16 January 2005	Sunday	05 Zilhaj 1425

LAHORE, Jan 15: The Commission for Peace and Human Development has opposed the possible re-insertion of the religion column in the passport and called upon the government to stop adopting double-standards on religious issues.

Commission Director Waseem Anthony said in a statement a passport was an international travel document requiring the national identity of the holder and identification of religion was not required.

Even the national identity card did not have the religion column on it, as it was meant for establishing the national identity and had nothing to do with the belief of the holder.

He regretted that the government was adopting double-standards on the issue of mentioning the religion in the official documents. It had printed only Pakistan on the passports in English to project the country as a moderate state, but put down Islami Jamhooria Pakistan in Urdu to appease the religious elements.

Similarly, he said, it had deleted the religion column from the passport and proposed deletion of sect column from all official documents. But the ruling party had favoured re-insertion of religion column in the passport.