Women rights activists empower minority women

Hindu community staged protest in Balochistan's Kalat

3 Oct. - KALAT: Hundreds of people belonging to the Hindu community marched on the roads of Kalat town to register their protest against what they said the alleged desecration of the remains of a Hindu woman’s body burnt in the Shamshan Ghat a day earlier, Dawn reported. Full article: read more...

Physically-Challenged Man Killed Over Alleged Blasphemy

1 Oct. A physically-challenged man was killed on 1 October in Ghotki district, Sindh, when Hassan Kalwar, a local Muslim man alleged him for blasphemy. The suspect doused petrol on the deceased, Friday Times reported
Full story: read more...

A young Christian girl flees from her abductor's captivity

Anita with her mother and her Catholic solicitor Lazar Allah Rakha advocate.jpg

By Aftab Alexander Mughal

A young Christian girl remained almost a year in her Muslim abductor's captivity, escaped and reunited with her family. Now her abductor is pressuring the family for the return of the victim girl, otherwise, he will book them in some false blasphemy case. To avoid the heat of the situation Anita's family moved to another city, Bahawalpur to save their lives.

Anita Emmanuel, a young Christian girl was kidnaped on August 31, 2021 by a Muslim man, Muhammad Waseem while going to school from Yazman city, 642 kilometres in South of Islamabad, capital of Pakistan. She was taken to another city Liaquatpur, where her abductor Waseem got her signature and thumb impression on some blank papers forcefully and made a Muslim marriage contract without her free will and choice, while talking with Minority Concern, Anita told.

She further told that she never accepted Muhammad Waseem as her husband and he forced himself on me, repeatedly raped me, severely beaten me and kept me locked in a room and sexually abused me multiple times. Many time, she being left without food and water.

During the whole year, she always planned to escape from her abductor's captivity, and one day she got a chance and escaped, and returned to her family.

She broke the chains of captivity about three weeks ago and on Septmber,28, 2022 she filed the case for annulment of her forced marriage in the Family Court Bahawalpur, through her Catholic lawyer, Lazar Allah Rakha advocate. The case fixed for October 9, 2022 for further proceedings.

Anita belongs to a poor family, and her parents are labourers. They are untouchable, marginalized and weak while her abductor is rich and influential person. Anita’s father Emmanuel said; “Muhammad Waseem threatened me that if I filed a criminal case of my daughter Anita's abduction and rape against him he will teach me a exemplary lesson, kill my daughter Anita and will involve my family in some false blasphemy case, which is a very heinous crime in Pakistan.

Now, Waseem is continually putting pressure and threats to get Anita back as he still claims her as his wife under the Islamic law.

Anita’s lawyer, Lazar Allah Rakha advocate, told Minority Concern that a constitutional petition was filed in the High Court on October 5 that was disposed off with the direction to SHO (Station House Officer) Police Station, city Yazman that police restrained to force the victim to re-join the company of her abductor, Waseem.

In many cases, influential Muslim men abduct young Christian and Hindu girls, forcibly convert them to Islam and then forcibly get marriage with them. Mostly, this kind of cases are reported in provinces of Punjab and Sindh, where majority of Christian and Hind minorities live.

Many cases of forced conversion and forced marriages of minority girls are reported on daily basis. These girls are kidnapped, physically and emotionally abused and there is no ray of hope for the reduction of this situation against minority women. It is estimated by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan that every year at least about 1,000 Hindu and Christian from them mostly minor girls are abducted and forcefully converted to Islam. Minority Concern estimates that just in February and March 2022, seven Hindu and Christian minor girls were kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and given in force marriages. Sadly, Christian and Hindu minority victim girls and their families are unable to win justice and get help from the local police and the judiciary, and get their daughters back.

Pakistan government approves religious curricula for minorities

By: Aftab Alexander Mughal

The Pakistani government has approved religious curricula for minority students, including Christians.

The government's recent decision will allow non-Muslim students to study their religion's curricula instead of studying Islam, which is one of the compulsory subjects for all grades. Religious minority students, from grades one to eight, will be able to study subjects related to their religion in their schools.

There was previously no religious education for non-Muslim students in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Religious minority students had two options: study subjects related to the Islamic religion or stay out of the classroom during this time. He called on the students' families to provide materials for students from non-Muslim backgrounds in the country.

After months of long discussions with various religious leaders and educational experts from all religious groups, the NCC reached a final decision in this regard. The legal body had agreed on a specific formulation and adopted curricula for seven religious groups: Christianity, Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu, Kalash, Parsi, and Sikh.

Months ago, the National Board of Education sent a summary of the decision to the Ministry of Education for final approval, so that minority students could receive their religious curriculum in time and before the new academic year on August 1, 2022.

However, the minority students continued their education without their religious books due to delays in administrative procedures. Many considered this delay an intentional act to prevent this decision, while some officials were suggesting the ethics course as an alternative to the Islamic curriculum for minorities.

Last year, the government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan approved the national curricula for other subjects, but not the curricula for minority students.

Religious minorities had raised many questions about the competence of education officials and their biased positions against minorities. The much-delayed decision was taken during a special meeting headed by the Federal Ministry of Education Tanvir Hussain in Islamabad to discuss the issue as the curriculum content was reviewed and approved. The government must now prepare a curriculum for each grade level and for all religious groups.

In this context, Ziba Hashemi, a research consultant from Lahore, told Assi Mina that religious education, even the Islamic religion, should not be made a compulsory subject at all, but rather that religious education should be a matter of choice.

She also stressed the need for the state to focus on the basic academic competencies that every child from the age of 5 to 16 deserves, noting that engaging in religious discourses will make the environment

Here at Minority Concern, we see the value in everyone. We want to be a catalyst for positive change, and since our beginnings in 2006, we’ve been driven by the same ideas we initially founded.

Our aims and objectives

The objectives of MCP are:

To carry on our work according to our objectives.
To be the voice of voiceless minorities, mainly religious minorities, who have less space in the social, cultural, financial and political life of the country.
To ensure the freedom of the press.
To ensure the reliable source of information regarding religious minorities in Pakistan.

Contact: Minority Concern

minorityconcernpk@gmail.com