PESHAWAR: Speakers at a consultative meeting have urged the government to constitute a minorities’ rights commission in compliance with the ruling passed by then chief justice of Pakistan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, on June 19, 2014.

The session was organised by Centre for Social Justice at the Diocese of Peshawar on Wednesday. Those present on the occasion included anti-harassment ombudsperson, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rakhshanda Naz, Dr Sarah Safdar, Kulsoom Sadiq, Adnan Abid, Naqash Bhatti, MPA Ravi Kumar, Haroon Sarab Diyal, Patrick Naeen, Bishop Earnest, Pastor Hashmat, Peter Jacob and other members of civil society.

Speaking on occasion, Peter Jacob, special adviser to Shoaib Suddle Commission, said that establishing a national commission for minorities’ rights was a task long overdue. He said that the national action plan for human rights 2016 as well as the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling all required that an official minority-specific commission be constituted.

He said that during 2018 general elections the political parties had promised establishing such a commission and as such they should introduce and support legislation in this regard.

Ask politicians to back legislation in this regard

Rakhshanda Naz said that discrimination prevailed across the economic, social, political and cultural spheres. She said that the government should address disparity of rights and opportunities by implementing the court ruling to remove the sense of deprivation among the non-Muslim communities.

She also stressed the need for introducing effective measures for empowerment of minorities, strengthening democracy and rule of law besides fostering religious tolerance in the country.

Other speakers said that the Supreme Court had passed a landmark judgment that had been celebrated by policy experts and civil society groups for issuing a clear call for affirmative action to protect and promote the rights of religious minorities in the country.

They observed that little had been achieved in terms of effective implementation of the directives. They said that a statutory commission had not been established at the federal level. They asked for bringing forth authentic information pertaining to human rights violations such as cases of forced conversions, marriages, land grabbing, etc.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2019