Pakistan in many areas. This was the reason given by the former Nazim

where he mentioned that he would request the government many times but government could

not meet their expectation due to improper allocation of funds and attention to all the areas.

Here, he did not consider his Christian community the only one suffering and it was true

since many other colonies in Lahore and all over Pakistan is under-developed.

Employment Discrimination

While researching on several domains on the problems of Christian minority in

Lahore, and particularly in Youhanabad, another area of study was found relating to

employment of this minority in organizations and home. Being employed is the best way to

make one’s life better. Employment gives the opportunity to a person to live a respectful and

a healthier life. It elates the status of a working individual in the society and makes him/her

able to feed his family. Unfortunately, it has been observed that based on religion, the

Christian minority of Pakistan, has to face discrimination at work place in many respects.

They are called by different other names rather their very own names. Muslim employees do

not eat with them based on their religion while it is very acceptable in terms of Islam. This

situation is more prevalent in Government institutions as there is weak enforcement of


Human Resources and human rights’ laws, while in multi-nationals and other private

organizations where rights of employees are taken special care of , this situation is minimal.

According to the constitution of Pakistan, minorities are not allowed to be promoted as the

Prime minister, president, and chief of army staff, which is the greatest example of

discrimination at the government level. Religious fanatics deny jobs to the deserving

Christians and thus, the discrimination results in a dark future for this minority and they have

no other ways but to resort to evil. Employment discrimination at many different places has

been taken into consideration to analyze the causes, affects and of course possible solutions

to bring about prosperity within the rejected communities of our nation.

A considerable number of women are seen working in middle, upper middle and

upper class homes. An investigation to figure out the reasons for these women to work in

homes as janitors was carried out. One such woman at one of the group member’s home was

interviewed to reveal the tragedy urging them to work at low wages in homes. Rani Yousuf

or Rani Aunty (as she was called at home), 42, a janitor, revealed the truth about her husband

completing his days in the jail for her husband was not able to find a healthy employment and

was arrested in a robbery case. The prime reason for him, as she further expressed, resorting

to robbery was not to be able to find the suitable employment that could feed him and his

family of five children. “No body listens to us, we are treated in the society as untouchables,

what else we should do then,” she maintained. (R. Yousuf, personal communication, March

20, 2010). Consequently, she had no other option but to find a low waged job and work as a

janitor at a few homes during the daytime.

It was further proven true when a locale from the area, crude by face, living there for

more than 25 years now, explained the reasons for such a high unemployment rate at

Youhanabad. He did not have to reveal one reason only but many of them. When

individuals from this area go ahead and apply for jobs, and because of Christian surnames,

are denied because these employers do not want a Christian at their work place for which, as

he sarcastically exploded, they might have to arrange separate teacups, glasses, plates and

even seats, said Mr. John (personal communication, March 15, 2010). This intense social

discrimination at workplace is the cause of this religious minority left alone at their homes

doing nothing constructive about their lives. Mackay, M. (2006) mentions the same situation

in her article,


The reason Pakistani Christians do not obtain dignified jobs is not their inability to

measure up to the criteria laid down for the jobs. Rather, in most cases, it is the

hardened and intolerant mindsets of employers that thwart their upward social

mobility.

70% respondents from the sample survey also supported this argument when they

were questioned about the first reason for them to be discriminated and it was religion. (See

Appendix A, figure F).

While visiting the locality, Youhanabad, it was observed that a considerable number

of young boys had gathered at snooker clubs, video game centers, and internet cafés.

Apparently, they were college going young boys. The time at which the visit was made, they

should have been studying at colleges or universities, but they were found involved in useless

activities. On investigating from a locale, John A., it was explained that these boys could not

find any job in the market and therefore were playing around in those areas while their sisters

and mothers would have to take the charge and find any way of earning money; let it be a job

or prostitution (John A., personal communication, March 15, 2010).

Moreover, due to them being not provided with the rights they deserve, Christian

citizens face a mental trauma of being totally neglected in the society. Due to this fact, they

have lost the spirit and are mentally discouraged to struggle, which ends landing on a janitor

job or a brick maker. The authority, who was interviewed, had to make it another reason for

the young boys who should have been at colleges or universities at the time of the visit; but

were just roaming around snooker clubs and video game centers having the psyche that they

had no future at all. Therefore, despite social discrimination, mentally not focused to struggle

was another major reason for their failure. (Ex-Nazim Youhanabad, Tariq J.T, personal

communication, April 7, 2010)

Again, while discussing the issues at Youhanabad with Amanat John, he established

that due to these people not getting proper employment rights, resulting into unemployment

and drug addiction, it has been engraved in their minds that they will not be able to prosper in

the society and thus engage in permanent inferiority complex. Nevertheless, success stories

tell us that to succeed in life; one has to keep on trying until they make it to their destination.

