PPP HR cell demands formation of Minorities Commission

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Cell of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has deplored the inordinate delay in the setting up Minorities Commission as mandated in the 2014 Supreme Court verdict and called for urgent action.

“At a time when minorities in the country are faced with increasing incidents of intolerance, forced conversions, misuse of religion-based laws and discrimination it is imperative that an independent commission be set up under an Act of the Parliament in accordance with Supreme Court verdict”, said the President of the Human Right Cell of the PPP Farhatullah Babar in a statement on Tuesday.

Farhatullah Babar said the commission must be formed under an Act of Parliament and not an executive order. Referring to the one-man commission formed by the Supreme Court itself over a decade ago under Shoaib Suddle, he said that expertise gained by it should be utilized to provide initial guidance to the new statutory commission and then fade away. “The one-man commission may have been exceptional but structures dependent on individuals are fragile,” he said.

He said in addition to the commission at the federal level there will also have to be provincial commissions under the 18th Amendment. “Since it involves Pakistan’s international commitments the federal government should take the lead,” he said.

Farhatullah Babar said the federal legislation may also serve as prototype for provincial assemblies to consider adopting it and set up their own Minorities Commission just as they have their own commissions on Right to Information, the Status of Women and provincial human rights commissions. “For a population of nearly 250 million with significant number of minorities under siege there is clearly need for commissions in all the provinces as well,” he said.

The PPP Human Rights Cell president said the independent commission should be under the Ministry of Human Rights instead of Ministry of Religious Affairs. “The religious affairs ministry is already over-burdened with Haj matters and it is basically a human rights issue and not a religious issue,” he said.

He said the federal statutory commission must be based on Paris Principles to ensure autonomy. “At present none of the statutory commissions like the National Commission on Human Rights, National Commission of Status of Women and the National Commission of the Rights of the Child is based on Paris Principles and that was why they have no right to vote at international platforms like the UN Human Rights Council, he said.

Farhatullah Babar said that the statutory commission should have the representatives of minorities instead of bureaucrats dominating it.

He further said its broad-based functions should include implementation of the 5% job quota, oversight of issues in Evacuee Property Trust, monitoring of implementation of relevant international agreements & court verdict, visit to detention centres where minorities are kept, besides making recommendations for appropriate legislation.