KARACHI: At a workshop speakers belonging to rights organisations, including government agencies, on Tuesday unanimously called for the implementation of a judgement of former chief justice of the Supreme Court Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, who ordered protection of religious minorities from forced conversions, elimination of hate content from school syllabus and provision of equal quota in services and development schemes in Sindh.

The programme was organised by the South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK) Sindh under its Rights of Expression, Association, Assembly and Thoughts (REAT) programme to meet officials of certain key departments of the provincial government to discuss pace of implementation on the judgement at a local hotel.

The main objective of such meetings was to bring religious minorities in the country’s mainstream; raise the voice for legislation and promotion of minorities’ rights and sensitise decision makers to the importance of ensuring justice and providing security to religious minorities in Pakistan.

An MNA belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Ramesh Wankwani, said he had raised his voice for implementation on the judgement and mobilise provincial governments to make laws on Hindu marriage, special quota, elimination of forced conversion and hate contents from school textbooks.

He said the government had agreed on five per cent job quota for which jobs would be advertised in the media soon.

He said a special taskforce would be formed for the protection of worship places of minorities and other holy places in Pakistan.

“I have suggested to the government that a minority commission comprised of political parties who rule in provinces be constituted soon,” he added.

He said that hate contents had been removed from the curriculum of grade one to six in Sindh and elsewhere in the country and experts were working to purge textbooks of hate material in higher grades.

Lawyer Noor Naz Agha said that so far no resolution had been passed in assemblies for elimination of hate content from schoolbooks. She said personal laws be allowed to offer equal rights to all citizens in Pakistan.

Community leader Mangala Sharma stressed the need for implementing existing laws to guarantee the protection and justice to everyone irrespective of one’s caste, creed, ethnicity and faith.

Shahnaz Sheedi, provincial coordinator of SAP-PK, said the meeting was convened to focus the judgment of Justice Jillani and assess its level of implementation across the country to promote and protect rights of religious minorities.

She said her organisation was struggling to seek justice for minorities and curb forced conversion and other discriminatory practices against them.

Representatives of various government departments, including social welfare and police and non-governmental organisations, also spoke.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

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