ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: Christian leader, convenor of World Minorities Alliance (WAM) and ex-minister Julius Salik, voluntarily locked himself inside a specially designed iron cage for a month long solidarity with Muslim brethren, on Friday.

Mr Salik formally entered the cage equipped with all the necessities of life like toilet, bed, television, radio in a ceremony, on Friday.

The campaign in Ramazan had been planned and implemented in the wake of the US bombing on Afghanistan.

He observed that his current solidarity campaign of enchanig himself was aimed at restraining himself from worldly pleasures as part payment of the debt Pakistani Christians owed to their countrymen.

Mr Salik was locked and sealed in the cage by his friends at his home. The confinement will end on the sighting of Eid moon.

For humanitarian relief in Afghanistan Mr Salik proposed that the UN should launch a lottery scheme by putting on sale vouchers of small denominations to raise funds.

Every week, 30 per cent of the proceeds collected be divided among lottery winners and the rest, spent on reconstruction of Afghanistan.

The ceremony started with hoisting of Pakistan flag by Mr Salik in accompaniment of national anthem and patriotic songs played by a school band.

Mr Salik sprayed his blood through a syringe in the soil to renew his pledge of loyalty to his country.

He is known for his innovative methods of demonstration to highlight the cause of the weak and downtrodden, particularly the minorities all around the world.

Mr Salik is founder of the movement of Christian-Muslim unity in Pakistan.