ASIA/PAKISTAN - The ban on SMS has been postponed; for the Church "one wants to block the Christian message"

Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - Satisfaction and prudence among the Christians of Pakistan after the announcement of the postponement concerning the "ban on vulgar SMS ", determined by the Pakistan Authority for Telecommunications. The Authority has announced the revision of the list of words banned in text messages and its final publication in a few days. The measure had sparked protests because, among more than 1,600 banned words, there was also the name of Jesus Christ (see Fides 21/11/2011).
As reported to Fides, Salim Khursheed Khokhar, a Christian MP who belongs to the People's Party of Pakistan, yesterday staged a protest in Parliament, improvising a sit-in in front of the President of the Assembly, Nisar Khuhro. Many NGOs expressed their intention to take legal action to challenge the measure. In the Catholic Church, which had announced pressure on the government, today the Christians denounced "attempts, overt or covert, to stop the spread of the Christian message in Pakistan".
In an interview with Fides, Fr. John Shakir Nadeem, Secretary of the Commission for Social Communications of the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Pakistan, highlights the reasons for the faithful Christians for the work of evangelization: "We support the views of those who make proper use of modern technologies and production. New technologies are used for rapid mass communication. As Christians in Pakistan, although being a small minority, we are making extensive use in the field of evangelization. Putting the word 'Jesus Christ' on the list of terms considered 'indecent' would be a terrible act. This not only goes against basic human rights, but also against the religious rights of Christian communities". Welcoming the government’s backtrack, Fr. Nadeem notes: "It seems that this act meant to probe the reaction of Christians. I think that the Authority may in the future use other techniques to block the Christian message. For this we confide in the attention of international media, to denounce and stop such attempts". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 22/11/2011)