The spirit lacks in most of these people, which makes their lives miserable.


Enough has been said about Christians not getting into organizations because of their

religion. However, it cannot be interpreted that none of them land any jobs. The research

team also tried to investigate how are these people treated once they are a part of some

organization. There were different answers based on the respondents’ experiences, for some

had not been provided with the rights they deserved as an employee and some had to face

discrimination amongst their colleagues while others were disappointed for they were never

promoted to higher positions. It was not as if everyone was just disappointed, 6% of

respondents were happy, as they were highly educated and working with multi-nationals

where the situation is a lot better than the rest. It is important to note that a comparatively

higher percentage (56%) of respondents shared the fact that they were discriminated amongst

their fellow colleagues (See, Appendix A, figure L). For instance, they would be called by

the name “Churra” by the people working there and it is enough to humiliate any one

regardless of faith and creed in Pakistani Culture. (Ex-Nazim Youhanabad Tariq T.J,

personal communication, April 7, 2010)

Crimes and Drugs in Youhanabad

Through ages man has been the cause of his own destruction, whether it be war or

other such related disasters, it initiation was conducted by man himself. The area that is

covered in this section is “Crimes and Drugs in Youhanabad”.

The first impression of the area of Youhanabad is that it’s an area with Christian

majority present on the outskirts of Lahore, but it is not only home to half a million Christians

but also a very important spot for most of the drug dealings taking place in the city.

Consequently numerous trips were made to find and research on the happenings in the area

but to no effort the desired results were obtained. So in the end it was decided to visit the

place when most action took place, night. At night Youhanabad is a very different place,

unlike the mornings when the streets are bustling with schoolchildren and people going about

their routine work, night is dark and quite. The same streets that are filled with noise of

children playing in the daylight are now silenced as men perform their dark arts by selling

powder that brings only destruction. Opium, available in almost all its forms, with prices

starting from just Rs.6 and going up to Rs.10000. But this is not the horrifying part, what is

more shocking is to observe such a large crowd of men , old and young gathered around the

vendors of death to buy this powder of destruction.


So now the major question the popped up was, why? , what were the reasons that

such a mass number of people in a locality were indulged in such vices , to find the

answers ,meeting with the authority regarding the matter had to be made. The first try was to

meet the in charge of the district police station(Nishtar Colony Station) which lies on the

Kasur road, but to utter dismay, every time the visit was made to the station the same answer

came, “Sir is on duty he won’t be returning early”. After this unsuccessful feat the major

objective was now to investigate the local authorities and residents. Amanat John, 41, a

resident of youhanabad had this to say,

“You must have observed all these young boys standing by the road sides doing

nothing when they should be in colleges or doing jobs at this time of the day, well let

me tell you one thing, it’s not their fault they are here right now, they are here because

of the society. It’s not like this that these people are not educated, more than half will

understand and reply in English but every day when they leave there house to find

employment they end up becoming targets of discrimination and returning home

without any jobs or money, empty handed. So what is left to be done now, either they

try to engulf their daily life misery by taking drugs or resorting to thievery”. (Personal

Communication, February 20, 2010)

This is true. 45% of the people who were interviewed on the matter were unemployed

and almost 63% of families were facing the problem of having a drug addict in their family.

Now to find out the relationship between education, unemployment and, crimes in the

area, a trip was made to the local catholic school:

“Well education will only take you this far (showing a box on her index finger), said

Sister Jenny Williams, the principal of Saint John Model school for boys in

Youhanabad, but to survive and flourish you need a job and that’s what these young

people are deprived from, it is not only these young people who face this

discrimination but Christians of all ages face this. We are referred to as Yahood-o-

Nisara and the mullahs teach not to trust us, when such ideas are circulating in the

community how do expect our people to get any success in any field , this is the

reason that then leads these people to resort to crimes and wrongdoings”.(Personal

Communication 7th March 2010)


It is said, that to achieve success you have to look outside the box. On conducting the

research various unanswered questions popped up; who is and how Youhanabad is being

supplied with drugs and to what level is this web of narcotics spread out. To look into the

matter the first thing that was undertaken was the recording of ideas of willing volunteer

residents, who were not afraid to share or discuss the matter with us, one such popular idea

that circulated was that most of the drugs were brought in from the annual gathering in

Raiwand. Now this was quite an odd piece of thought, to research on as the gathering was

strictly religious, so to get a second opinion on the matter, Jamshed Afzal, a math teacher in

Beaconhouse Garden Town School and regular participant in this gathering was consulted.

