ADPM Urges Ethical Reporting on Religious Minorities

News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Alliance for Diversity and Pluralism in Media (ADPM) urged the media to report on religious minorities with sensitivity following Justice Jillani’s judgement.

The ADPM also urged the national and local news media to use Justice Jillani’s directives as an accountability framework for reporting compassionately and sensitively on the rights and issues of Pakistan’s religious minorities.

ADPM stated this statement to mark the ninth anniversary of the landmark 2014 Supreme Court judgement on June 19, 2023, on the protection of the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan.

Popularly called the ‘Justice Jillani Judgement’ after its author, Supreme Court Former Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the 2014 court order issued seven directives to federal and provincial governments for the protection of religious minorities.

These included developing curricula for religious tolerance, taking steps to discourage online hate speech, creating a national council for minorities, and creating a special police force to protect places of worship for minorities.

ADPM believes the Justice Jillani judgement is a progressive document that decrees basic government actions to provide safety and fundamental rights to Pakistan’s religious minority groups which are regularly subjected to social discrimination, political exclusion, economic marginalisation, and threats to their lives and expression: IRADA ED Aftab Alam

Institute of Research, Advocacy, and Development (IRADA) Executive Director Muhammad Aftab Alam said, “ADPM believes the Justice Jillani judgement is a progressive document that decrees basic government actions to provide safety and fundamental rights to Pakistan’s religious minority groups which are regularly subjected to social discrimination, political exclusion, economic marginalisation, and threats to their lives and expression.”

“The ADPM also encourages journalists and news outlets to not only report on the importance of the Jillani judgement’s directives but also to highlight the gap that exists in compliance with the orders,” Aftab Alam further stated.

Executive Director also mentioned that “in the judgement, the Court had created a review mechanism for compliance with the orders.” Later, in 2019, the Court set up a one-person commission comprising former police chief Shoaib Suddle to monitor the judgement’s implementation, he added.

However, despite numerous hearings and orders over the past nine years, federal and provincial authorities have demonstrated only around 25 per cent overall compliance with the Justice Jillani judgement, according to research done by the Centre for Social Justice. “This reflects a significant gap in compliance and therefore indicates the state’s inability to meet its obligations towards its citizens,” Aftab further stated.

ADPM is as an advisory body of journalists and rights activists that works to promote inclusive and pluralistic public interest journalism in the country. It expresses its commitment and dedication to upholding the key directives issued by Justice Jillani’s judgement.