ISLAMABAD:Human rights defenders at a consultation organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Tuesday urged all political parties to commit to protecting and promoting the rights of religious minorities and sects in their manifestos and policies.
The academic and HRCP member Dr. A. H. Nayyar pointed out that education remained “a battleground for ideologies,” with most students never made aware of the need for and nature of religious diversity.
Dr. Shoaib Suddle, chair of the One-Man Commission for Minorities constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, explained that a proposal separating minorities’ affairs from religious affairs had been forwarded to the Cabinet.
Although steps had been taken to recruit more police officers from religious minorities, he said, the special police forces envisaged under the 2014 Supreme Court judgment to protect religious minorities’ sites of worship did not exist across all provinces.
Police officer Abdullah said that the only way of protecting sites of worship effectively was to sensitize police officers at the constable level to the rights of all religious communities.
Lawyer Sarwan Kumar Bheel, a representative of the Scheduled Caste Hindu community, expressed his concern over the lack of implementation of a child marriage act in Sindh.
HRCP Council member Farhatullah Babar lauded the FIA for making online blasphemy offenses non-cognizable and urged the need to ensure its implementation in true letter and spirit.