On asking the question he replied , “Well it’s not new to hear drugs being associated with

such a prestigious gathering , but I will admit , Yes , drug trafficking might be taking place

there as there is no security check there and people come there from all places and origins”.

(Personal Communication) Now the puzzle was starting to solve itself. It is widely known

that the gathering at Riwand is attended by millions of Muslims coming in from Afghanistan,

Uzbekistan etc. and that no proper check and balance was made on the caravans’ arriving. So

now the source of drug transportation was known. The only major question now that was left

was: Why was Youhanabad made the hot spot for the trafficking of these drugs? The answer

was simple. Non Muslim communities have no legal barriers on them from the constitution

regarding the issue of alcohol or related material, and it is this very law that is raped by these

drug traffickers to get there material into a safe spot where the check and balance of the

government is minimal.

So this is the whole game plan, the innocent Christian community of Youhanabad is

being used and framed by these drug traffickers. True that discrimination is present there, but

the drug lords involved here have promoted the negative image of these people. Of course

when there is no bread to feed the family and every day the whole family suffers because of a

few responsible members there are only two ways left either to resort to illegal way of

fulfilling the family’s needs or to kill oneself by either committing suicide or slowly; by

taking drugs.

Another related problem that came up during this research was that many people complained

during interview sessions about the presence of land mafia. Now this was another very

interesting issue; the land mafia like the drug mafia is operating very cleanly in the area

without any check from the authorities. Saleem Bahdur, 62, a retired Pakistan Air force pilot


in an interview said,”I served the country for 45years, and it took me all my life’s saving to

build this house here in Youhanabad, but there are smugglers and thieves here who have

occupied hundreds of houses here and they use them as bases of their loot and dirty work and

many of these occupied house are bases of prostitution in this area. Its outrageous how they

operate, first they loan the poor people with money to be repaid in a short time period, when

these poor souls can’t repay these animals, and they just come and empty their houses and

drag the families to the street.”

At this point, it was realized that there was no point continuing the research without

getting the view of the authority. The Nishtar Colony police station on kasur road was the

only station in the locality and Youhanabad fell under its responsibility and as the authority

had been reluctant before to give any views on the matter, so it was decided to request some

senior officials and have the meeting arranged. Finally the meeting was arranged on the

evening of 24th March 2010 with special help from Brigadier Naeem Butt. The main reason of

this meeting was to ask the police in charge there, that what they were doing for the well

being of people of Youhanabad. The terms of this meeting were on the basis of keeping the

source anonymity and that no electronic gadgets were to be used to record the interview.

These terms and conditions were agreed upon and finally after a long wait, the meeting took

place with the one law enforcement authority who could be questioned on the issue of crimes

and drugs in Youhanabad. On asking what was being done in the area for the people of

Youhanabad, the overweight officer replied “you should not ask that question, what you

should ask is what have we not done for the people of Youhanabad. My men are always

patrolling the streets undercover and wherever we sense mischief we arrest those people”. On

asking the situation of drugs and land mafia he replied “what mafia are you talking about? In

8 years of my duty here I have not seen a single drug case in Youhanabad except for the

occasional homemade wine issues which pop out once in a blue moon, but mind you, we take

strict action on that issue too”. (Personal Communication) The interview with the senior

official took almost an hour, and the one authority who could have given breakthroughs in

this research, looped out. It would be appropriate to say after meeting the official that this

interview had been a total waste of time.

Who are these authorities trying to befool? Such white lies over facts that even a blind

man could distinguish. Just 1 hour later at 8:15pm on the same date after conducting the

interview of the police official a trip was again made to Youhanabad to find the streets loaded


with sales men for drugs of your choice. Now to get some solid answers from local

authorities, the Ex-nazim of Youhanabad Tariq Javed Tariq was contacted and after a lot of

problems the interview was finally arranged. On asking his view on the matter of drugs in

Youhanabad he replied:

“Well yes, I am aware of the fact that many drug dealers are operating in

Youhanabad, but what can I do? We tried to convince the local authorities to take

action on the matter but they do not budge, and to be honest this is not my job. I

informed the police and that is the maximum I can do. I can’t take any personal

actions because to be very frank I can’t distort my image because at the end of the day

I became nazim from their votes.” (Personal Communication, April 7, 2010)

