Govt urged to expedite adoption of protective law and activate institutions.

LAHORE -- Peoples Commissionfor Minorities Rights (PCMR) and Centre for Social Justice (CSJ)held a Peoples Assembly on 'Minorities Rights: Safeguards and Policy Actions' drawing representaAtion from across the country that thorAoughly discussed the draft bill for esAtablishing a National Commission for Minorities, and Prohibition of Forced Conversion Bill, 2021. Former Minister, Ijaz Alam Augustine, Former MPA Tariq Gill and Former MPA Shehzad Ilahi also took part in the proceedings. The minority legislators made a pledge to fully support the bills for setting up the minority rights commission and crimiAnalizing forced faith conversions in the legislative assembly. A working group led by Justice (R) Nasira Javed Iqbal, Peter Jacob, Justice (R) Mehta Kailash Nath Kohli, Saroop Ijaz Advocate, Dr. Riaz Sheikh, Dr. A. H. Nayyar, Rubina Feroze Bhatti, Fatima Atif, Lubna JaArar, and Maria Iqbal Tarana presented a review of the draft bills. Peter Jacob welcomed the bill introduced by the government, and proposed that the body should be called National ComAmission for minorities rights so that it does not seem to be a religious instituAtion, and NCHR, NCSW, NCRC should have representation in the National Commission for Minorities along with the foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Cabinet must be involved in apApointing and removing members. He share the data regarding questionable conversions involving girls/women from minority communities which reAveal that at least 124 incidents in the year 2022 were reported in Pakistan which included 81 Hindu, 42 ChrisAtian, and one Sikh. 66% of cases were reported in Sindh, followed by 40% in Punjab, and one case each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Former Minister Ijaz Alam Augustine lamented that the progressive laws dealing with child marriage and forced faith converAsions are prevented by religious groups and bureaucracy. The improvement in human rights situation is only posAsible, if human rights violations are adAequately addressed. Former MPA SheAhzad Alahi said that the legislators and standing...

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