“Introduction”

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. “Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.Mathew 5:14-16

The Project

The Voice was setup by ordinary people to do extra-ordinary work with the zeal of helping people of God those are oppressed and persecuted in any way on the basis of their religion, caste or faith. The Voice is non-religious, non-political, non-Governmental organisation, which is known among people on the basis of its successful rate of work and commitment. The Voice is working in many ways to provide help to the people of God. The Voice is running several programs to help the brothers and sisters all over Pakistan, especially in the province of Punjab. The programs headed by The Voice are as under

  • Legal Help program
  • Orphan Support Program
  • Child Rights and Education Program
  • Bonded Labour
  • Women Rights and Empowerment
  • Medical help to the persecuted in Need
  • Disables Support Program

Reasons for setting up the Voice

The Voice is working from last few years to help the minorities in Pakistan and among them Christians are the most Vulnerable and biggest minorities in Pakistan. As it is a known fact that there are only 3% Christians in Pakistan and Majority among them are poor, the living standards are very meagre that they can hardly fulfil their bread and butter for daily life. Especially in the remote and rural areas the life is very difficult for the Christians. Christians have to face many challenges of Discrimination in every day field of life on the basis of their religion, and poverty is yet another challenge. Moreover the majority among Christians is illiterate or very less educated and therefore has very minimal paying jobs e.g. labourers or farmers etc. Due to these reasons parents have very less concentration/attention towards the education of their children and in the case of disability of a child the attention or interest is the least. Secondly if the parents of a child or father probably die it is not possible for a mother to take care or to grow up her child alone with out any job. Therefore they prefer to throw away their children or to sell their children in order to keep their other children and family members alive.

The specific goals of this project are

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the right of the poor and oppressed”, (Ps. 82:3) and The Voice will achieve this goal by:

    • Providing Physical, practical, legal and spiritual support to the female victims of Faith by paying them regular visits, supporting them in community and society and with practical assistance and pastoral care.
    • Providing Physical, practical and spiritual support to the families of the female victims of Rape and forced conversion, those are not able even to support themselves through monthly visits, practical assistance, financial help etc and pastoral care.
    • To help the Orphans and to provide them with a proper shelter home.
    • To arrange prayer meetings among the target group, so that they can share their needs and concerns and they can also know God as their saviour.
    • Listen to the requirements and needs of the target group and let our work be guided by their views, suggestions and feelings of the labourers, whether at Brick Kilns or domestic workers and the child labourers.
    • Empower working women with knowledge and skills necessary to protect their rights as women.
    • Networking with other organizations concerned with development and Minority rights within the country and abroad.

Human Rights: The Voice society is a Human rights organization having specialised human rights Lawyers on the penal. Right now The Voice is having about 18 lawyers all over Punjab to help the Voice in carrying out the Human Rights and Legal Aid program. The Voice deals with all sorts of persecution cases of the religious minorities that includes Christians, Hindus, Ahmadia, and Shias in the province of Punjab. Pakistan. The Voice mainly deals with the cases of Blasphemy, forced conversion, religious killings, terrorism and Murders. The Voice help the innocent religious minority members by providing them free legal aid and shelter and settlement in dire circumstances.

Child Rights: The Voice is providing free legal Aid and settlement to the Children in Jails and help them to release from Jails. Later when the children are released by The Voice through the free legal Aid program, Moreover The Voice is providing education, health, skills, and reinstatement to the destitute children and to build up the alleviation, cooperation and coordination between them and the society. The Voice is working for more than twenty children that are orphans and over 45 street children with poor back ground or are abused as child labour. The work has already being carried out in the regions of the Punjab, with friends’ until now. Each Currently one hundred and forty five children are receiving a regular helping hand although not so proper in accordance to their expectations or requirements but still a support that is at least better than nothing.