This was pathetic; there is no law and order in the area. The one authority that the

people can trust to be un-biased and helpful in curbing their misery is itself involved in

helping the drug mafia in continuing its dirty work. After the meeting with the police official

and the Ex-nazim it was now starting to become clear that, the rumors that kept coming up

about police official being involved in this drug business were true. This also meant that the

fact outlined by the people regarding the police accepting bribery from these drug sellers, and

then faking innocent people as mischief-makers, arresting them, and then asking their

families for large amount to bail them out, were true. In addition, what do the poor who have

no money do? They borrow it, and later end up losing their properties and valuables to the

land mafia and rewinding the whole cycle. In simpler terms, the whole game revolves around

the looting and plundering of the poor Christian minority of Youhanabad who cannot even

fight freely for their own basic rights in the society.

The Christian minority in Pakistan is under constant pressure at all times. Not only

are they facing acts of discrimination and constant fake accusations of blasphemy against

Islam but also they are facing high inflation rates with the rest of the country. Such problems

are the major reason that crimes such as drugs, theft, and prostitution are very high in their

community. No laws enforcement authorities are acting properly in large Christian societies

such as Youhanabad. It is the job of the Pakistan government that they should look into the

matter and take serious action on such problems taking place within the minorities.


Conclusion

The purpose of this intensive research paper was to investigate the conditions of the

said area, Youhanabad, which was fulfilled to its maximum capacity undertaking all the

limitations on hand. Youhanabad happened to be a volatile community having people with

great talent and latent spirit to count towards their own betterment and society. However,

they are not able to accomplish their endeavors; thanks to the discrimination and facilities

provided to them. While carrying out this research, it was concluded that discrimination,

unavailability of proper education, leading to unemployment were the primary causes for the

individuals of this community to resort to illegal acts like robbery and drug addiction. The

infrastructure is much ruptured as there are no proper roads, houses and buildings in this area,

which is doing nothing but adding misery to the lives of people of Youhanabad.

Furthermore, the constant negligence by the authorities and discrimination from the society’s

part have caused these Christians of Youhanabad lose hope and motivation for a better future.

Recommendations

Currently there is only 3% representation of religious minority in the parliament it

should be increased to at least 5-10%.

Awareness campaigns should be run for the awareness that all people have equal

rights.

The negative image promotes by Mulahs is absurd and should be banned by the

Government.

It came to our notice that the people of Youhanabad are not unwilling to work for the

betterment of their community. Lack of leadership is the main problem and this can

be solved by promoting educated figures in the minority so that they might set

examples from within their communities.

It would be much better if the MPA of the area is someone who lives in the vicinity

and coming from the same level so that he has the picture of the problems in

Youhanabad, only than would he be able to understand and try to solve the problem

that people encounter in their daily life due to the lack of infrastructure.

The dirty water that is in the open sewages and flows on to the streets, whenever it

rains and makes it difficult for the people to walk on the streets, so sewages should be

covered up in order to avoid dangerous diseases which result from the dirty water.


In order to improve the educational conditions in Youhanabad the government has to

play its effective part. It should open public schools there as they are the citizens of

Pakistan too and deserve a lot better than what they are now getting.

The government has to make a proper check to those schools in Youhanabad who

are exploiting the Christian children and their parents. Also it’s the responsibility of

the government to help those institutions that are making an effort to promote

education but are unable to do so because of lack of funds. As the results of

questionnaire shows that the major problem behind the poor educational conditions

are the lack of funds. (See appendix A, figure K). In order to hearten the teachers

they should be given salaries according to their qualifications. All the above

measures have to be taken to provide equal opportunities to Christian people so that

they can secure their future as well as the future of Pakistan.

Strict HR laws in the organizations should be implemented to protect the

discrimination against any religious minorities.

Awareness campaigns in the organizations should be inducted in order to bring people

of all religions together.

There should be tighter law enforcement implementation by the government in these

minority-inhabited areas so that the rights of these people are not misused.

Law enforcement authorities like Police should properly perform their duties in these

areas.

People should be educated on the use and abuse of drugs and NGOs along with

government should open rehabilitation programs that not only help the already present

drug addicts return to normal life but also help promote the eradication of these drugs.


References

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Ahmed, B., Iftikhar, S. [Eds], (2004).Pakistan Studies. : for Class 10th (p. 28) Lahore; Punjab text board.

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http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/16-shazia-case-accused-remanded-in-custody-hs-06

http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/morenewsviews.php

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http://www.christiantoday.com/article/employment.discrimination.against.christians.remains.chronic.in.pakistan/8433.htm

Final research paper - Youhanabad

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