Experts Demand Amendments To Minorities’ Commission Bill

News Desk

Islamabad: Human rights activists have demanded of the government to amend the Minorities’ Commission Bill.

In a press conference by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) on Friday, the merits and demerits of the National Commission for Minorities Bill, 2023, were discussed. The panelists called upon the government to improve the bill further before its passage in Parliament.

They emphasized establishing a statutory National Commission for Minorities Rights in conformity with the UN Paris Principles and the directives of the Supreme Court of June 19, 2014.

CSJ executive director Peter Jacob said that the institutional protection of minorities in Pakistan is imperative for removing embedded inequality of rights on the basis of religion as well as strengthening the rule of law and good governance.

Jacob welcomed the introduction of the National Commission for Minorities Bill, 2023, by the government in the National Assembly, this February. He added that the bill in its present form manifests some gaps that need to be addressed to make the prospective minority rights body truly functional, and effective. The government should not miss an opportunity to constitute an independent, autonomous, and resourceful minority rights institution.

Shafique Chaudhary, a human rights defender, noted that the mainstream political parties, including the PPP, PML-N, and PTI, have been making pledges in their election manifestos regarding instituting a statutory National Commission for Minorities.

However, he said, successive governments have constituted ad-hoc committees under a federal ministry through executive order since 1990, which were inconsistent with the standards set out for national human rights institutions.

The ad-hoc commissions failed to make any progress toward policy reforms and redressing complaints related to minorities’ rights because they lacked a sound legal basis, a broad mandate and competence, independence and autonomy, and adequate powers and resources. He wished that the government had learnt from the past experiments and the issues faced by the previous minority commissions. He implored the government to enact a permanent National Commission for Minorities’ Rights to fulfill its promise.

Dr. A.H. Nayyar, an academic and researcher, said that the Supreme Court in 2014 directed the government to establish a minority rights institution with a mandate “to monitor the practical realization of the rights and safeguards provided to the minorities under the Constitution and law and frame policy recommendations for safeguarding and protecting minorities’ rights” (SMC No. 1/2014). The government must implement the court’s direction in letter and spirit, and constitute a body empowered to make policy recommendations, investigate complaints, and propose remedies against human rights violations.

Jayya Jaggi, a young human rights activist based in Islamabad, said that the existing national human rights institutions constituted through acts of parliament in Pakistan have set the precedent of including representation from the national commission for human rights (NCHR), the national commission on the status of women (NCSW), and the national commission on the rights of the child (NCRC) in their composition.

She added that the prospective commission is meant to be a human rights institution and not a religious body only; therefore, the government should drop the representation of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) proposed in the Minorities Commission Bill and avoid having representation of minorities on the basis of denominations.