The need for minority-specific legislation

For the survival, there is a need to take collective responsibility to address the issues of human dignity.

The empowerment and sustainable development of Pakistan’s minority communities must be the top priority on the national agenda. The inhuman and discriminatory attitude towards the religious practices of minority communities should be addressed, highlighted and eliminated from the grassroots to the higher fabric of society, with the help of specialised legislation.

Till today, the need for the welfare and development of minority communities of Pakistan has not been seriously felt. Hence, no specific policies or projects have been developed or implemented in this regard. Focused projects can definitely bring a remarkable change in the lives of marginalised and vulnerable peoples through formal education and rights awareness, technical education and skills development, minority-youth internships, minority mentoring and appointment of minority ambassadors.

As of now, forced conversions, migration and sexual exploitation are the most key concerns of the minority communities in Pakistan. The major obstacle being faced by men, women, elders, children and the youth of minority communities belonging to both urban and rural areas, is the discrimination and inhuman treatment meted out to them based on their caste, creed and religion. Besides this problem, are the problems related to poverty, unemployment, lack of business opportunities, illiteracy, inequality, injustice, human rights violations, and the sexual abuse of children, women and girls of minority communities.

For the survival of Pakistan, there is a need to take collective responsibility to address the issues of human dignity, equality, human development, crisis management, social, political and economic sustainability and climate change adaptation, community resilience to disasters and risk reduction must be incorporated in the national agenda, particularly for minority communities.

Poverty, the increasing inflation, illiteracy, lack of education and awareness, poor governance and rule of law, an imperfect political and legal system, the poor performance of law enforcement agencies, along with sectarianism and extremism are the main root causes of socio-economic challenges for all inhabitants of the country but these are especially magnified for our minorities and must be addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2014.