ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Pakistan cancels visas of three Philippine nuns, prompting a lawsuit from the Catholic Church that claims interior minister has personal vendetta against the school where one of them works.
According to a report published in The Washington Post, the nuns, who have been working in Pakistan for about a decade, were ordered last week to leave the country by end of this month.
They were accused of “engaging in employment in violation of their visa category,” Washington Post quoted Express Tribune newspaper.
One of them is the principal of Islamabad Convent School, one of 42 private schools operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi.
But the nuns and church officials are fighting back. The diocese filed a motion in the Islamabad court, asking to block the expulsion.
Abid Nazir, an attorney for the church, said in an interview all the three nuns are “missionary workers” who have devoted their lives to educating and helping impoverished children in Pakistan. Nazir added that he fears Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has a personal vendetta against them and the school.
Nazir said Khan’s wife used to work as a teacher at the school but resigned in 2011 after a dispute with the principal.
“More than 4,000 students of Islamabad Convent School, are made the scapegoat, just because of personal liking or disliking,” the court filing states. “If the missionary workers will be sent back then no proper replacement will be available for the proper taking care of the 4,000 children/students of our nation.”
The interior ministry did not return the newspaper’s calls for comment. A judge has yet to rule on the case.
