|
Religious minorities want basic rights granted
[DAWN] Representatives and activists from religious minorities expressed disappointment over the state of law and order nationwide, as crimes against their communities continued unabated.They're not considered "Pakistanis" in the Land of the Pure. They're members of the Moslem majority or they're untermenschen Hindoos, Christians, Ahmadis, Sikhs or whatever. Speaking to Dawn, several minority members complained that they were denied their basic rights and many of the laws regarding freedom and safety were not being fully implemented. "It is ironic that while the Lahore Resolution advocated safeguards for minorities and the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political and other rights, in the past few days we have been hearing of a new wave of forced conversions in Sindh and south Punjab," said Samuel Payara, chairperson of Implementation Minority Rights Forum, which earlier held a presser also in this regard. "Only a few days ago, we saw the heart-rending video of a Christian woman who was crying and begging for help and safety ─ she had been paraded naked by some men," he said. Payara has in the past filed several petitions in court, including demands for compensation for the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar  ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.and Quetta church blast victims. Hindu community activist Amarnath Randhawa said the issue of forced conversions was rising once again. "Young girls from the Hindu community are being kidnapped and raped, and at gunpoint married off to Moslem boys even though some of them are already married," he said. "Even the Sikh community is not safe, as recently in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa a married young Sikh woman was kidnapped." Randhawa also mentioned the case of the Christian woman ‐ a mother of three ‐ who was allegedly kidnapped from Islamabad and forcibly converted and married to a Moslem man. Another Hindu community representative alleged that a couple of girls had been kidnapped from south Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard 2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers 3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... a couple of days ago. He said that a few years ago the Sindh government had withdrawn a bill aimed at protecting Hindus, in particular, from forced conversions despite the fact that it was passed by the provincial assembly. The Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill 2016, presented by then MPA Nand Kumar, mentioned that children under 18 years of age would not be allowed for marriage, however underage Hindu girls were still being kidnapped and forcibly converted. Payara further said: "On Nov 15, 2018, a decision was made by the former chief justice of Supreme Court that the chairperson of the Evacuee Trust Property Board must belong to the minority community. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... in spite of these orders, no names from the minority community have been sent to the cabinet for approval." He also said that most importantly a National Commission of Minorities was needed. He stressed that their demands included immediate action by the prime minister for passing of the Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, the Minorities Affairs Ministry be initiated again and this time be headed by a member of the minority community and all Supreme Court orders and directives be implemented. Posted by: Fred 2019-03-28 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=537545 |