Attacks on places of worship: SC summons Sindh top cop

Pakistan Hindu Council happy with security provided by Balochistan government.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has summoned the Sindh police chief in person in response to complaints of attacks on the places of worship of minority communities in the province.

While hearing a case regarding the implementation of the top court’s June 19, 2014 judgment on minorities’ rights on Wednesday, a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Nasirul Mulk, also sought a compliance report on the matter from the federal government.

In the judgment, authored by then CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani after proceedings of the Peshawar church attack suo motu case, the federal and provincial governments had been directed to undertake efforts to protect minorities’ rights.

In Wednesday’s hearing, patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani complained that the Sindh government was not serious about protecting places of worship of the minorities in the province. Of late, four temples were attacked back to back in Sindh, he added. Dr Vankwani also complained that his meeting with authorities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), although fruitful, has not yet resulted in any tangible measures to protect minorities’ worship places.

“The Balochistan government, on the other hand, has extended marvelous cooperation to us,” the PHC patron-in-chief told the bench. He said the provincial chief minister told PHC representatives in a January 30 meeting that 154 places of worship of minorities in the province had been registered and a task force set up for their protection. The Balochistan government also prepared a bill to register Hindu marriages and would table it in the provincial assembly soon, Dr Vankwani added.

The K-P advocate general, however, said the provincial government was providing security to minorities’ places of worship in the province. He said the provincial government had asked the finance department to provide funds to set up a task force to protect the minorities.

He told the bench that the government was also implementing the 5% quota for minorities in government jobs. Additionally, Rs70 million has been disbursed among the heirs of the Peshawar church attack, the advocate general added.

While submitting a report on Punjab, Additional Advocate General Razaq A Mirza told the bench that there was no need to set up a police force exclusively for protecting minorities’ places of worship. Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mehmood told the court that the law ministry has moved a summary seeking exemption of the Hindu marriage bill from cabinet proceedings to the Prime Minister’s House. The case has been adjourned till March 11.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2015.