SUKKUR: The Sindh Human Rights Comm-ission (SHRC) has vowed to commemorate ‘Inter-faith Harmony Day’ to promote tolerance and respect for minorities and celebrate religious diversity of Sindh.

The commission’s chairperson Iqbal Ahmed Detho shared the human rights body’s recommendations at a seminar held at Harchoo Ram Dham Mandir in Khairpur on Friday on the eve of National Minority Day.

The commission organised the seminar in collaboration with Bhitai Social Watch and Advocacy.

Mr Detho that in order to realise the dream of interfaith harmony, the HR department would work with other departments to ensure strict implementation of laws for curbing hate speech, extremism, sectarianism, incitement to violence and violence against minorities.

He said the commission would carry out extensive public awareness campaigns through various outlets including digital media to promote interfaith harmony and religious tolerance in Sindh.

He said the commission would ensure implementation of five per cent quota in jobs for the religious minorities in government departments and state institutions, develop community development and uplift programmes to improve socio-economic conditions of the most vulnerable minority communities with a particular focus on communities belonging to scheduled castes.

He said the commission would take proactive measures to protect minority places of worship and ensure maintenance and upkeep of the sites that had historical, cultural or religious significance to minorities.

He said the commission would introduce merit-based scholarships for academically promising students from minority communities and take measures for mitigation of false accusation and wrongful use of blasphemy laws against the minorities.

He said the commission would work to get chapters on interfaith harmony and peaceful co-existence incorporated in teachers’ training modules and in the curricula of school and college education.

The commission would urge review the outdated personal laws for Christian and Hindu communities and propose introduction of new legislation for the communities’ betterment, ensure mitigation of the wrongful use of blasphemy laws against the minorities, take necessary legal measures to check forced conversion and forced marriages and offenses of incitement to religious hatred.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2023