Statutory Body: Petition filed for human rights panel

ISLAMABAD: The apex court has received a petition, seeking its direction to constitute the National Commission for Human Rights as envisaged by Section 3 of the National Commission for Human Rights Act, 2012. A human rights activist, Julius Salik, moved the constitutional petition through his counsel, Raheel Kamran Sheikh, under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, making the federal government respondent. Raheel Kamran stated that religious minorities form approximately 3.7% of the total population of Pakistan. “These minority communities in Pakistan have been facing a wide range of problems, ranging from lack of socio-economic development to widespread discrimination, intolerance and subjection to religious violence,” the petition said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2014.