Catholic Church asks judge to block nuns’ expulsion
“Morethan4,000 students...are made the scape goat, just because of (a) personal liking or disliking.
ISLAMABAD — First, Pakistan nearly forced one of the world’s most recognized charities, Save the Children, to stop doing business in the country. Then, it announced that thousands of charities and international aid groups would have to follow strict new licensing procedures. Now, it has cancelled the visas of three Philippine nuns, prompting a lawsuit from the Catholic Church.
In a case that highlights the Pakistani government’s growing suspicion of foreigners, the nuns were ordered last week to leave. They were accused of “engaging in employment in violation of their visa category,” the Express Tribune newspaper reported Wednesday.
The nuns, who have been working in Pakistan for about a decade, were told they must leave by the end of the month. One of them is the principal of Islamabad Convent School, one of 42 private schools operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi.
But the nuns and church officials are fighting back, a rare public stance by the Catholic Church in this overwhelmingly Muslim country. On Wednesday, the diocese filed a motion asking
CATHOLIC CHURCH ATTORNEY
an Islamabad judge to block the expulsion.
Abid Nazir, a lawyer for the church, said the three nuns are “missionary workers” who have devoted their lives to educating and helping impoverished children in Pakistan. Nazir said he fears Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has a personal vendetta against them and the school. Nazir said Khan’s wife used to work as a teacher at the school but resigned in 2011 after a dispute with the principal.
“More than 4,000 students of Islamabad Convent School, who are Pakistani nationals, are made the scapegoat, just because of (a) personal liking or disliking,” the court filing states. “If the missionary workers will be sent back, then no proper replacement will be available for the proper taking care of the 4,000 children/students of our nation.”