ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversions is considering to recommend five to 10 years imprisonment for anyone involved in force religious conversion while it has recommended magisterial registration mandatory for any person changing his/her religion.
Presided over by its Convener Senator Dr Sikandar Mandhro, the Committee meeting on Monday discussed the draft proposal for legislation to protect minorities from forced conversions.
That Committee took some significant decisions that would be incorporated in the related legislation.
It unanimously recommended that any person under the age of 18 be considered minor. Any person who wants to change his/her religion is required to move an application to the magistrate concerned and the conversion would be considered legal only after its registration by the magistrate following the due process, the Committee unanimously recommended.
It reviewed the proposal suggesting jail term of five to 10 years for any person involved in forced religious conversion and punishment of three to five year to facilitator(s).
The Committee asked the Ministries of Human Rights, and Law and Justice to prepare the draft of the related legislation within a week.
The Committee also unanimously recommended that the related bill that would be finalised by the Committee would be effective across Pakistan.
“In most parts of the world, there is a proper and well defined mechanism regarding religious conversions. But in our country, the minorities have been complaining for long that they are subjected to forced religious conversions—mostly for marriage. This is unacceptable and this needs to change to ensure the protection of the religious rights of minorities through parliamentary legislation,” the Committee Convener said.
The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) submitted before the Committee its interim reply regarding the definition of “wali” and “forced conversion”. The CII representatives said the Council’s formation is presently incomplete and, therefore, an interim reply has been submitted. A detailed reply would be submitted once the CII formation is complete, the CII representatives said.
The Committee decided to review the CII reply in detail in its next meeting.
Member National Assembly (MNA) Lal Chand Malhi and officials of CII, Ministries of Human Rights, Law and Justice and other officials concerned attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021