Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - A new draft law to combat the phenomenon of forced conversions and marriages was presented to the government by the "National Commission for Minorities in Pakistan", which in past months had raised the issue (see Fides 12 / 4/2012). In the draft decision, the Commission, as reported to Fides, asks that, as a measure to limit forced conversions, one does not allow the converts from the Muslim community to marry for at least six months after conversion.
The Commission, created recently, spoke against the backdrop of a controversy that has inflamed the nation, over allegations of forced Islamic conversion and marriage of three Hindu women in the province of Sindh.
According to the Commission, a magistrate, and not a police officer, should be in charge to record, independently, the declarations of the supposed converts. According to the procedures currently in force, however, it is the police to register an official complaint ("First Information Report"), submitted by a family member of a convert, in accordance with Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A police records the statements which are then transmitted to the court. According to religious minorities, such statements are often falsified to favor Muslims. The National Commission for Minorities is presided by the Minister of Harmony and includes two Muslim MP’s, two Hindus, two Christians and a representative of the Sikh and Parsis community, as well as representatives of the ministries of interior, justice, national Harmony. As reported to Fides, the Minister of State for Harmony, Akram Masih Gill, remarked that the Commission will also address the "Council of Islamic Ideology," to seek consensus on the new proposed law, since "there are cases where women are kidnapped and repeatedly raped," to convert them.
The Commission will also send a draft of the "Christian and Hindu Marriage Act" - which recognizes the validity of such legal and civil unions – to MPs of religious minorities and other stakeholders, in order to finalize the bill and then present it in Parliament. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 14/6/2012)
