KARACHI: Time is running out and we need to do something before it’s too late. The Kalash incident has left a grave question mark on the safety of religious minority communities, said the patron of Pakistan Hindu Council and PML-N MNA, Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, at Karachi Press Club on Friday evening.

Speaking at a press conference on the forced conversion of a girl from Kalash, Dr Vankwani said there was a need to punish those who forced individuals to convert and misused the blasphemy law. He said the government should come up with a proper procedure for those who wanted to convert and give six months to the individuals to learn about the religion before they decide to convert.

On Thursday, hundreds of local residents clashed with members of the Kalash tribe in Bumburate, Chitral, after a teenage girl claimed that she had been forced to convert to Islam.

According to the PML-N lawmaker, forced conversions should be stopped as they give the country a bad name. He said every time he travelled abroad people came up to him and complained about the human rights violations in Pakistan.

He said there were four cases of forced conversion being heard by Sindh High Court, including one where a Hindu doctor was being blackmailed and assaulted by the driver of an ambulance. He started listing other cases where Hindu girls from Karachi and Tando Allahyar were raped and forced to convert to Islam.

“Where are our rights? Is this Islam?” he asked a room full of journalists, adding that politicians, political parties and religious leaders need to work together and come up with a solution where an individual is given some time to study and learn about the religion before converting, similar to the procedure followed in India.

“We need to focus on equal rights,” he said. “If things go on like this then it will only get worse.”

Pakistan Hindu Council president Hotchand Karmani demanded that the government take action against human rights violation. He said incidents of forced conversion in Kalash and Sindh should be stopped.

Mr Vankwani blamed the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for not doing their job and fighting for the rights of the minorities. He said the PPP lawmakers belonging to minority communities did not do anything, as they were “only interested in running wine shops”.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2016