PESHAWAR: The 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 told Dawn on Friday 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 told Dawn 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 per cent job quota was fixed in federal government jobs for minorities in 2009.
Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan governments had fixed five per cent job quota for minorities in their departments, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has allotted three per cent quota for minorities.
Special assistant to the chief minister on minorities Soran Singh said job quota for minorities was 0.3 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government took it to three per cent.
“Efforts are being made to increase it (job quota for minorities) to five per cent in the province,” he said.
The relevant officials said the federal government had also recommended to the provinces to allow Christian community to run own schools and colleges.
However, MPA Fredrick said religious minorities had requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to permit minorities, including Christians and Hindus, to build own places of worship as there was a ban on the construction of churches and temples in the country.He said the religious minorities’ population had increased over the years, so they needed more places of worship.
“Christians can establish and run educational institutions but they are not allowed to put up churches,” he said, adding that he would take up the matter with the federal and provincial governments for necessary action.
