Call for law to protect minorities’ properties

LAHORE: People’s Commission for Minorities Rights (PCMR), a voluntary human rights watchdog, has suggested a comprehensive review and analysis of the problems related to communal properties before introducing a law for the purpose.

PCMR Chairperson Peter Jacob and members Justice (retd) Kalash Nath Kohli and Fatima Atif, in a joint statement, on behalf of the PCMR, emphatically rejected the idea of introducing an amendment to the ordinance that gives absolute power to an entity or person.

“On the one hand the properties belonging to Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Jews have been usurped with impunity, while the officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony have been facing charges of embezzlement, etc.,” the statement said.

The PCMR questioned the amendment to The Protection of Communal Ordinance 2002. The amendment passed on June 7, 2021 seeks to shift authorisation of sales/ transfer/ purchase/ gift of the properties belonging to minorities, from the federal government to the “ministry concerned”, supposedly, the Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony. The PCMR statement said: “We request the chairman of Senate and heads of political parties represented there, not to pass this bill, but rather commission a full review of the situation and existing law that should pave way for tabling a comprehensive law to protect the communal properties.”

The PCMR chairman and members expressed the apprehensions that the amendment would lead to abuse of power, transparency and loss of properties belonging to minority communities. They said that while the government failed to solicit proper and broad consultation on the matter, the objective explained in the amendment bill also failed to justify the purpose behind concentration of power with regard to authorisation of sale/ purchase/ transfer and gift of the properties to fewer persons.

“The arbitrary nature of legislation and measures adopted for amendment to Section 6 of the Protection to Communal Properties Ordinance 2002 are sufficient grounds to suspect that concentration of powers to the Ministry of Religious Affairs would deprive minorities of rightful use of these properties,” said Peter Jacob, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice.

A per the law, the recommendation process involves the National Minorities Commission as recommendatory form for this authorisation, it is contradiction in terms that the government set up a National Commission for Minorities in May 2002 which is criticised for its redundancy. Hence on the one hand, there are complaints of massive abuse, land grabbing and illegal occupation of properties belonging to the minority communities, while on the other hand this amendment would avoid accountability by a broader body.