Daily Times

LAHORE: The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has urged the Standing Committee on Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony, the Federal Ministries for Human Rights and Law & Justice to expedite setting up of long awaited National Commission for Minorities’ Rights.

In letters addressed to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the CSJ on Monday has requested to avoid the use of negative and divisive characterisation of the religious communities, such as non-Muslim and non-Christian. Each person and community is entitled to be recognised by faith of their choice and not by portrayal of what they are not or how they are seen by others, the letter said adding that the vocabulary used in the national documents should, in particular, discourage estrangement among the citizens of Pakistan.

The CSJ also stressed that an institutional arrangement has become crucial for the protection of the rights of minorities. CSJ Executive Director Peter Jacob stated, “It has been nearly four years since the Supreme Court passed orders and over two years since the Action Plan for Human Rights that promised constituting a National Commission for Minorities’ Rights. However the federal government has failed to introduce any legislation for this purpose in the parliament.”

The CSJ has further demanded that the proposed commission must have a mandate to monitor policies, protect and promote the rights of minorities as well as contribute advice on policy matters, in order to comply with court’s orders issued on June 19, 2014.

The proposed commission should have powers like the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), to investigate and provide remedies in accordance with UN Paris principles and independent from any political influence. The members of the proposed commission should be appointed on merit and the membership should not be limited to persons belonging to religious minorities in order to make it an empowered and operational body.

Published in Daily Times, April 17^th 2018.