March demands end to 'forced conversions'

Civil society groups decry rising violence, discrimination against religious minorities

KARACHI:

The Minority Rights March and civil society representatives staged a protest outside Mazar-e-Quaid on National Minorities Day, condemning what they described as growing discrimination and violence against religious minorities and demanding that the government accept their 11-point charter of demands.

The protest was attended by prominent rights activists and community leaders, including Sheema Kermani, Pastor Ghazala Shafiq, Dr Vinesh Arya, Sajjal Shafiq, Nathan Daniyal and Anwar Sheikh.

Addressing the gathering, speakers recalled Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's August 11, 1947 address and said the situation faced by religious minorities in Pakistan today was contrary to the vision outlined by the founder.

They said the situation had created fear, insecurity and frustration, particularly among young people from minority communities. The protesters demanded equal citizenship rights and called for an end to discrimination on religious grounds and violent extremism.

Among their demands, they called for the release of religious minority educational institutions from national control and a minimum 10% quota for minorities in all public and private educational institutions, in addition to merit and other existing quotas.

They also demanded the removal of discriminatory and hate-based content from curricula and textbooks and called for greater emphasis on respect for minorities, tolerance, peace and religious diversity. The protesters further called for replacing the term "non-Muslim" in the Constitution and other laws with specific religious identities. They demanded amendments to Articles 41 and 91 to make members of religious minorities eligible to become president and prime minister, respectively, and sought the inclusion of oath-taking procedures for all faiths in official oaths of office.

The speakers called for an increase in reserved seats for minorities at the federal, provincial and local government levels, greater representation of minorities in the senior leadership of political parties and electoral reforms requiring every political party to field minority candidates for at least 10% of general seats and one-third of seats reserved for women.

The protesters called for forced conversion to be declared a criminal offence and personal laws governing interfaith marriages to be amended to protect the rights of minority spouses and children. Other demands included a 10% employment quota for minorities at all levels in public and private offices, an end to the practice of restricting minorities to sanitation and other menial jobs, protection and restoration of minority places of worship and properties, digitisation of records, and implementation of the Supreme Court's 2014 judgment through the establishment of national and provincial minority rights commissions.

The participants carried placards highlighting issues faced by religious minorities and calling for their protection.