Forced Conversions & Forced Marriages in Sindh, Pakistan
Forced Conversions & Forced Marriages in Sindh, Pakistan
Forced Conversions & Forced Marriages in Sindh, Pakistan
Forced Marriages
In Sindh, Pakistan
Contributors
Author:
Reuben Ackerman
MSc International Relations (LSE), BA History (Oxon)
Other contributors:
Javaid Rehman PhD, LLM, FHEA, FRSA, FAcSS
Professor of Law, Brunel Law School, Brunel University London, UK.
Morris Johns
All Party Parliamentary Group for Pakistani Minorities, UK
RECOMMENDATIONS 20
1. SINDH CRIMINAL LAW (PROTECTION OF MINORITIES) BILL TO BECOME LAW 20
2. REFORMING THE POLICING SYSTEM AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 20
3. GRASS-ROOTS AND AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS 22
4. SUBSTANTIAL AND SUSTAINED JUDICIAL REFORM 23
5. INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR MINORITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS 24
6. ENHANCE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL POSITION OF MINORITIES 25
REFERENCES 32
Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) mandates the freedom of
religion or belief, and states that:
It has been estimated that 1000 women and girls from religious minorities
are abducted, forcibly converted and then married off to their
abductors every year (ref The Aurat Foundation and the Movement for
Solidary and Peace (MSP)). Former vice-chairperson of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, Amarnath Motual, notes that 20 or more Hindu
girls are abducted every month in Pakistan. 2 The volunteer group,
Responsible for Equality and Liberty, also estimate that between 20 to 25
Hindu girls are forcibly converted every month.3
Pakistan has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), of which Article 16 confirms the
right of every woman to enter into marriage ‘only with their free and full
consent’. 4 Pakistan has ratified the Child Rights Convention, of which
Article 14 (1) states that state parties need to respect the right of children
to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.5
1
Pakistan reports that the police often turn a blind eye to reports of
abduction and forced conversions thereby creating impunity for
perpetrators. The police will often either refuse to record a First
Information Report or falsify the information, thereby denying families the
chance to take their case any further. Both the lower and higher courts
of Pakistan have failed to follow proper procedures in cases that involve
accusations of forced marriage and forced conversions. The judiciary
are often subject to fear of reprisal from extremist elements, in other
cases the judicial officers’ personal beliefs influence them into accepting
the claims made that the woman/girl converted on her own free will.
There is often no investigation into the circumstances under which the
conversion takes place and the age of the girl is often ignored. The
girl/woman involved is largely left in the custody of her kidnapper
throughout the trial process where she is subject to further threats to
force her into denying her abduction and rape and claiming that the
conversion was willing.
2
including the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) met with Dr. Abdul
Qayyum Soomro, the chief minister’s special assistant on religious affairs,
on 5 December 2016, and termed the bill against the basic principles of
Islam.9 Religious parties in Karachi launched a campaign against the bill
in order to pressurise the Sindh government into repealing it. The Jamaat-
I-Islami (JI) argued that there could be no age limit on people converting
to Islam. Religious Parties threatened to lay siege to the Sindh Assembly if
the legislature did not repeal the bill.
Since then the Pakistan Hindu Council have attempted to get the
Supreme Court to take suo moto (on its own authority) action against
forced conversions and forced marriages. Similar bills have appeared in
both the National Assembly and the Punjab Provisional Assembly but
there has been little legislative movement in either case.
The Sindh government has recently announced that it will review the bill
again, but it is unclear what support can be expected from the new
governor, Mr. Mohammad Zubair Umar, as religious parties have shown
no sign of withdrawing their opposition to the bill.10
Recommendations
3
How UK and Commonwealth Parliamentarians can help
4
5
Sindh and Forced Marriages/Conversions
1The Initiative recognizes that conversions could also take place in scenarios
where religious minorities suffer from pervasive discrimination and denial of
access to employment, education, or social status. In these cases conversion to
the dominant religion could be considered ‘forced’. However, this report will
focus on the more immediate concern of direct violence being used to force a
conversion.
