KARACHI, Nov 27: A Supreme Court bench issued notices to the ministry of law, justices and human rights in a petition seeking legislation against forcible conversion.

Moved by the Pakistan Hindu Council through Advocate Mohammad Akram Shaikh, the petition says there had been cases of forcible conversion of Hindu women to facilitate their marriage with Muslim men. Article 20 of the Constitution ensures freedom to profess religion but it would not provide effective protection to minorities unless backed up by an enactment.

A bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Sarmad Jalal Osmany entertained the petition at the SC’s Karachi registry and decided to hear it in the first week of January 2009. —Staff Reporter