Women Rights: Pakistan is now rated as the third most dangerous country for women.
The voice is working for the rights of the Women providing them free legal Aid and help in the cases of Rape, Domestic Violence, Forced Conversion, Bonded Labour etc. and is also providing them awareness through counselling, consultations and workshops arranged on grass root level upon the effectiveness of Education of Christian Girls, affects and harms of early or child marriages and the basic legal and social rights of women in their everyday life.
As it is stated before that woman is the most persecuted group in our society, therefore there is a strong need to work for the welfare and development of these women. The voice is primarily helping victims of religious victimizations, prisoners of conscience and other oppression. The voice is providing help in collecting required material from different law enforcing agencies in support or defense of their respective cases, help to lodge criminal and civil complaints and in arranging lawyers to conduct their cases in the courts.

The Voice provides shelter to the Women in difficult circumstance in the cases like

        • Women in need of protection because of litigation,

a) Against the State e.g. Blasphemy cases.
b) Family Cases e.g. divorce, child custody, maintenance.

      • Victim of domestic violence
      • Women feeling from oppression in the home or escaping sexual exploitation and who were forced to seek shelter in places run as private prisons.
      • Victims of rape who are unable to return to their families.
      • Cases involving inter-country abduction of children by Pakistani fathers
      • Women who are denied the right of free choice in marriage or have been forced into marriage without consent.
      • Women who are forced converted to Islam.

Legal Support Program:

The rapid religious elements have assumed upon themselves the responsibility to take care of the religious rectitude of the citizenry. They seem to genuinely believe that those not subscribing to their version of faith has either gone astray or they entertain criminal credentials. A mass scale conversion of the religious minorities to the majority religion is the fantasy and standing agenda of these bigoted souls. Christian girls who are forcibly converted to Islam and taken into marriage could never come back to their parents. If a girl manages to escape her family and the entire Christian community living in that area comes under attack by the Muslim majority. In such circumstances it becomes essential for the girl to seek refuge elsewhere. Moreover the increasing discrimination and Islamization led the people towards the Blasphemy Law. With the increasing awareness and access to get the case registered easily against the Christians under the Blasphemy law, the people of Majority in Pakistan have found a new way to fulfill their evil resentments against their fellow citizens by accusing them under this law. This law have not only affected Christians but also affected Muslims and other minorities in Pakistan. Therefore the Voice is providing free legal services to help the Brothers and sisters held persecuted under this law wrongfully. The Voice also helps people in the cases of forced conversions, Rape, Assault, Land grabbing, domestic Violence and all other cases that comes under the Ambit of persecution.

Orphan Support Program:

The Voice is helping and is ready to help the destitute children who are descended in their own home, society and country at this stage we provide them with their basic needs of life, some technical skills (if they are able to adapt them) and the basic education in order to prevent them from the inferiority complex and the lack of confidence. Moreover The Voice is also working for the elimination of the social evils that are affecting children in different ways in the society. The Voice is helping the Orphan Children to grow, get education and all the basic necessities of life including food, clothes and Shelter with an enthusiasm to give them a bright future and dignity in life.
This project is having a deep impact on the lives of the destitute children who are Orphans and Handicapped or are the victims of the abuse of Child labour thus losing the confidence and hope for any better future for them. This would affect the lives of children from different walks of life. Through this project they would be given a chance to live a life of peace, self respect and dignity and in harmony with other children so they could learn to share the gifts of God into their lives and they will also learn to help each other in different aspects. They would be given a chance to support themselves and others once they will find a place and chance to live equally with the society among others with no differences and distinctions.
“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time”! Amen. (Jude 1-24, 25)

Bonded Labor

The Voice helps the people who are subjected to bonded labor, the Voice provides them free Legal Aid to free them from the bondage of the cruel Land Lords or the Brick kiln owners. The Voice also helps the Children to get rid of the Bondage and live a free life. The Voice collects Data from the Brick kilns about the bonded people and helps them get freedom

Medical Help Program:

The Voice also provide the facility of Medical help and treatment to the Victims that suffer Persecution and are not in a position to help themselves when sick and weak. The Voice also Provides Medical help to the people in the disaster areas such as flood areas.