Majorities Helpful For Minorities To Address Issues: Chairman NCM Chela Ram Kewlani

Majorities helpful for minorities to address issues: Chairman NCM Chela Ram Kewlani

Chairman National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Chela Ram Kewlani said "only Muslims could protect minorities rights and help them to address various issues

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Nov, 2020 ) :Chairman National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Chela Ram Kewlani said "only Muslims could protect minorities rights and help them to address various issues.

"We are 3 to 4 percent of total population in country, there is no other way except the support by elder brothers which can eliminate the sense of security and deprivations among the minorities in Pakistan, "he reiterated while talking to APP here on Thursday.

The minorities were being persecuted in India and other countries, he said expressing serious concerns over the persecution of Kashmiri Muslims in India.

However, there was a need of time to sit with elder brothers if we really wanted to resolve our issues, he said suggesting people from minorities that if they were with us, they would be aware our issues and they would ultimately extend the support for find the better way for permanent resolution of our issues, he said.

Moreover, minorities especially Hindus were living here before creation of Pakistan, they were real sons of this soil, no one could force to leave this soil because it was our mother and no one leave mother, he said, elaborating that whatever the challenges might be but they could not force them to leave th e country.

Majority of Hindus were living in Sindh province and they were facing lots of issue like Forced conversions, non-implementation of 5% Job quota, hate speeches etc, he said while expressing concerns over unsatisfactory role of Sindh government in addressing the issues being faced by minorities in the province.

"After 18th amendment, the provinces are independent, Sindh government should address these issues because majority of issues faced by Hindu were prevailing in the Sindh province," he said, insisting on that the Sindh government to devise the proper policy and mechanism to tackle them.

The changes in syllabus had been made in the Punjab and KhyberPakhtunKhawa (KPK) to promote the interfaith harmony in the province while so far Sindh government did not do this where majority of Hindus were living, he said,suggesting that Sindh government should do more.

Sindh government should organize the seminars, workshops or other activities to promote the interfaith harmony among different religion where the people from different religious should be invited and this would help the religious minorities to tackle their problem in the province, he said, adding majority are not aware about our issues.

The tradition of promoting interfaith harmony was initiated by PTI-led government where recently the Dewali Festival in Karachi was organized where the people from different faith participated, he told, appreciating the Federal government role in addressing the issues of Minorities in the country.

Apart from this, NCM was also established for this purpose and we were working on its legislation in which two Muslims members have been suggested to be included in the NCM, they would help the minorities, he said, informing that 17 years ago, the NCM was established but no legislation was made so far.

Replying to a question, chairman said that forced conversion was major issue of minorities but PTI-led government was wisely handling issue where the Parliamentary Committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversions was formed.

The committee headed by Senator Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar held two meetings with stakeholders in Sindh province to review the situations and it would forward the recommendation for legislation to address forced conversion issues, he added, describing that hopefully, the legislation would be made soon and its strict implementation would eliminate the problem from the country.

Apart from this, there was another important issue of 5 percent quota which was not being implemented, he said adding the temples, churches and other religious minorities place were reported to be vandalized. No one could do anything, until and unless, there was legislation or law to control or address it, PTI-led government under dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was extensively working on the legislation to address the issues of Minorities in Pakistan, he said hoping for the better situation for the minorities in future.

Replying to another question, he said while suggesting the minorities especially lawmakers that there was a need to unite for better legislation to address the issues like Forced Conversions, implementation of 5% quota, hate-speeches and others issues.

"Every religion is good, we should respect all religion because each teaches us the message of love, peace, tolerance and interfaith harmony, we should not hurt anyone," he told, advising the people to follow and respect the teaching of religions.