HR group slates social discrimination
KARACHI: Important issues of social discrimination, religious freedom, hate speech and discriminatory legislation were highlighted in a group discussion, “Protection of Minorities in Pakistan – issues, challenges and way forward” organised by the Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) at a local hotel on Wednesday.
M Prakash, Advocate, Minority Rights Commission, Hyderabad, said although Pakistan was a pluralistic society, the discriminatory laws in the Constitution had deprived the minorities of certain rights and privileges.
Blasphemy laws, forced conversions of the Hindus, encroachment of worship places, kidnapping for ransom, bonded labour in Sindh and Punjab, unemployment of members from the scheduled castes, he said, were some of the important issues that needed to be addressed.
One of the participants, Advocate Shahbaz Sahotra, citing Sections 295 (b) and (c) on blasphemy in the Pakistan Penal Code, said between 1986 and December 2005, 106 people charged with blasphemy were proved innocent after trial. According to his statistics, 21 people have been killed, 745 accused, 332 cases are registered while 249 cases are pending in courts.
Kashmala Tariq, MNA, PML(Q) and Director PCHR said that the decision for a special quota for employment of the minorities would be considered. “We will also take up the issue of public holidays on religious festivals, Diwali and Holi of the Hindus and Baisakhi (Guru Nanak’s birthday) of the Sikh at the legislature,” she said.
Kishinchand Parwani, Advisor to CM on Minorities, who was also the chief guest on the occasion, said that the mindset and approach towards minorities needed to be changed. “We shouldn’t exploit issues by linking them to religion every time,” he said agreeing that public holidays on religious occasions of minorities will develop a sense of respect and recognition of the minorities too.
Prakash also demanded that a permanent minorities commission be set up which should be headed by a High Court Judge and one representative from each province be reserved in the senate for minorities.
Ruchi Ram, Advocate of the HRCP, further said that contradictory articles in the state’s Constitution which guarantees equal rights and then demands that the head of the state be Muslim deprives the minorities of even “dreaming of being in that position.”
He also said that the Hudood Laws cannot be applicable to the minorities and it is unfair that they be tried under the same law as Muslims just because they live in an Islamic state.
During the discussion members from the Sikh and Hindu community demanded that the government recover their worship places that have been encroached for recreational purposes. It was also learnt during the session that all the members of the Evacuee Property Trust Board, including the Chairman, were Muslims and not a single minority representative was present to address the issue of encroachment of land.
A Catholic priest said that the religion Christianity was wrongly interpreted in school textbooks and that the syllabus needed to be amended. The minorities present in the meeting unanimously expressed that the state should not doubt their patriotism and that they are as much loyal to Pakistan as the Muslims of the country.
The policy recommendations, assured Kashmala Tariq, would be presented to the standing committee on Human Rights at the National Assembly. Abdul Mujeeb Pizada MNA, PPP, Kanwar Khalid Yunus, MNA MQM also spoke during the session. The discussion was attended by various parliamentarians, legal officers and civil society members, mostly from the minority community.
Source: The News
Date:3/15/2007
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