ICC Note:
Members of both the Christian and the Muslim communities of Pakistan marched together this week in cities across the South Asian country. The protestors main message was that Pakistan is in need of serious change. Among the issues highlighted, the protection of religious minorities was central. Many protestors called back to the September attack on All Saints Church in Peshawar that claimed the lives of over 130 Christians. Please pray that Pakistan is able to change in 2014. 
1/3/2014 Pakistan (Asia News) – A strengthening of Pakistan’s “incoherent” foreign policy tied to an age that has “past”, which must adapt to new and ever more “dynamic” world powers; peaceful coexistence between Islamabad and neighboring countries, combined with the improvement of bilateral relations based on trade relations that should be pursued by means of a “urgent and proactive” diplomatic efforts. These are the requests made by thousands of citizens, who marched across Pakistan for the Solidarity March 2014 organized by the activist network Aman Ittehad (United for Peace).
Activists and ordinary citizens marched through the streets of Lahore, Karachi, Sialkot, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Quetta, Mardan and more. In Faisalabad at least 300 people marched, including lawyers, Muslim and Christian religious leaders, politicians, educators, journalists and students. Their common goal is to re-launch a program of “peace and solidarity” and request the government strengthen foreign policy, in a nation that has in the recent decades become a “surrogate” of foreign powers.
According to estimates by the World Economic Forum, Pakistan is in 133th place out of 148 countries in the period 2013/14, a figure that shows an “alarming collapse” of its economic structures. Reforms are urgently needed aimed at improving competitiveness, enhancing the level of education and stepping up infrastructure. Within the overall framework of “national security” in fact fit the goals of “economic growth and stability.”
The protesters also marched in solidarity with the victims of terrorism, a growing phenomenon in the country, in particular against religious minorities. Among the many incidents, the attack on Peshawar’s Christian community in September, which caused hundreds of casualties.
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