Need of the hour: ‘Position of minorities in K-P, FATA particularly bad’

Participants of seminar urge government to take immediate steps to safeguard their rights.

PESHAWAR:

The government should take steps to safeguard rights of minorities in the country, said participants at a seminar held at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday.

Speaking at the seminar, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) leader Hashim Babar insisted minorities should be given equal status in all spheres of life. Minority rights violations are a matter of grave concern since 1947 and it is vital to address the difficulties they are facing on all fronts.

Pakhtunkhwa Olasy Tehreek leader Dr Said Alam Mehsud said it is unfortunate that the people of Pakistan are facing countless challenges on economic and social fronts. However, he said the minority groups had got the raw end of the deal as they suffered increasing intolerance and threats to their lives. The government should take these factors into consideration and find a solution to their plight, he added.

According to the representative of the Hindu community, Haroon Sarabdiyal, the position of minorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) is particularly bad and they are struggling to obtain basic rights. The sharp increase in the number of minority traders who have been killed in Peshawar and the rest of the province has raised panic and alarm, he said. Moreover, he added that minority groups have found it difficult to find jobs in the country.

According to Zar Ali, a civil society member, minorities living in tribal areas are on the receiving end of social and economic injustices.

“They have been deprived of domicile certificates in Fata and therefore cannot seek employment,” he said, adding that their job quotas are being usurped by the majority.

The seminar was organised by Shangla Development Society (SDS) and was attended by various civil society members and political activists.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2014.