Yesterday, a group of young people attended the Mass presided over by Archbishop Mons. Travas. In his homily he asked for “penance and sacrificial acts” such as fasting to draw closer to Christ. But new elements of tension came from politics: in protest, some allies of former Prime Minister Imran Khan purposely turned themselves in to the police for arrest.
Karachi () – An ideal time to “pray for peace” in the region and in the world, for the “stability” of the country, to show “comfort and solidarity” to the most unfortunate, to make gestures of “penance and sacrifice” that strengthen faith. Lent is an opportunity to renew oneself, as the Archbishop of Karachi, Monsignor Benny Mario Travas, stressed yesterday in his homily, celebrating Mass on Ash Wednesday before a group of students gathered in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The period of preparation for Easter, he added, is a propitious time to “return to the Lord, confess and change your life” by following the commandments.
“In these days of Lent”, the prelate pointed out in his reflection, “we must do penance and gestures of sacrifice” such as “fasting” that allows us to “experience the pain of Christ on our skin”. An experience, he added, that ” it allows us to get closer to God” and to be more united “with each other”. of the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) decided to allow themselves to be detained “on purpose” in protest.
Adding to the tension, on February 17, an extremist group attacked the city’s police headquarters, killing at least four people and injuring fourteen others. Added to this was the explosion of rudimentary artifacts and gunshots that filled the air with smoke in the area between Jinnah Hospital and Sindhi Muslim Hospital. “I pray for peace,” said second-year student Myra Anastasia, addressing those present, “and I pray for the prosperity of our Pakistan. People have huge problems, some don’t even have enough to eat, my parents taught me to save money on these dates and help the poor, so that they can experience the joy of the risen Lord”.
To stoke tension in the country, just at the beginning of Lent, some ICC leaders decided to “voluntarily” surrender to the Lahore police and allow themselves to be arrested in what is known as “Jail Bharo Tehreek”. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Azam Swati, among others, ended up in handcuffs along with other second-rank party members and their supporters, a total of around 80 people. The basis of the protest, they said, was the attack on the “fundamental rights” guaranteed by the Constitution and the “economic disaster” derived from the decisions of the current government.
