A file photo of Supreme Court of Pakistan. PHOTO: AFP
Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani read out the court's 32-page order which states that the task force will be responsible for protecting places of worship and ensuring the safety of minorities.
The order further stated that those responsible for religious hate speech on social media must be brought to justice and children who face harassment at their schools because of their religious beliefs should also be protected.
The top court ordered that a national council should be formed to overlook the protection of minorities and should give its recommendations to ensure their security and well being.
The court also asked the registrar to form a three-member bench to ensure that the order is carried out. The new bench will also take up any cases related to the abuse of minorities.
Background
Jillani had earlier said that the apex court will ensure the protection of minorities’ rights by setting guidelines in this regard.
Hearing a petition filed by the Sindh Hindu community representative Ramesh Kumar about six recent incidents where their places of worship were desecrated, the chief justice had lamented that it was unfortunate that constitutional provisions related to the protection of minorities rights have not been enforced in the country.
CJP Jillani had said that in addition to the Objective Resolution, Article 20 of the Constitution also ensures protection of minorities’ rights, however, these constitutional provisions have not been enforced in the country.
COMMENTS (15)
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It is the first and foremost duty of any Govt to protect all the citizen belonging to majority or minority community it is regreted that the court has to do the duty of elected Government.
When in doubt -- form a committee. Supreme Court has devolved into another bureaucracy - shame on them.
@Muhammad Saim: Did you read the news item? Did you know minorities Shias, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadis, Seraikis, Bohras, Khojas, Agha Khanis, Kailash, Hazaras, Baltis are not treated the same as the rest of Pakistanis.? They are discriminated against. In some cases killed outright for no reason but their religion or sect. If you don't believe this then you are very naive. Check with the HRCP. For facts.
@Enemy of MUNAFIQs What a joke, if Muslims are asking for protection than what is the purpose of Pakistan. Well Mr. Jinnah created a separate entity to protect the Muslims. oh the irony Sir your comment is testimony of a failed experiment & that is Pakistan. Best of Luck sire
a country which officially declared ahmadis are not muslims talks about securing minorities what a joke
Task force to protect minorities??? After the minorities have been nearly wiped out ??
If Supreme court is serious in protecting minorities it should order following:
1- No educational institution should be allowed to ask about religion when admitting the students. 2- No employer (govt. or private) should be allowed to ask about religion either written or verbal. 3- Delete religious column from NADRA databases once and for all and not ask for religion when issuing ID cards. Everyone is equal citizen and has the right of identity. 4- Remove religion from passports! No one in the world is interested in knowing the religion of the people traveling to their countries. No country in the word prints religion on passports.
What a judgement...."form a committee".....as if there aren't already enough task forces and committees of all sorts.
The only way to protect so-called minorities is to protect them as any citizen of the state not based on their faith, that is, for state every citizen is same so there is no need for any special law, committee or task force.
As long as constitution discriminates its subjects based on their faith matters there will be discrimination, hatred and violence against them.
Protecting Minorities means shutting down the Lashker training camps in Punjab which is never going to happen under PML-N government.
If the apex court did its duty to dispense across the board justice, with speed so that it is SEEN that justice has been done........this vague order of passing the buck would not be necessary.
Good news but i don't know how much of this will be implemented. The court should also cater the target killings of Shias which comes under minorities as well... but a slight difference is they are Muslims!
But,...but...Nawaz does not care about minorities [he just condemns] How will this work? It is basically death and destruction for minorities under Nawaz's government.
To get protection should we have to change our religion...!!
No new law/court order/policy would ever be implemented until you start punishing the people who are held accountable! Without accountability, nothing could be enforced..So, everything is useless in this country!
Good BUT what about the MUSLIMS ! Have the state capable to protect Muslims and their rights ?