Pakistani Christian activists oppose razing of shelter home

Feb 27, 2025

By Kamran Chaudhry
Activists in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province have called on church authorities to halt the demolition of a 55-year-old shelter home in its capital Quetta for young Christians in the country’s poorest and conflict-ridden region.

“The Catholic Church is the temporary custodian, not the owner of the property. It should be handed over to its old Christian students,” demanded Adnan Arif Jehangir, a Christian member of the National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, who addressed the media at Quetta Press Club on Feb. 25.

The alumni of the shelter home named Al-Falah ('the hope' in Urdu), who were present at the media briefing, demanded the resignation of Bishop Khalid Rehmat of Quetta for allowing the demolition of the home that Dutch Franciscan Father Otto Postma built.

They also wanted a local Balochistani priest named bishop in the Apostolic Vicariate of Quetta.

The vicariate is the largest in the country by geographical area and the most impoverished, both ecclesiastically and economically, Jehangir said.

He said the shelter home building was a heritage of the local Catholics. Built with foreign and local funds, it has provided modern education to at least 1200 students from the poorest families.

“We condemn this martyrdom of our cultural heritage,” Jehangir added.

Bishop Rehmat, when contacted by UCA News, refused to comment on the controversy.

Christians in Balochistan form less than one percent of the 14. 9 million people in the province. Many of them are poor laborers. Most Christian women are employed as street cleaners in Quetta.

According to the Friends of Al-Falah website, Postma introduced young people to sports, computers, music, dance and theatre.

The Dutch priest, who was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau in 1989 by the royal house of the Netherlands, died in 2002 in Quetta.

A banner hung in the background carried the slogans,  “Salute to the dignity of Father Postma” and “No to the corruption in the name of religion.”

The Al-Falah shelter became part of the Don Bosco Learning Centre and is now managed by the Salesian Father Samuel Adnan, the alumni association members said.

Father Adnan said the Franciscans left the area in early 2000. The merger happened in 2010, after which the name of the old building was changed to St. John Vianney Church.

More than 100 parishioners are using a hall in the building for regular prayer services.

“We are still managing the Al-Falah boarding, providing free education and food to the deserving students,” he told UCA News on Feb. 27.

The Balochistan High Court on Feb. 24 issued an order, directing the church authorities to maintain the status quo and suspend the demolition of the disputed property.

The order came while hearing a petition filed by Jahangir and an alumnus of Al-Falah. The next hearing is on March 5.

The three acres of land on which the shelter home is built is said to be worth 7 billion rupees (US$24.98 million), said Jehangir.

He claimed Father Qaiser Boota, assistant parish priest of St. John Vianney Church and his supporters threatened to kill him

Boota denied the charge. “We spoke calmly, but Jehangir tried to stop the laborers at the site, and we had to forcibly remove him from the premises,” he told UCA News.

The proposed demolition is not for any commercial purpose, he said.

“The building is old. It belongs to the diocese and we want to build a bigger church in its place to serve parishioners,” he claimed.--ucanews.com