PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s federal Ministry for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Auqaf and religious affairs department to take legal steps for the prevention of forced conversions of religion under the guise of marriages.
Also, the provincial government has been told to increase quota in jobs in its departments for members of religious minorities.
Sources in the provincial religious affairs department said yesterday that the federal government had approved certain measures for the protection of the minorities’ rights and asked all four provinces to ensure its implementation.
The federal government is likely to bring the Hindu Marriage Bill in the National Assembly soon.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Frederick Azeem said that the cases of forced conversation of religion was common in Sindh and parts of Punjab, while such cases had never been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said many Hindu girls had been converted to Islam under the guise of marriages.
“This practice is common in Sindh, where Hindu girls are victimised,” he said, adding the forced conversions of religion prompted the federal government to take legal steps. The sources said the federal government had asked the provinces to increase quota for members of minorities in their jobs and educational institutions. Five percent job quota was fixed in federal government jobs for minorities in 2009.
INTERNEWS