6
Motual, notes that 20 or more Hindu girls are abducted every month in
Pakistan.14 The volunteer group, Responsible for Equality And Liberty, also
estimate that between 20 to 25 Hindu girls are forcibly converted every
month.15 Once kidnapped and forcibly converted they are raped, sold
off, become victims of human trafficking or are forced into prostitution.
The most vulnerable areas are the Thar region (Tharparkar, Mirpur Khas
and Umerkot districts), Sanghar, Ghotki and Jacobabad due to the fact
that there are high numbers of Hindus in these regions and they are the
most economically deprived of the population.16
2Also known as debt bondage or debt slavery it is the most common form of
modern slavery. It occurs when a person is forced to work in order to pay off a
debt.
7
Jeevti stated that she had no idea what was in the police documents
which included an affidavit that she had converted and married of her
own free will.22
Hindus, both Dalits and non-Dalits, even if they aren’t in bonded labour,
are forced into low-status jobs that many Muslims refuse to take, such as
sweeping streets or sewage cleaning.23 This shows that the government
has clearly failed to remove discrimination in jobs. This lack of socio-
economic power perpetuates the weak position of Hindus in society.
A Typical Case
MSP, Aurat Foundation, the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP) and South-Asia Partnership Pakistan have
established that there is a typical pattern to these cases. Young
girls and women, typically aged 12 to 15 years are abducted,
converted to Islam and then married to the abductor or a third
party. The victim’s family then files a First Information Report for
abduction or rape at the local police station. The abductor, on
behalf on the victim, files a counter-FIR accusing the victim’s
family of harassing the willingly married and converted girl and
of conspiring to convert the girl back to her original religion. The
girl is then asked to testify in court whether she married and
converted of her own free will or was abducted. In most cases
the girls remain in the custody of the abductor whilst judicial
proceedings proceed so she is often subject to further threats,
intimidation and coercion and therefore testifies in favour of the
abductor due to intimidation and threats.29 30
8
Lack of access to justice
The HRCP has found that whilst all citizens in Pakistan face obstacles in
access to justice minority religious groups face ‘even greater difficulties in
the pursuit of justice.’31 Jai Prakash Moorani, editor of the Sindhi daily has
stated, "when Hindu girls are kidnapped, forcibly converted and married
to Muslims, the police, government and courts all turn a blind eye."32
Police:
HRCP has shown that police often turn a blind eye to reports of
abduction and forced conversions thereby creating impunity for
perpetrators. The police forces, which are overwhelming Muslim,
generally sympathise with the goal of converting religious minorities. In
limited instances of police intervention, local leaders exert considerable
pressure to prevent any action. 34 Sindh province’s top police official
Sarjeel Kharral told Al Jazeera that the lower tier of the police force is
insensitive to the discrimination faced by Hindus.
"It's true that they don't prioritise the community without pressure
from the media or civil society."35
For example, during the case of 14-year-old Jeevti from Sindh, her mother
went to the Piyaro Lundh police station the police initially claimed that
the girl had gone willingly but refused to allow the mother to talk to her.
Only when she returned with an activist did the police take any action,
however, they were friendly towards the abductor Hamid Brohi and
refused to allow the activist and reporter to speak to the girl alone.36
The police will often either refuse to record an FIR or falsify the information
recorded on the FIR, thus denying the families involved the chance to
take their case and complaints any further.37 The lack of an FIR or the
misrepresentation of information means that the family are unable to
seek further justice in law courts, as an FIR is the vital first stage in the
Criminal Procedure Code. Police are also often lethargic in attempting to
recover a girl who has been abducted, thus allowing the conversion and
marriage to take place.
9
Judiciary and Court Proceedings:
Both the lower courts and the higher courts of Pakistan have displayed
bias and a lack of adherence to proper procedures in cases that involve
accusations of forced marriage and forced conversions.
