Christians in Pakistan face aid discrimination: Vatican agen

VATICAN CITY: Christians affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan face systematic discrimination in the distribution of aid, the news agency of a Vatican missionary body reported on Thursday. The Fides news agency, a branch of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, said aid was handled either by Muslim relief organisations or by government officials close to fundamentalists. Both discriminated against Christians and other minorities in distributing aid essential to survival, it said. About 200,000 Christian refugees in Punjab and about 600,000 Christians and Hindus in Sindh are affected by the phenomenon, Fides said, citing NGO sources on the ground. “Christian refugees are often ignored. They are purposely not identified and registered. Thus, they are automatically excluded from any healthcare or food, as they supposedly do not exist,” said a local NGO worker. afp

Daily Times (Friday, August 27, 2010)