ISLAMABAD: Six months after its approval by both houses of parliament, a joint parliamentary committee tasked to work on legislation against forced conversion of members of the minority communities in the country has finally been notified by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. The committee, however, is still without a chairperson.

The notification issued by the Senate Secretariat on Nov 21 was circulated to members of the committee on Saturday. The committee’s terms of reference (ToR) as well as its first meeting’s date have yet to be finalised.

The 22-member Parliamentary Committee to ‘Protect Minorities from Forced Conversions’ was formed after consultations with National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz and Leader of the Opposition in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq.

Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan are part of the committee.

Immediate challenge before Parliamentary Committee to ‘Protect Minorities from Forced Conversions’ is to finalise ToR, elect chairperson

Members of the committee from the upper house of parliament include: Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Dr Ashok Kumar, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Nauman Wazir, Sajjad Hussain Turi, Mohammad Ali Khan Saif and Anwaarul Haq Kakar.

Members of the committee from the National Assembly are: Malik Mohammad Amir Dogar, Shunila Ruth, Jai Parkash, Lal Chand, Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Dr Darshan, Keshoo Mal Kheeal Das, Shagufta Jumani, Ramesh Lal, Naveed Amir Jeeva and Abdul Wasay.

The high-level committee has been formed based on two separate motions presented by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan in the Senate and the National Assembly.

Mr Khan stated that it was a promise made by Prime Minister Imran Khan during his party’s campaign for the 2018 general elections that the issue of forced conversions would be taken up at the highest level to control it through legal means.

A slight objection was raised by Dr Shireen Mazari when the motion presented in the Senate on May 13 this year as she pointed out that the matter should be taken up at the standing committees on human rights.

However, the Senate chairman had given the ruling at that time that this committee would have a higher standing compared to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights and the motion was approved. Similarly, the motion was approved by the National Assembly on May 27.

Electing the chairperson would be the key challenge for the committee whenever its first meeting is held.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s MNA Lal Chand, who is a member of the committee, said that the election of the committee’s chairperson and finalisation of its TORs might take some time and, hence, would delay start of its work.

The highest number of cases of forced conversion has been reported in Sindh, mainly in Ghotki, Umerkot and Tharparkar districts.

Some cases have surfaced in Punjab involving mostly members of the Christian community who are concentrated in central and northern areas of the province. A significant number of Hindus reside in southern areas of Punjab.

Another member of the committee, Shunila Ruth, has blamed the Punjab Police and the district administrations in the province for cleverly manipulating evidence of forced conversion of minority communities’ members in the province.

“How is it possible that a young girl between the age of nine to 14 years has the understanding that she leaves Christianity or Hinduism and converts to Islam,” Ms Ruth said, “The police often become a party in such cases and start threatening victim girls or their families eventually leading such girls to give statements in courts that their conversion was on their free will.”

Both Lal Chand Ms Ruth said that they supported the right to adopt any religion on the free will of a person. But, they added, there should be certain basic parameters for this change of mindset.

Besides another indirect cause of conversion among the Christian community, mainly in Punjab, was lack of up-to-date personal laws. Many men or women give statements in courts regarding their conversion to Islam only to obtain separation from the marriage.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2019