28 September 2004	Tuesday	12 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Sept 27: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has described the recent attack on a gurdawara in Nankana Sahib as a sad reminder of the growing intolerance in the country.

Regretting the incident, HRCP Chairperson Tahir Muhammad Khan and Secretary-General Hina Jilani said in a joint statement that the damaging of a part of the gurdawara complex building housing the Guru Nanak College on Saturday was an indication of the increasingly unsafe situation in which the minorities had been placed in the country. There was the need for ensuring that the minorities were not discriminated against under the law.

The HRCP office-bearers said that the attack was the outcome of the concern in respect of the decision about the closure of the college for handing back the property housing it and the historic gurdawara back to the Evacuee Trust Property Board for accommodating the Sikh pilgrims.

There was no reason as to why the assurances given by the administration regarding shifting the college to another premises after the attack could not have been given prior to the incident.

They said the incident highlighted the need for redressing the issues concerning the minorities with greater sensitivity and wisdom. Measures needed to be taken to check the expanding climate of bigotry and violence and ensure protection of the rights and religious freedom of all the minority groups for ending the growing sense of injustice among them.