Minorities’ personal laws issues taken up with minister

PESHAWAR: The issues pertaining to the Christian and Hindu personal laws have been taken up with the KP Law Department and assurance received for the remedial measures, said representatives of the minorities communities on Monday.

They said the development came when a group belonging to the religious minorities drawn from different parts of the country met Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Fazal Shakoor Khan at his office here on Friday and requested him for support to redress legal the issues faced by religious minorities.

The members from Christian, Hindu and Sikh communities belonging to KP, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, were part of the delegation, said a press release, adding the minister was flanked by the officials of the KP Law Department.

Advocate M. Perkash, Naveed Anthony, Jay Perkash Moorani, Dr Sabir Micheal, Pirbhu Satyani, Ross Mahtani, Chandan from Sindh While Kalyan Singh, Habkook Gill, Advocate Sumera Shafique represented Punjab and Sheezan William from Balochistan were part of the delegation.

The members of the group called “National Lobbying Delegation for Minority Rights” requested the minister to extend help to it for early approval of rules of the Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act 2017.

Haroon Sarab Diyal, Focal Person-KP National Lobbying Delegation for Minority Rights, along with NLD members Krishan Sharma and Pushpa Kumari briefed the minister on the need for early approval of Rules for Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act 2017.

The minister and the Law Department team was informed that the law was impractical in the absence of the rules and the Hindu community was facing serious domestic and legal problems as there was no option for the aggrieved parties to seek separation.

Puhspa Kumari said it was a matter of human rights for any woman who was subjected to physical or mental torture but the law did not allow for divorce or separation. The minister was informed that the registration of Hindu marriages, too, was a serious issue in some areas in the absence of the legal framework.

Fazal Shakoor Khan inquired from the officials of the Law Department about the relevant forum for approval of the rules for the Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act 2017. He was told that the matter related to the religious minorities in KP was under the domain of the Local Government Department.

The delegation presented a copy of the draft- rules to the minister which had been framed by the legal experts. The minister promised to take the draft rules to the custodian of the Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act 2017 in the province and discuss the matter with the minister for Local Government in a bid to push for early approval and implementation of the rules.

Romana Bashir, another member of the delegation, briefed the minister about the need for upgrading the Christian personal laws, pointing out that the current laws governing the marriage and separation of the Christians in the country were Christian Divorce Act 1869 and Christian Marriage Act 1872.

The minister assured the delegation that the provincial government would extend all possible support to the federal government as well for the implementation of amended Christian Marriage and Divorce Act in the KP.