The National Assembly was especially active in passing dozens of bills before its dissolution on August 10. Political historians, legal experts, and rights activists were overwhelmed, warning legislators not to make what most observers fear will prove to be catastrophic mistakes.

However, the National Assembly (NA) was not interested in potential ill consequences and lawmakers voted in haste to pass sticky legislations. There was not even a little debate on the bills. This is deeply problematic; legislative power is a trust reposed by the public in the representatives they send to parliament. It should never be exercised without adequate transparency and accountability.

As a plethora of bills was being approved in the parliament, the National Commission for Minorities Bill, 2023 was passed on August 7. Civil society and religious minorities have strong reservations against this bill. It is telling that it was passed just before August 11th, National Minorities’ Day; it did not take into consideration the many concerns raised by civil society organisations and religious minorities.

Minority communities have long demanded the establishment of a National Commission for Minorities’ Rights (NCMR) through an act of parliament, like other national human rights institutions (NHRIs). But the bill passed by the NA cannot craft a truly functional, effective, autonomous and resourceful institution to safeguard minority rights.

The Jaranwala violence has reinforced the need for a powerful and autonomous National Commission for Minorities’ Rights. It is time that parliament takes this seriously

Historical Perspective

A look at the history of ad-hoc minority rights commissions formed by the federal Ministry for Religious Affairs since 1990 reveals a lack of progress in policy reforms or of the resolution of complaints related to minorities rights, because of inadequate legal foundations, limited mandates, the lack of independence and insufficient resources.

The Supreme Court, therefore, directed the government with the task of constituting a NCMR to delve deeper into the problem in 2014. Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani asked to establish a commission “to monitor the practical realisation of the rights and safeguards provided to the minorities under the Constitution and law” and which would have the ability “to frame policy recommendations for safeguarding and protecting minorities rights’ by the provincial and federal governments.”

While the judgement was lauded for its initiative, the political will to implement the practical steps has been by and large absent.

Three bills were introduced before parliament to build momentum in creating an independent, statutory commission, but to no avail. The government presented strong objections to The Commission for Minorities Bill, 2015, moved by Beelam Hasnain; The Commission for Minorities Bill, 2015, moved by Lal Chand Malhi; and The Commission for Minorities’ Bill, 2016, moved by Sanjay Perwani.

The government argued that the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) would merge all three private bills together and promulgate a comprehensive bill, but nothing materialised.

It was not until 2018, when the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the Centre for Social Justice and the Cecil and Iris Chaudhry Foundation filed public interest litigation before the Supreme Court to have the 2014 judgement implemented.

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) was finally established on May 5, 2020, not through an act of parliament but as a set-up by the federal cabinet. Consequently, it is a government body rather than an independent, statutory institution.

Key Issues Regarding Recent Bill

Apart from constitutional guarantees of equality, Pakistan has no concrete state policy on minorities rights. There is no legislative initiative that specifically speaks for minorities rights. This new legislation initiated by MORA far from addresses the gaps.

“The name of the institution should be the National Commission for Minorities’ Rights, instead of National Commission for Minorities, to ensure its primary focus on safeguarding and advocating for minority rights. It will also be aligned with other national human rights institutions such as the National Commission for Human Rights,” says Peter Jacob, Chairperson of the Peoples’ Commission for Minorities Rights.

In a statement issued on August 8, the Joint Action Committee for Peoples’ Rights (JAC) highlighted that the bill’s provisions are inconsistent with the UN Paris Principles and the directives of the Supreme Court from 2014 (SMC No. 1 of 2014), urging the government to take immediate steps towards enacting a more robust and comprehensive National Commission for Minorities’ Rights.

The preparation of the NCMR bill is beyond the purview and competence of MORA and should be prepared by the Ministry of Human Rights, as it is a matter of the rights of religious minorities. All other NHRIs are established through the bills initiated by MOHR. This is supposed to be a minority rights institution, not a religious body in the making.

While recognising religious diversity, there must be proportional representation for smaller religious communities, with a single seat for Sikhs in proportion to their population size. A diverse composition would include four Hindu members, from both upper castes and scheduled castes, and as many Christian members from different provinces, to incorporate regional representation.

The appointments to the commission should be based on merit rather than just religious or caste identity, emphasising the commission’s role as a human rights institution. Members should have experience as human rights defenders.

To ensure greater independence, government representation within and influence over the commission should also be reduced.

The inclusion of the Council of Islamic Ideology and Evacuee Trust Property Board representation in the commission in the bill is questionable, as the stakes for these actors are tenuous. The body should be an independent minorities’ rights commission.

There is also a strong recommendation for the body to add representatives from existing NHRIs, including the National Commission for Human Rights, the National Commission on the Status of Women and the National Commission on the Rights of Child, to enhance cooperation among NHRIs and avoid redundancy.

For implementation of any legislation but especially for one as crucial as the proposed NCMR, there should be adequate resource allocation. Allocating a sufficient budget to the commission for financial autonomy, reflecting the government’s commitment to supporting national human rights institutions, is a prerequisite.

Parliament should play a central role in the appointment process and to ensure the commission’s accountability by presenting an annual report to the parliament itself, rather than to the President of Pakistan.

Need for autonomous NCMR

Due to civil society members’ timely advocacy with senators, the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023 was dropped in the Senate on August 9. Looking at the above key issues, there is a dire need to revise it in order to establish an institution that truly upholds the rights and protection of minority communities in Pakistan.

Hopefully, when this bill is taken up again by a new elected National Assembly, the members of the parliament will address the above issues and make the required revisions to establish an autonomous, effective and resourceful NCMR consistent with the UN Paris Principles and the 2014 directives of the Supreme Court.

An independent and efficient NCMR can be one step towards checking incidents like the recent Jaranwala mob violence. It is a reminder that a powerful Commission, as envisioned in Justice Jilani’s judgment, is the need of the hour. The compliance of all other orders in the judgment is also required to improve the lives of marginalised communities.

The writer is a human rights activist and columnist.
She tweets @NabilaFBhatti and
can be reached at nabilaferoz@gmail.com.

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 27th, 2023

This version of the article incorporates a quote by Peter Jacob that was taken out in the print version edit because of space reasons.