As the US Department of State Human Rights Report for 2016 states 38 the
judiciary is often subjected to external influences, such as fear of reprisal
and violence from extremist elements. 39
"In court, usually it's just four or five members of the girl's family
against hundreds of armed people for the boy. In such a situation
when we are unarmed and outnumbered, how can we fight our
case in court?"40 B.H. Khurana, a doctor in Jacobabad and a
Hindu community leader.
In the case of a young Hindu girl named Anjali whose family reported
had been kidnapped and forcibly converted 1500 people gathered
outside the court and the physical threat of those present pressurised the
judge to give in to the demands of the Muslim man.41
In other cases, the judicial officers’ personal religious beliefs, ties to the
local community and deeply entrenched patriarchal societal and
cultural norms influence them into accepting on face value the claims
made by the man that the woman/girl involved converted and married
of their own free will. Often there is no investigation into the
circumstances under which the conversion took place but the simple
existence of a conversion certificate is taken as sufficient proof. Judges
will also often ignore the factor of the girl’s age in these cases, or the
inadmissible nature of evidence given under threat.42
The High Courts of Pakistan have shown a similar lack of respect for due
process. In 2012 the high-profile case of Rinkle Kumari went before
Pakistan’s Supreme Court. The family of Rinkle Kumari had launched a
petition before the Karachi High Court alleging that she had been
abducted and forcibly converted and that a powerful politician
supported her abduction. The husband and his friends insisted that she
had voluntarily converted and married. Despite the fact that Rinkle had
cried in the civil court at Ghotki and said that she wanted to go home
with her parents she was sent to the Sakkar police station and the court
allowed her ‘husband’, Mian Mithoo, to take her home.43 Even though
Rinkle was supposedly sent to a shelter home after her appearance in
the High Court of Sindh, where she again begged to be sent home, the
staff at the shelter home were intimidated into allowing Mithoo’s son to
meet Rinkle. When she appeared before the Supreme Court in April 2012
the Court did not take into account that her birth certificate clearly
showed that she was below 16 years old and that the marriage of a child
is illegal.44 Neither Counsel was allowed to cross-examine the nature of
10
the conversion or the marriage.45 The statement made by Rinkle that she
wanted to go with her husband was simply accepted on faith, despite
her previous statements that she wanted to go home.
The rare cases where the judiciary apply the correct procedures highlight
the poor practice followed by the majority. Good practice includes
sending the girl to a safe house prior to her statement in court and
ordering further special investigation by the police into the circumstances
surrounding the victim’s conversion and marriage.
3 Islamic Schools
4 A judge in a Muslim Community
5 One who rejects Islam
11
Some organisations, like Minhaj-ul-quran, routinely and as a matter of
official policy, encourage the practice of converting members of
minority communities by offering rewards for successful conversions. They
say that it is the equivalent of Haj-e-Akbari, or the greatest religious duty
to Muslims.53 Minhaj ul-Quran is a tightly controlled organisation led by Dr.
Tahir ul-Qadri. Tahir lives in Canada and has on occasion expressed fairly
liberal views whilst in the West. If he could be persuaded of the need to
tackle forced conversions it would change the priorities of his
organisation and help tackle the issue.
Media
The media is often silent on the problem of forced conversion. There were
only 286 separate incidents of women and girls being forcibly converted
in English-language newspaper reports in Pakistan between January 2012
– just before the Kumari case – and June 2017. Many cases in which
influential locals and religious leaders are involved go unreported
because of pressure put on the media not to report the stories. 54
Reporters are often afraid to investigate the existence or prevalence of
forced conversions due to fear of attack, especially when influential
members of the local community are involved.55 They also contribute to
the social milieu that encourages the process of conversion of religious
minorities by celebrating conversions without inquiring into the
circumstances. Television programmes will hail recent converts to Islam
and conversions and sometimes televised in religious programmes,
especially during the month of Ramadan.
12
13
The Attempt to Introduce the Sindh Criminal Law
(Protection of Minorities) Act, 2015
6 Islamic Guardian who is responsible for the bride’s life before she is married
14
the marriage provided that the consummation of marriage has not taken
place. The parallel use of Sharia therefore undermines the Child Marriage
Restraint Act.
