Paul stood up and reached out his hand to Blake. "Glad you could make it. Any trouble?"

"No. The plane was an hour late, but Joseph was there to meet me." Blake looked at Javed. "Joseph took me to see the new mosque you recommended seeing. It was as beautiful as you said. Thanks for mentioning it."

Javed smiled, reached out his large hand and then motioned for Blake to take a seat.

"I need to use the toilet first," Blake responded, putting his bag down beside the chair and heading off to find the men's room.

Paul sat down and watched Blake crossing the room. In order to involve leaders of the religious parties in the capitol, they had decided to hold the first seminar in Islamabad. Paul and several of the Christian leaders had taken the train up from Karachi two days earlier and made all the preparations. Yesterday they'd held a press conference to announce the public seminar, and the newspapers had carried an article about it this morning. So far, so good.

In addition to Paul and Javed, two political leaders and one university professor would speak on the Muslim side. Henry Blake would also speak briefly. There was a danger that Blake's presence would be represented in the media as proving that outsiders were behind the lawsuit, but that risk was offset by the protection Blake provided by being present. An attack on this meeting would involve a foreigner with human rights connections and raise interest among international reporters. His presence ought to help forestall such an attack, and the longer they went forward without being attacked the better off they'd be. On the other hand, if extremists disrupted the meeting, the news coverage in the international press would be in their favor.

"How many people are you expecting?" Javed asked, while they waited for Blake to return.

"About a hundred. Most of them will be Christians, but the Muslim speakers will come with their guards and a few supporters as well."

"Any sign of trouble?"

"No. At noon, some of our men put up a banner in front of the hotel, but there's been no negative reaction."

Javed nodded and took out a cigarette. He lit it and offered the pack to Joseph, who took one and reached for Javed's box of matches to light it. It was good of Javed to share with him, Joseph thought. Most Muslims wouldn't have.

Joseph took a couple of drags on his cigarette. "Who's in charge of security?"

"Ezra. He's sitting at the table over there with a couple of friends."

Joseph looked more closely at the three men. He wasn't familiar with any of them, but they all looked stout enough to hold their own against most men. He relaxed a bit and took another slow drag on his cigarette.

When Blake returned he scowled at the two smokers and ordered a cup of coffee. Paul filled him in on their plans.

"Well, I'd say you're in good shape," Blake said. "What do you want me to do?"

"We'd like you to be on the platform with the other speakers and, near the end, to say a few words. Please keep it short, as many of the people in the room won't understand English. But the other speakers will all understand you."

"They'll all speak in Urdu?"

"Yes. And some of them will go on for half an hour or more, no matter how carefully we informed them about the limitations on our time."

Blake laughed. "Everywhere in the world," he said, waving the menu a couple of times to disperse the cigarette smoke. "People love to hear themselves talk."

Javed took the hint and stubbed out his cigarette. Joseph took three more deep drags. One for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. Amen, he thought, as he exhaled slowly, crushing his cigarette butt in the ashtray at the same time.

While Blake drank his coffee, Javed and Paul went into the meeting room to check the arrangements. A platform at one end of the room held several tables lined up with chairs behind them. At one end of the tables there was a lectern and a microphone. At that same end there was a three-step riser to allow the speakers to step up on the platform. Paul walked up these steps, switched on the microphone and tapped the mike. The familiar electronic sound echoed through the room. "Testing, one, two, three, four," Paul said. And then, smiling, he said, "This is the day that the Lord has made." That got the attention of a couple of hotel staff lounging in the back of the room. "It's a little loud," Paul said, motioning to them with his hand. "Please turn it down a bit."

People were beginning to arrive, most of them with friends. Joseph recognized Senator Khan from the Jamat-e-Islami party, who had just come in with about a dozen young men. He was one of their main speakers. Paul was now offering him a cup of coffee. Joseph also recognized several of the Christian political leaders from Islamabad, who had entered and taken seats near the front of the room. They left the front seats open for the Muslim guests.

