Daily Times

The adoption of the first ever criminal law ‘Protection of Minorities Bill 2015’ by the Sindh Provincial Assembly is another step taken towards the founder father’s envisioned Pakistan. Sindh Assembly’s Member, Nand Kumar Goklani, proposed the said bill against forced conversions of minors living in the province.

The Hindu community makes up about 1.6 percent of the total population , which is in addition to a good number of other minorities living in the geographical regions governed by Sindh. Interestingly, when a large number of Muslims had migrated from India to Pakistan in 1947, Hindus and Christians living in the province did not make such a move. They remained loyal to their motherland. Historically, minorities opted to continue leading their lives in the newly-born state, albeit right from the beginning, they started facing challenges from the right wing political and non-political entities. The excruciating hatred, prejudice, discrimination and persecution against ethnic minorities in the country has led them to relocate themselves in various parts of the country and the globe at large. The social apartheid and discriminatory legislation have crumpled their lives. The slow drain of ethnic minorities from the country, which had started as early as the 1970s, was further triggered by the induction of 1985 Blasphemy laws in the constitution of Pakistan. These laws remain a hanging sword over the minorities’ neck to date. A good percentage of minorities participated in the country’s affairs at the time of independence. However, their share has now decreased to a paltry presence of three percent. Reports, articles, and analyses often highlight the plight of ethnic minorities. According to The Movement and Solidarity for Peace, a social organisation in Pakistan, around 1000 minors are forced to convert their religion to Islam every year. Another international organisation, World Watch Monitor, has reported that forced conversions and abductions of minority women and girls have significantly increased over the years. The Sindh Assembly’s minority’s protection bill is a sigh of relief for many marginalised and downtrodden sections of the society. The bill postulates, “At the stage of conclusion of the Private Bill 9 of 2015, The Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities)Bill 2015, The Standing Committee on Minorities Affairs, Provincial Assembly of Sindh after an extensive and at length deliberations, taken clause by clause and after accommodation of certain amendments by the Members of the Standing Committee in different clauses of the Bill and keeping in view the valuable advises by the Administrative Secretary of the Department and special invitees, unanimously approved the Private Bill No.9 of 2015, the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities)Bill 2015 for passage of the august house of Provincial Assembly of Sindh.”

Further to this, the bill also reads, “Forced conversion is an abhorrent and violent offence and an issue that has become prevalent across Sindh (that) must be eliminated by recognizing the importance of tolerance, peace, and respect for all religions and persons irrespective of their religion. It is necessary to criminalise forced conversions and provide protection for those who are victims of this abhorrent practice.”

The cardinal points of the bill entailed, “Any person who forcefully converts another person shall be liable to imprisonment of either description for a minimum of five years and maximum of life imprisonment and a fine to be paid to the victim, if proved guilty, whoever performs, conducts, directs, bring about or in any way or facilitates a marriage having knowledge that either or both parties are victims of forced conversions shall be liable to imprisonment of either description for minimum three years and a fine to paid to the victim, adults interested in converting to other religion will be given twenty-one days to consider their decision to convert. Within seven days of the submission of the complaint, the court shall fix a hearing date. The Court shall issue a show-cause notice to accused to respond in seven working days. The courts will decide forced conversions cases within the time limit of ninety days.”

According to Nand Kumar Golkani, a Hindu minority member of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) in Sindh Assembly, the bill was first introduced on December 22, 2015, in the Sindh Assembly and was referred to the Standing Committee on Minority Affairs on January 19, 2016. In addition to minority members, different human right organisations also struggled to finalise the bill. A number of technocrats, experts of law and social oracles were then consulted on the issue. Among them were included Justice (Retd) Majida Rizvi,Muqtada Khan,Qazi Khizer, Hilda Saeed, Rafia Haider, Zofeen, Dr. Mohsin Naqvi, Zahid Aslam, Dr.Jaipal Chapria, Mehnaz Rehman, Erum Javed,Nuzhat William, Shoaib Ashraf, Malikha Zia Lari,Fareeda Tahir, Bhagwandas, Robina Brohi, Javed Qazi, Moniza Inam, Shahnaz Sheedi, Jhamat Mall, Rochi Ram, Noor Naz Agha, M.Parkash, Kalpana Devi, Michael Javed, Michael Saleem, Pastor Munees, Pastor Naveed and many others.

Hindus have complained about forced marriages and conversions to Islam on repeated occasions. Different and devious stratagems have been used to forcedly convert non-Muslims, which included threats to individuals and families, bonded labour, abduction, and forcible assaults. On most of these occasions, the targeted poor girls and their families have been unable to resist pressure from the majority community. This disturbing trend of forced conversions in the province had activated a number of social thinkers and human rights activists to jump into the arena and bring forward a feasible solution to the growing craze of forced marriages. In such cases of forced conversions, affected families have been suffering socially, religiously and morally.

When families of Hindu or Christian girls try to register police cases against abductors, counter police cases of harassment are registered against them. This happens largely because parents and relatives lose their right to fight for their daughters and sisters after their conversion to Islam and subsequent marriages to Muslims. Even during court litigations, abducted girls are forced to comply with their abductors.

Therefore, it was essential to set forth such legislation to safeguard their rights. But will it be possible for the institutions to act according to the law? Will it be accepted by the masses of the majority community? How will the law be implemented? There still remains a lot that needs to be done. This is only one step taken for the safety of minors. We are still afraid that the bill might be opposed by extremist organisations and religious political parties. The destiny of the bill might not be different from the Women Rights Bill, which was passed by Punjab Assembly. Jamaat-e-Islami has already constituted a committee, which is being headed by Asad Ullah Bhutto, to challenge the bill in the court. Wafaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia Secretary General, Mohammad Hanif Jalandhri, has also rejected the bill, claiming it ‘non-compatible’ to the Islamic jurisprudence and Sharia. All Parties Conference is also expected to counter the Minority Rights Bill at Mansura, Lahore. Let us wait and pray for a positive outcome of this landmark legislation.

The writer can be reached at Kaleem.dean@mail.com