Joseph Francis, National Director of the Center for Legal Aid Assistance
and Settlement (CLAAS), a legal aid organisation focusing on the rights of
Pakistan’s minorities, argues that a conversion certificate is used to over-
ride marriage laws.
For example in a case from June 2017 a 16-year-old Hindu girl, Revita
Meghwar, was kidnapped and within hours apparently embraced Islam,
was given a new name, Gulnaz, and married off to a Muslim man.
Meghwar’s parents filed a complaint demanding her return, whilst
Meghwar’s husband submitted an application to Sindh High Court to
seek protection from her family and relatives. The Sindh High Court used
the existence of a conversion certificate to rule that Meghwar should
stay with her husband, 61 over-ruling the 2013 Sindh Child Marriage
restraint act, which defines a child as under the age of 18.62 Furthermore,
due to separate laws for different religious groups, marriage contracts
between Muslims over-ride those between non-Muslims. This means that
even if a Hindu, Sikh or Christian is already married they can marry again
after conversion, as a Muslim marriage will over-ride the existing
marriage.
The Hindu Marriages Act of 201763 was passed by the National Assembly
of Pakistan and formalises registration of Hindu marriages. Prior to this law
there was no formal procedure or documentary evidence of marriage
for Hindus. This meant that Hindus were at risk of being accused of
adultery under the zina7 ordinances, introduced as part of the Hudood
ordinances. It also meant that they had further difficulties in the case of
forced marriages as they could not easily prove that they were already
married. It also ends the difficulties that Hindu couples had been facing
in basic activities such as opening bank accounts, applying for visas,
getting national identity cards and shares of property as they lacked
proof of marriage. However, there has been serious concern 64 over
Section 12(iii), which allows for divorce when one party ‘has ceased to
be Hindu by conversion to another religion’. This means that despite the
Marriage Act there is an easy legal route through the process of a forced
conversion to annul marriages. This clause also incentivises forced
conversions in order to legitimise abduction and forced marriages.
Section 12(iii) also violates all established norms of international human
15
rights law and constitutional law, such as the right enshrined in Article 18
of the ICCPR and the UDHR that changing religion should have no
implication on an individual’s marital position.
The Sindh Hindu Marriage Act (2016)65 was again designed to provide a
formal process for Hindus, Sikhs and Zoroastrians to register their
marriages. As with the Hindu Marriages Act, it specifies that the bride and
groom must both be over 18 and the free and active consent of both
parties is required. However, like the Hindu Marriages Act of 2017, Clause
12a) iii66 it allows for the termination of marriage by conversion thus failing
to protect against the menace of forced conversion.
The campaign
The high-profile case of Rinkle Kumari in 2012 led to greater focus upon
the issue. In February 2013 political parties and civil society activists
demonstrated in Karachi to protest against the abduction and forced
conversion of Hindu girls. The Sindh government set up a three-member
committee to consider a law to stop these forced conversions and
forced marriages. Many civil society organisations including the Pakistan
Hindu Council, the Sindh Rural Partner Organisation, the Aurat
Foundation, the Scheduled Caste Rights Movement, ActionAid Pakistan,
and the National Caucuses of Minority Issues and Women’s Rights were
all involved in campaigning to get the legislation through the Provincial
Assembly. They used advocacy, press conferences, rallies, a post card
campaign and other advocacy tools to push for the Sindh government
to take action. The issue was taken up jointly by the PPP and the PML-F.
The law
16
the issues related to child marriages. It also mandated the creation of a
commission, committee or institution to oversee and ensure the
implementation of the act and to provide this body with enough
resources to enable them to do so.
Chapter III(4) prohibited the conversion of anyone under 18, unless the
parents or guardian also changed religion.
Chapter V(7) made an attempt to cut through the back log of cases in
Pakistan’s courts and to ensure the necessary swift action in these cases
by mandating that courts set a date to hear the case within a week after
receiving the petition from the victim or their family members and loved
ones.
Why it failed
Despite the fact that the Bill was passed unanimously by the Provincial
Assembly the Bill failed to make it into law as the then Governor Mr.
Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui returned it in January 2017. Mr. Siddiqui died
shortly afterwards.
17
The Bill was effectively blocked by the mobilisation of Islamist groups and
parties. A group of Ulema, including the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII)
met with Dr. Abdul Qayyum Soomro, the chief minister’s special assistant
on religious affairs, on 5th December 2016, and termed the bill against the
basic principles of Islam. 71 Religious parties in Karachi launched a
campaign against the bill in order to pressurise the Sindh government into
repealing it. Jamaat-I-Islami (JI) argued that there could be no age limit
on people converting to Islam. Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, of the Council of
Islamic Ideology (CII), opposed the idea of age limits on conversions72,
and as part of the CII pressurised the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari into
reviewing the law. Another objection was raised against the mandated
21-day wait to allow the person who has allegedly been a victim of
forced conversion to study before being allowed to convert.73 Religious
parties threatened to lay siege to the Sindh Assembly if the legislature did
not repeal the bill. JI leader Advocate Asadullah Bhutto claimed that
there had not been a single case of a forced conversion in Sindh.74 When
the chief of JI, Sirajul Haq, called PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari the
PPP-led government quickly announced that it would make
amendments to the law. 75 The MQM parliamentary leader, Sardar
Ahmed, who had supported the law at the time of its passing also wrote
to the governor saying that the law had been passed in haste and asked
the governor to send it back for modifying. In his observations, Mr.
Siddiqui referred to the letters written by the CII and various religious
parties that either called for the bill’s withdrawal or proposed
amendments to it.76 This episode displayed the power that the religious
establishment and Islamist parties can wield in political affairs. The original
proposer of the bill, Nand Kumar, a member of the PML-F, has attacked
the PPP saying that they have surrendered the role of holding the mantle
for the rights of minorities through the cowardly act of withdrawing the
law.77 PTI leader Dr. Jaipal Chhabria has also slammed the PPP-led Sindh
government, saying that they had failed to protect minorities and that
the provincial administration should be pressurised into providing security
to non-Muslim communities.78 Political analyst Zahid Hussain, and human
rights activists Kumar Arora and Romana Bashir all argue that the retreat
over this Bill was a bad sign for progress for minorities within Pakistan and
that the retreat for the sake of political expediency would have wider
societal harm. 79
Since then, the Pakistan Hindu Council, led by their patron-in-chief and
MNA Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, has attempted to get the Supreme
Court to take suo moto action (on its own authority action) against
kidnappings, forced conversions and forced marriages.80
18
Due to his attempt to get the Act passed he has been labelled an Indian
spy by Pir Ayub Han Sarhandi, a Sindhi cleric, a good example of how
Hindus who attempt to better the position of their co-religionists in
Pakistan are labelled traitors.82
A PML-N MPA, Hina Pervaiz Butt, also submitted a law based on the Sindh
Bill against forced conversions in the Punjab Assembly April 2017.83 Again,
due to the lack of significant political force that minority representatives
possess the Bill is unlikely to proceed far.
The Sindh government has recently announced that it will review the bill
again, but it is unclear how far any movement can be expected to
progress with the new governor Mr. Mohammad Zubair Umar as the
religious parties have shown no sign of withdrawing their opposition to the
bill.84
19
Recommendations
However, even if the law were to be passed further reforms and initiatives
would be necessary to effectively enforce the law and to engender
broader societal change to tackle the root cause of forced conversions.
In many cases the police are unwilling and, in some cases, unable to fulfil
their duties of protection. Personal religious convictions or ties to local
powerful Muslims involved in the cases mean that the police do not
investigate, or do so slowly, so that it is often too late to rescue the girls
who have been kidnapped. It is vital that faster response times are
ensured in cases where abduction is reported; fair reporting standards
and First Information Report registration, as provided by Article 161 of the
Pakistan Penal Code, is enforced and that the police provide protection
to women victims and their families who are under threat from the
abductors.