A couple of the other guests were helping themselves to coffee. One of them was a journalist, Khalida Ali. She was very respected. Many Muslim women in Pakistan worked, but most worked in offices or were involved in service professions, as teachers, nurses, or social workers. It was unusual for a woman to be a reporter. Joseph watched Ms. Ali sipping her coffee. She was slight of build, but stood very straight. Her hair was pulled back tightly behind her head into a bun. Her lips were full and her eyes very dark. If she were a Christian, Joseph thought, I might be attracted to her.

The other speakers had now arrived with their followers. After having coffee and being introduced to Blake and Javed, Paul invited them to take their seats in the front row. A few minutes passed, and some stragglers entered the room. Then Javed went heavily up the stairs to the lectern and invited a Muslim cleric to give the invocation. Everyone stood as he came up the steps and remained standing during the call to prayer. Joseph couldn't understand Arabic, but the sound was familiar. It was blasted through speakers from every mosque in Pakistan five times a day. The words meant, "There is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet." He knew that much. The rest had to do with worshipping God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Just.

The Muslim was followed to the microphone by a Christian minister. He asked God's blessing on their meeting and gave thanks for the many gifts that God had bestowed on his people. He concluded his prayer without saying, "We pray in the name of Jesus," as most Protestant ministers would, but simply said, "Amen." This was probably in deference to the Muslims who were present. It irked Joseph to think that the Muslim cleric could pray in their meeting without any constraint, but the Christian minister had to omit language about Jesus. He was actually surprised, however, that there had been a Christian invocation at all. Paul must have insisted on it.

After the invocations, everyone sat. Javed then introduced each of the speakers and invited them to come forward and take their place on the platform. Senator Khan was followed by an MP of the Sunni Tekreek party, Fakruddin Shaikh, then Prof. Kamil Hyder of the University, Paul and Blake. After the five of them were seated, Javed welcomed everyone, thanked each of the speakers, and introduced the topic. He speaks very well, Joseph thought. And he must have some clout to get Khan and Shaikh to participate in the seminar.

Senator Khan spoke first. He was a short man with a flowing white beard. He was dressed in a cashmere sports coat and tie, but wore on his head a grey wool hat that gave him the appearance of being a general in command of a regiment. Despite his short stature, he was an imposing figure, and his voice was as strong as that of a man twice his size.

After a few introductory comments, Senator Khan noted that the Qur'an supported religious freedom. "The Holy Book says, 'There shall be no coercion in religion'," he intoned in his deep voice. "Muslims are called to respect the religious rights of every person. Allah wants each of us to respond freely to His call. Therefore, we all have a duty to protect the right of each person to worship in the way of his own tradition."

This wasn't surprising to Joseph. He had heard this sura quoted before by Muslims. But it didn't seem to prevent discrimination against Christians in education and employment. Nor did it keep the Muslim extremists from terrorizing the Christian colonies whenever they felt like it.

Senator Khan went on at some length about how the Jamat-e-Islami party supported the rights of minorities and how, if he continued to serve in the Senate, he would be sure to guarantee these rights for every citizen. He sat down to sustained applause.

Fakruddin Shaikh was next. He was a younger, heavy man. He also had a full beard, but his hair was dark black. His large square face was further accented by the black hat covering most of his thick curly hair. He would have been a handsome man, except for his broad nose, which drew your gaze away from the light brown pupils set deeply into his round face.

Shaikh talked about the founding of Pakistan as a country for all people, regardless of their religious tradition. This was true, Joseph thought, but it hadn't lasted very long. Shaikh also mentioned that his political party had long been committed to enforcing the Dhimmi rules of the Shari'a, which provided protection for people of the Book, like Christians. Joseph saw some of the Christians squirm a bit at this stretching of the truth. The Sunni Tekreek platform supported enforcing the Shari'a on Christians as well as Muslims, and that was not what Christians meant by equal rights. They wanted their rights under international law, not under Islamic law.

