SC’s ‘landmark’ verdict a bold step for protection of minority rights

Karachi
Though Pakistan’s constitution is a non-secular and non-theoretic document because it ensures greater privilege to Muslims while ensuring equal rights for all citizens, the verdict of Supreme Court pertaining to minorities has created space for people of other faiths.
This was said by senior lawyer Faisal Siddiqi while speaking at a consultation held to appreciate the landmark verdict of Supreme Court for the protection of minorities in June last year.
According to Siddiqi, this judgement was the first step toward provision of equal rights to members of minority faiths.
He said the verdict mainly focused on the right to belief, referred to in Article 20 of the constitution, and described equal rights for minorities without any discrimination.
He said the judges of the apex court had tried to create a liberal space for minorities for ensuring the protection of the rights of minorities. “Never has it happened anywhere in the world that a top court has created a special bench for hearing cases of minorities,” he said.
“However, it has only been a year. Let’s hope that the verdict gets properly implemented in about five years. Over the years, if the verdict is properly utilised, it would probably trickle down to lower courts.”
He also pointed out that forced conversion were a big challenge in Pakistan. “Though the Supreme Court verdict is not the panacea of all ills but it is the first step toward basic freedom,” he remarked.
The consultation was titled “Ensuring Equal Rights for Minorities: Strategies for the Compliance on Supreme Court Judgment in Pakistan” and was organised jointly by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-Pk) and REAT Network.
The speakers while appreciating the verdict, underlined a need for the formation of a citizens’ advocacy group for chalking out a plan of action for its implementation and sensitisation among the quarters concerned.
Chela Ram of the Pakistan Hindu Council said that the Sindh government had set up a minorities committee but it seldom met, and even its members did not know about its status. He hailed the announcement of Balochistan chief minister for streamlining implementation on five percent job quota in jobs.
Rubina Brohi, a member of the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC), said it was correct that the provincial minorities committee was inactive. However, she said, the SHRC has prepared a draft bill against forced conversion and will it will be presented in the Sindh Assembly after the budget session. She said under the act, conversion of anyone under 18 years of age would be illegal.
A seasoned journalist, Amar Guriro, believed that the media was not honest in portraying the genuine issues of minority communities. “No credible data is available for forced conversions in Pakistan,” he said. “No one talks about the problems of scheduled caste people. Pakistan media does not report on the burning of holy book of Sikhs by Hindus in Sindh.”
Guriro said he had conducted a survey according to which 86 percent coverage of television channels was dedicated to only three subjects: politics, court and crime. According to him, more than 4,000 people had lost their lives in Karachi on account of the harsh heat but only a small percentage of it was being reported on the media.
He said there used to be 418 temples in Karachi but now only 60 had been left. He said the Sindh government was not spending any funds on development of any district where Hindus were in majority. “They are developing Thar only because it has copious coal reserves,” he said.
Dr Jaffar Ahmed, the director of Pakistan Study Centre at Karachi University, highlighted the need for chalking out a road map for the implementation of the ‘landmark’ SC verdict.
Dr Sono Khangharani, the chief executive of the Hisar Foundation, said most minority parliamentarians were nominated by political parties, so their loyalties lay with the organisation which provides them with a political office and not the people.
The chief of PILER, Karamat Ali, said armed forces were a challenge to democratic forces in Pakistan. “Democratic forces losing leverage because the scale of balance between civil and military forces is now heavily tipped in favour of the military,” he said. “There is a need to redouble our efforts for reclaiming our space. For it we must leave behind jingoism and muscle power play, and opt for a more rational approach.”