20
Some police reform in Pakistan has demonstrated success; the National
Highways and Motorway Police are widely respected in Pakistan. They
are better paid, trained and their morale is higher. They are also insulated
from politics and so they have been known to stop and fine Ministers for
disobeying motorway rules. This reform was achieved through curbing
internal corruption and working closely with the wider public. The reform
programme was vitally assisted by international specialists to create a
sophisticated training programme.
8 Effort to set up institutions and mechanisms that would allow the police to
function freely and honestly
21
improve financial management through capacity building and
audits.
Mandatory women’s desks need to be established in every thana9
to establish an environment in which it is easier for women to report
crimes and receive the support that they need.
There needs to be independent, effective oversight, accountability
and complaint procedures. At the moment police implicated in
serious abuses are almost never brought to justice as the established
legal systems are designed to protect the police from
accountability. 88 This could involve reversing the 2004 Amendment
to Police Order 2002, which abolished separate Police Complaints
Authority at the local and provincial level. 89
It is also crucial to increase the representation of both women and
ethnic minorities within the police form in order to ensure greater
protection for women and ethnic minorities. At present women
represent only 1% of the police force. Women police stations should
be established across Pakistan.
Private sector should be encouraged to contribute to enhancing
co-ordination between the public and the police through institutions
such as the Citizen-Police Liaison Centre (CPLC) in Karachi.
9 Police Station
22
a conference on social cohesion and the integration of non-Muslim
citizens in Pakistan titled ‘Untied for Promoting Peace and Interfaith
Harmony’ unanimously declared that forceful conversion is not permitted
in Islam.92
It would also be important to work with local Hindu religious and secular
leaders to encourage the registration of new-born babies. Reliable birth
certifications would enable those challenging forced conversions and
forced marriages to prove that the girl in question is underage.
As outlined in this report similar problems exist within the judiciary as the
police. Personal religious bias or connections to important Muslims
23
involved in a case often mean that the man’s word is often taken at face
value and the kidnapped woman/girl left in the hands of her abductor.
Legal training and a system requiring greater accountability should be
set up to ensure best practice in all cases. The training of judicial officers
should include sensitisation to issues facing women and religious
minorities.
The Federal and State governments should ensure that proper legal
protection, redress and procedures are available to vulnerable
communities, particularly in rural areas. Federal and State governments
should also provide sufficient protection to judges and other members of
the legal system to ensure that they are not ruled by the threat of mob
violence. 98
As the South Asia Partnership argues district committees should have the
mandate to take up the cases of forced conversions and register FIRs.100
24
Helplines could be established for easy and safe reporting of forced
conversions and abductions so that victim’s families do not have to
subject themselves to potential public condemnation and attack.
Psychological and medical help should be provided to those who have
suffered from abduction, rape and forced conversion before, during and
after the trial procedure so that they are able to testify before court and
recover effectively from their ordeal.
25
How UK and Commonwealth Parliamentarians
can help
The US has also placed Pakistan on the special watch list of countries that
severely violate religious freedom under the International Religion
Freedom Act 1998. 113 State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert
26
stated that these designations are aimed at improving the respect for
religious freedom in these countries.
The EU has a key role to play. Pakistan’s renewal for GSP+ status with the
EU has been widely questioned and is currently under review. The GSP+ is
a favourable trade preference scheme, which is conditional on respect
for international human rights obligations. Retaining GSP+ status is vital for
Pakistan. Currently the EU is the main destination for Pakistan’s exports,
increasing from 25.7% to 37.1% of total exports, with GSP+ status
beginning in December 2013. According to the Business Recorder on 22
January 2018 the EU has also reportedly conveyed to Islamabad that
renewal of GSP+ will be linked to a positive outcome for Asia Bibi, a
Christian woman facing death in a blasphemy case.114
Clearly the EU has taken the issue of the rights of religious minorities
seriously and there are clear signs that legislators across the EU want to
see action. On 3 December members of the Italian Senate Mr. Domenico
De Siano, Mr Frano Cardiello, Mr. Enzo Fasano, Mr. Cosimo Sibilia and Mr.