When Prof. Hyder spoke, he went on at great length about the history of the treatment of Christians and Jews in Muslim societies. He noted that Jews had frequently been safer among Muslims than among Christians, which Joseph knew from Paul to be true. That had surprised him, given the jihad that Muslims were committed to against Israel. Even the most moderate Muslims seemed to believe in a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world through international corporations, news media, and the World Bank. And most of them asserted that the Qur'an foretold the return of the Holy Land to Muslim control and the devastation of the Jewish people.

Prof. Hyder was a small, slender man. His hair was a little thin on top of his head, grey, and combed straight back accentuating his narrow face and sharp nose. His tenor voice was now piercing, as he gestured with his hands and practically shouted into the microphone. I'm glad he's not leading the masses against us, Joseph thought. Prof. Hyder's performance went on for well over twenty minutes. No one could have dozed through that, Joseph chuckled to himself. Maybe that's why Paul scheduled him to be the last of the Muslim speakers.

Javed was now conferring with Senator Khan and the two other Muslims, and he announced that there would be a break while the Muslims went into the next room for prayer. He apologized that the program had gone on a little longer than anticipated and urged everyone to stay until the final two speakers made their presentations.

Joseph was disturbed by the way the Muslims strode out of the room. By not postponing their prayers for another half an hour, they had shown they were clearly in charge of this meeting. The Christians would just have to wait for them. While the Muslims prayed, the Christians milled about, smoking and drinking coffee. Joseph didn't like the feel of it.

In about fifteen minutes the Muslims marched back in and took their positions again. Now Javed was introducing Paul. Joseph scanned the room for any danger signs, as Paul came to the platform. In contrast to the Muslim speakers, Paul spoke in a soft voice. Yet there was nothing soft about what he said.

"We are all children of one God. We have come to worship God in different ways, as we all seek to be faithful men and women. Human rights are a reflection of our God-given human dignity. Human rights are a gift to us from God. They are the way we recognize and respect one another as persons created in God's image, who are created to care for the earth and all its creatures."

Joseph knew what came next in the argument.

"Religious freedom is one of these fundamental human rights. In 1948 the government of Pakistan recognized religious freedom and other fundamental human rights by voting in the United Nations to approve the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But, as we have heard, religious freedom is not only international law; it is God's will as expressed both in the Qur'an and the Bible. Therefore, let us work together to ensure that no citizen of Pakistan suffers discrimination because of the religious community to which he chooses to belong."

Joseph sucked in his breath. Paul had come close to the line with that statement. Muslims might be opposed to coercion in religion, but they didn't support the idea of conversion. Paul hadn't used the word, but he'd intimated that religious freedom meant the right to be converted from Islam to the Christian faith (or any other faith). That was, of course, what international law implied. But no Muslim Joseph knew affirmed the right of conversion to anything but Islam.

The Christians applauded Paul loudly, but Joseph noticed that the Muslim applause was only polite. Again he looked over the audience, to see if anyone was moving toward the platform.

Blake had been introduced and now was speaking in English.

"I'm happy to be here in Pakistan to indicate the support of our organization and its religious members in many different countries practicing many different religious traditions for religious freedom and other minority rights."

Blake explained a little about international law and how through the United Nations it was being implemented all over the world. Then he thanked the Muslim leaders for their support. "I hope for the sake of all Pakistani citizens," he concluded, "that the suit being brought against the blasphemy law in the Supreme Court will soon be heard and that the Court will find the law unconstitutional."

None of the other speakers had mentioned the lawsuit, but because they all spoke in Urdu Blake wouldn't have known that. Joseph guessed that the other speakers had told Javed they didn't want to be associated with the lawsuit. The Muslims on the platform sat silently while Blake returned to his seat, but the Christians in the audience clapped with enthusiasm. Blake had convinced them that they had friends outside the country, who understood their plight and would stand by them.