LAHORE, Pakistan (UCAN) -- Christians in Punjab province say they are optimistic of progress under their new chief minister, who has promised education for all children and equality for religious minorities.

"We pray for the new leader to bring a good change. Obviously he has his hands full with people's problems including a sinking economy, power deficit and a food crisis," Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore told UCA News on June 11.

His archdiocese is based in Lahore, the provincial capital, 270 kilometers southeast of Islamabad. About 80 percent of the Christians in Pakistan live in Punjab, the most populous of the country's four provinces.

Shahbaz Sharif became Punjab chief minister on June 9 after winning 265 votes in the 371-member provincial assembly that was elected in the February general elections, nine years after a military coup dismissed democratically elected provincial and federal governments. This is Sharif's second stint as chief minister, having first served in the post 1997-1999.

"He was a good administrator in the past," Archbishop Saldanha said, adding that Sharif "surely can" bring progress to the province.

Media reported that during his inaugural speech at the assembly, Sharif said he would provide all schools in Punjab with computers by the end of next year and introduce legislation to ensure that by 2010, no child in Punjab would be left out of school.

The Catholic Church runs 235 schools in Punjab, according to its 2006 directory, and counts 618,500 Catholics among the province's 129 million people. Around 95 percent of Pakistan's 160 million people are Muslims. Less than 2 percent are Christians.

Archbishop Saldanha, who also heads Lahore archdiocese's Catholic Board of Education, expressed concern at the "ever-changing" educational policies in the province. "By the time a new policy is adopted, it is replaced by another one, which creates confusion. We hope that the new chief minister strictly follows his reforms as he did in the past," the Church leader said.

The Catholic Church has long called for a more secular syllabus, free of what it sees as systematic religious and communal bias. It has asserted that textbooks are insensitive to Pakistan's religious diversity, incite violence and encourage prejudice, bigotry and discrimination toward women and religious minorities. Other religious minority communities and liberal educators have made the same criticisms.

The Nation, an English-language daily, reported that Sharif assured minorities of his full cooperation in his address to the Punjab assembly on June 9, after gaining its endorsement through a vote of confidence. "Besides (being) equal to all, the minorities are important segments of the society, and complete religious freedom will be ensured, as everyone has the right to practice his religion," the paper's June 10 edition reported.

La Salle Brother Zafer Daud hopes such statements are not just another "politician's promise."

The principal of La Salle Higher Secondary School in Multan, southern Punjab, told UCA News: "Christian institutions have contributed a lot in nurturing our country's leadership. The problem is that once politicians come to power, they forget the teachings of the school and do not recognize our problems publicly." Nonetheless, he was happy about Sharif's promise to make Punjab a 100-percent-literate province by 2010.

Pastor Shahid P. Meraj, dean of the Anglicans' Cathedral Church of the Resurrection in Lahore, told UCA News, "We have expectations that Sharif will play the politics of development, not revenge, and bring relief to the common people."

In the view of Gulzar Sahotra, a Catholic brick-kiln worker, the new chief minister heralds good news. "The previous government did not work well, which resulted in enormous prices increases. A roti (small flat bread), which could be purchased at half a rupee, now costs four rupees (US$0.06)," he told UCA News.

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