Domenico Auricchio argued that the GSP+ of Pakistan should not be
renewed until they fulfil the basic human rights of all and stop all
atrocities and persecution against Christians in Pakistan. 115 In January
2017 there was a Written Question to the EU by Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP
asking whether the EU would do anything about the failure to pass the
Protection of Minorities Bill.116 In January 2015 Cornelis (Dennis) de Jong
MEP posed a written question to the European Parliament about the
forced conversion of Hindu girls in Pakistan and what actions they are
taking to address the issue.117
27
remains strong with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the
flagship project of the One Belt One Road Initiative. CPEC involves the
injection of $62 billion by the Chinese into improving Pakistan’s
infrastructure.121
There are several MPs working within Pakistan who support action on
forced conversion legislation. Raha Zafarul Haq, (PML-N) Leader of the
House in the Senate, stated in November 2016 that there were no
28
problems in the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill passed by
the Sindh Assembly and that the bill was greatly needed128, and that it
was against the teachings of Islam to compel anyone to convert. 129 PTI
Chief Imran Khan spoke out against forcibly converting non-Muslims by
force on the 22nd October 2017.130 Babar Nawaz Khan, chairman of the
Standing Committee on Human Rights, supported Mr. Lal Chand is his
attempts to get the National Assembly to adopt the Protection of
Minorities Act 2016. Similarly, Hina Pervaiz Butt has recently placed a
similar law before the Punjab Assembly. Azra Fazal Pechucho, sister of
former President Asif Ali Zardari, raised the issue in the National Assembly
in March 2012 calling for legislation to tackle the abduction and forced
conversions of Hindus. Other key members to engage with would be
Afrasiab Khattak, ex-Chairperson of the HRCP and present Chairman of
the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, who places
enormous emphasis upon the importance of curbing religious extremism.
131
29
with the Sustainable Development Goals; ensuring equal access to
justice, and promoting and enforcing non-discriminatory laws?
What projects are DfID running in Pakistan that aims to improve the
effectiveness and independence of human rights institutions like
the National Commission for Human Rights?
What projects are DfID running in Pakistan that engage with
religious leaders and help to embed human rights norms, the rule
of the law and the rights outlined in the ICCPR?
Has DfID examined ways in which it could work with
Commonwealth institutions and organisations like the
Commonwealth Judicial Association in order to secure the rule of
law in Pakistan?
Will staff from DfID or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s
Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy study the
Engaging Pakistani Interfaith Communities online project and the
Pakistan Religious Freedom Initiative in order to learn from their
experiences with a view to supporting similar projects?
Given DfID’s Partnership Principles include the commitment of a
partner to respecting human rights and other international
obligations how does DfID reconcile the aid given to Pakistan with
the prevalence of forced conversions and forced marriages, and
the failure to pass effective legislation to prevent them?
Given that 1000 Hindu and Christian girls and young women are
abducted and forcibly converted in Pakistan every year will the
Foreign Secretary commit to pressing the EU to ensure the GSP+’s
renewal is conditional upon passing legislation ensuring the
protection of vulnerable minorities from forced conversion?
What representations has HMG made to the government of
Pakistan about forced conversions and the possibility of a federal
law along similar lines to the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of
Minorities) Bill?
Has HMG spoken directly to the PPP and to the governor of Sindh,
Muhammad Zubair, about securing the passage of the Sindh
Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill?
How does HMG plan to support the Commonwealth Office for Civil
and Criminal Justice Reform? Will HMG consider working with this
organisation to encourage legal and police reform in Pakistan?
What representations has HMG made to the United States about
the importance of securing the right to freedom of religion or belief
to stabilise Pakistan against the threat of extremism?
Will HMG consider establishing a unit for forced conversions in the
Pakistani embassy?
30
In line with the recommendations made by the APPG report on
Freedom of Religion or Belief (Article 18: From Rhetoric to Reality), is
the FCO considering introducing within the FORB toolkit specific
guidance to UK Foreign office and Embassy staff in Pakistan,
matters related to forced marriages and forced conversions?
31
References
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37