The Pakistan National Commission for Minorities is a commission for the preservation of religious minorities in Pakistan. It is under

Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony The Ministry of Religious Affairs ( ur, , abbreviated as MoRA) is a government agency of Pakistan responsible for religious matters such as pilgrimage outside Pakistan, especially to India for Ziyarat, and Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj. It ...

Background

In June 2014, the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

in the Peshawar church bombing case mandated the federal government to form a national council for minorities. Till 2018 no such Commission was formed. So the Centre for Social Justice, the

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ) (HRCP) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country. HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting a ...

and the Cecil and Iris Chaudhry Foundation filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court to have the judgement implemented. On 19 February 2020, the

requested the Supreme Court to give more time for the formation of the commission and the Court gave 2 months to constitute the commission.

Structure

The commission contains six official and 12 non-official members including the chairman for a term of three years. The 6 official members are chairman of the

Council of Islamic Ideology Council of Islamic Ideology (CII; ( ur, ) is a constitutional body of Pakistan, responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the government and the Parliament. This body was founded in 1962 under the government of Ayub Khan. Func ...

, secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, one member from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Law and Justice, the Ministry of Human Rights and the Federal Education and Professional Training each. The 12 non-official members include 2 Muslims, 3 Hindus, 3 Christians, 2 Sikh, 1 Parsi and 1 Kalasha members.

Criticism

The Ahmadiya were excluded from the Commission. A resolution seeking their inclusion was submitted in the Pakistan assembly in which it is said that the Ahmadiya to be included in the Commission, if their top leaders submits that the Ahmadiyas are non Muslims. The Hindu Sudhar Sabha criticized the commission for excluding Scheduled castes Hindus, who constitute majority of the Hindu community. Peter Jacob, the Catholic director of the Centre for Social Justice said that the minority commission is under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and have no statutory powers. He added that the formation of the minority commission was supposed to be formed as an act of parliament. Another criticism is about the inclusion of two Muslim members in the a commission for religious minorities. Religious Minority leaders questioned that if non-Muslims cannot be part of the

, then why include Muslim members in the minority commission.

References

{{Reflist Pakistan federal departments and agencies Pakistani commissions and inquiries Pakistani public service commissions