Legislation for protection of religious minorities’ demanded
KARACHI: The plights of the religious minorities of Pakistan will not vanish until number of the seats for minorities in the assemblies is increased with respect to burgeoning population, said participants at one-day conference on “Mainstreaming of Religious Minority in Pakistan” held at a local hotel on Friday.
The moot was arranged by Forum for Human Rights Pakistan (FHRP) in collaboration with Centre for Peace and Development (CPD).
The participants said the religious minorities were given right of casting dual vote but practically they vote to Muslim candidates, while for their own representatives, they don’t have right to vote and their members were being selected by the political parties. They said such system must be abolished and representatives of minorities must be elected. They also passed a resolution in this regard.
The participants of the conference including politicians, social workers, members of religious minority groups of Sindh and their leaders expressed grave concern over the ‘discriminatory’ attitude by the general masses and government towards religious minorities and demanded government to enact legislation for protection of rights of minorities.
They also demanded to make changes in the syllabus, which is based on the discriminations. They said that Pakistani media must highlight the problems faced by the religious minorities. They insisted that government must ensure to implement the 5 percent quota for religious minorities allocated in public sector job.
Forum for Human Rights Pakistan formally known as SAFHR Pakistan has been working in the area of human rights in different settings of the region. However, FHRP’s areas of concern particularly include women, minorities, youth and education. FHRP has been involved in the voter education for women to support the mainstreaming of women’s issues in the political process where policy makers, lawyers, media, educationalists and social activists have been part of discussions regarding women rights. Moreover, FHRP has an extensive experience of mobilizing, organizing and motivating the community of SINDH to take part in the development, awareness activities and programs with par focus on Governance, Education and Religious Minorities.
On the occasion, former senator and General Secretary PPP Sindh Taj Haider, Minority MPA Sindh Pitanbar Sewani, HRCP member Indar Ahuja, Action Aid Program Manager Sindh and Balochistan, Shah Jahan Baloch; President Karachi Bar Association Naeem Qureshi, URC’s Zahid Farooq, Hotchand Karmani, FHRP’s Hina Tabassum, Hina Ahmed, Hina Ansari, Qurat Ul Ain and others also spoke on the occasion.
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