IHC reserves judgment in Ghotki sisters’ protection plea

Lawmaker seeks legislation for safeguarding minorities

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved its judgment on a plea of two teenage sisters from Ghotki who converted to Islam and their Muslim spouses seeking protecting against police harassment following claims that they were forcibly converted.

During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that minorities had the same stature as the rest of the citizens of Pakistan. He said this in response to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker Ramesh Kumar, who wanted the IHC to issue directives to the government for the amendment of laws related to the protection of minorities.

“The court cannot give directions to the parliament. We want to see the parliament get strong,” he remarked.

Earlier, the IHC had declared that the two sisters were not forcibly converted from Hinduism to Islam, and permitted them to live with their spouses. The IHC had also formed a five-member commission to probe the two sisters were underage and forcibly converted to be married, which ruled that it wasn’t the case.

During the hearing, commission member and eminent rights activist IA Rehman stated that minorities weren’t safe anywhere in Sindh and not just in any particular district. “We need to end the impression that minorities are unsafe in this country.” He said the commission wanted to visit the area but was unable to do so.

In the hearing, the two converted girls and their spouses were represented by the secretary of the IHC Bar Association Umair Baloch.

The sisters and their spouses had petitioned the IHC on March 25 against alleged harassment by police days after their father and brother, in videos circulating on social media last month. The videos alleged that the two sisters were underage, had been abducted, forced into changing their religion, and then married off to Muslim men.

However, a separate video of the 'minor' girls had also made the rounds in which they said that they accepted Islam of their own free will. The IHC constituted commission ruled that the two sisters were 18 and 19 years old at the time of the nikkah.

Senate panel seeks report on terrorist attack on Gwadar hotel
Directs interior ministry to submit report on measures taken to secure sensitive buildings in Balochistan