ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: The All Pakistan Minorities’ Alliance (APMA), a representative body of all religious minorities has condemned what it called harassment of its president allegedly by the agencies and inclusion of his name on the Exit Control List.

Speaking at a joint press conference the representatives of some 14 religious minorities organizations and churches at a local hotel on Sunday vowed to continue their fight for equal rights to all citizens regardless of their religion, sect, ethnicity, caste, and creed.

They also reiterated their commitment to fight until all the discriminatory laws against minorities and women are repealed.

They reposed their confidence in the leadership of Shahbaz Bhatti and warned that “if any harm happened to him all the responsibilities will rest on the government”.

They said the Senate had become a no-go area for the minorities as the government feared that the minorities would oppose all the discriminatory laws introduced against them in the upper house.

The also demanded of the government to remove the name of Mr Bhatti from the ECL.

Speaking to mediapersons on the occasion, Shahbaz Bhatti, flanked by peace activist and APMA executive secretary Group Capt Cecil Chaudhry (retired); Bishop Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, Director, National Commission for Peace (Catholic Bishops Conference), Bishop John V. Mall, Bishop of Multan; Bhajan Dass Tijwani, former president, Sukkur Bar Association and Sardar Gurbajan Singh, said all charges against him were concocted and baseless. “Men from agencies have threatened me on telephone and walked into our offices warning us to stop whatever we have been doing”, he alleged.

“Our struggle is only to make this country a better place to live in; promote peace and harmony among Muslims and non-Muslims and live as one nation”, Mr Bhatti exhorted.

He said the government had given no reasons as to why his name had been included in the exit control list (ECL). He said such tactics only alienated the minorities and did not help improve relations between the Muslims and the non-Muslims.

“All the accusations against me are false. The government has nothing to prove that I am guilty of any wrongdoing”.

Gp Capt Cecil Chaudhry, said the minorities were only struggling to exercise their basic rights freely and the Hoodud and Blasphemy laws did not help make life easy for them in the country.

“These laws are discriminatory and affect the minorities badly. Today people are not asking for reforms in these laws but demanding abolition of the Hudood laws,” he maintained.

A written statement issued to the press was signed by Gp Caption ; Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, Director, National Commission on Justice and Peace (Catholic Bishops Conference); Bishop John V. Mall of Multan, Bishop John Samuel of Faisalabad, members of the Punjab Assembly, Naveed Amir Jeeva, Pervez Rafiq and Najmi Saleem; Saleem Khursheed Khokkar, former member Sindh Assembly; Michael Javed, former MPA from Balochistan; Ezra Shujaat, Chairman Minority Rights Committee, LHC Bar Association; James Channan, Director Pastoral Institute, Multan; Mehboob Sada, secretary Christian Organization for Social Action in Pakistan (COSAP), and Sardar Mohan Singh.