An equal country

With discrimination against the minuscule religious minority population in the country on the increase, the AGHS Legal Aid Cell and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have launched a new initiative which proposes a set of legal amendments to end discrimination against minorities. Speaking at the launch on Friday, members of the HRCP pointed out that law-enforcement agencies on the whole simply stood by and looked when violence against minority groups took place. The need to establish a link between media and the civil society was also pointed out. Some of the key amendments suggested include criminalisation of any act to incite violence based on religion – in line with Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It has also been suggested that advocacy of sectarian or religious hatred should be punishable with rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of 2,500,000.

One of the factors brought up the activists was the grabbing of property or the eviction of minority communities. To curb this, it has been recommended that evacuee properties should be handed over to religious or community-based institutions working for the relevant religious minority. Until this can happen, religious minorities should be represented on the evacuee trust representative board. More specifically for Sindh, the matter of forced evictions, the protection of places of worship, mob violence and the recent return of the bill on forced conversions to the Sindh Assembly ‘for revision’ was also taken up by the speakers at the event. The issue of the two or three percent of non Muslim groups living in the country has been frequently ignored by both the mainstream media and successive governments. Their problems come up only when a major incident makes headlines nationally and internationally. These incidents have continued to occur periodically over the past two decades. It is quite correct that there can be no change in their position when legislation itself defines them as owning fewer rights than Muslims. These discriminatory practices need to be done away with and legislation put in place for the purpose. The sooner we can achieve this the better, given the lines of division that so badly need to be cemented over in an increasingly fragile society.