Sindh govt asked not to change law under pressure

Rights activists urge PPP govt to stop ‘appeasing’ religious parties

Rights activists expressed their serious concerns on Monday over Sindh’s government –cowing under pressure from extremist religious parties - possibly amending or completely scrapping the bill passed by the provincial assembly last month for the protection of religious minorities from forced conversions.

They urged the Pakistan People’s Party’s central leadership to not deprive the religious minorities of their rights simply to appease hardline Islamists.

Several rights activists gathered at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Karachi office and
discussed the announcement of the provincial government, succumbing to the protests staged by various Islamist parties against the bill, that it would review the legislation.

The participants of the meeting observed that the review could be a move to just appease religious parties and probably the law might not be changed, but that risk could not be taken considering that forced conversions were a major problem in the rural parts of the province.

They appreciated and congratulated every member of the provincial assembly for achieving the unanimous passage of the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill 2015, making forced conversions punishable with a life sentence and forbidding minors from changing their religion as cases of Hindu girls being kidnapped and forcibly converted were regularly reported in different cities and towns of the province.

The participants observed that such appeasement tactics by the government end up encouraging the extremist religious element to create trouble and also discourage pro-non-Muslim and pro-women legislation in the future.

“The bill is not an issue of religion or politics. It’s an issue of basic human rights,” said one of the participants.

The participants agreed to launch a protest against the Sindh government’s expected move to amend or repeal the law and organise press conferences, protest demonstrations and seminars across the province not only to pressure the provincial government into not caving in to extremists’ demands, but also spread awareness about the bill. They also agreed to use the social media for this purpose.

A committee comprising Saeed Baloch, Shireen Ijaz, Seema Sheikh, Illahi Bakhsh Baloch, and Shiekh Majeed was formed to carry out these tasks

Besides the members of the committee, Asad Iqbal Butt, Ross Mahtani, Palvasha Shahab, Abdul Wahab Baloch, Mir Zulfiqar Ali, Birma Jesrani, Moniza Inam, Michael Sabir, Seema Maheshwari, and other activists attended the meeting.

 

Politics over principles?

There are media reports that the provincial government had informed Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is staunchly against the bill and is a close friend of PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, that it was ready to review the legislation.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Siraj-ul-Haq, whose party too has been campaigning against the anti-forced conversion law, also said that Zardari had personally assured him that the bill would be withdrawn.