A Christian rights group on Thursday urged Imran Khan to scrap a major rally planned for Christmas Day, calling the move insensitive to the minority group. He now hopes to top that success with a rally in Karachi, which holds special significance as the birthday of the country's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and a public holiday.
But in an open letter, the Centre for Human Rights Education called on Khan to change the date and send a positive message to persecuted minorities that he would work to reverse decades of discrimination. "Arranging a rally on Christmas Day shows they are not sensitive to the Christian community," said Samson Salamat, director of the Lahore-based group and a Christian human rights activist.
"This is an important day for us and it is our basic right that we should be given respect," he told AFP. Arif Alvi, secretary general of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf told AFP the party would "consider the suggestion" but said it would hamper preparations to change the date.
"We will cooperate with the Christian community and facilitate their celebration of Christmas. We will also provide them transport, if they contact us, for Christmas celebrations or to attend our rally," he said. But Michael Javed, a Christian community leader in Karachi, dismissed any problem, saying that Christmas rituals would be largely completed before the rally gets underway in the evening of December 25.
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