Minority rights

This refers to the news report ‘Govt committed to protecting rights of minorities, says Noorul Haq Qadri’ (Jan 18). The minister claims that Pakistan is an exemplary state with regard to protection of the rights of minority communities. On the other hand, reports by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and PEW Research Centre have a different story to tell. According to these reports, affirmative measures for minority groups introduced by the government rely on executive orders that lack implementation, monitoring, and redressal mechanism. These reports have also found religious freedom continues to trend negatively in Pakistan and that the authorities have failed to provide adequate protection to religious minority groups and to hold perpetrators to account. Pakistani authorities never pay serious attention to such evidence-based reports.

It is time for the authorities to address these issues and take strict measures to protect and promote minority rights.

Suneel Malik

Faisalabad