KARACHI: Speakers at an event held in connection with the National Minority Day on Wednesday highlighted the legal challenges being faced by minority communities in Pakistan.

The event titled ‘Rights of Minority Community in Pakistan’ was organised by the Legal Aid Society (LAS) at Catch the Fire Church.

Representatives of Christian, Hindu and Sikh communities as well as people from different walks of life participated in the programme in large numbers and expressed their views on the subject.

Representing LAS, Advocate Safia Lakho, Mehboob Ali Laghari and Akbar Hussain Derveshi spoke about the rights of the minority communities and answered the questions raised by the participants.

The speakers also shared information about LAS, which provided free legal advice, support and awareness and was engaged in various projects across the country, including the Sindh Legal Advisory Call Centre.

The cell established in 2014 embarked on a public-private partnership in 2018 with the government of Sindh through its law department.

“The Sindh government has supported the centre under the Legal Empowerment of People Programme to provide free legal advice and information to empower the poor and marginalised people of Pakistan,” said Advocate Lakho.

The speakers also talked about the religious minority awareness programme currently being run in eight districts of Sindh, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Khairpur, Sukkur, Larkana and Dadu.

They also spoke about the importance of the National Minorities Day, observed every year on August 11, and said it’s an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the services and sacrifices rendered by religious minorities of the country.

At the end of the programme, information material about legal aid was distributed among the participants.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2022