Pakistan’s Supreme Court has, on June 19, ordered the government to take a number of steps to protect religious minorities from violence and intolerance, in a welcome move for the country’s Christians.
The 32-page ruling was made in response to the deadliest-ever attack on Pakistan’s Christian minority, the suicide bombing at All Saints Church in Peshawar that claimed over 100 lives in September 2013, as well as incidents targeting other minorities. Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani acknowledged that religious minorities were subject to intolerance and violence, and that the state had failed to protect them.
Minority rights
The court ordered the federal government to form a National Council for Minority Rights, a special police force to protect minority groups’ places of worship, and a taskforce to develop strategies to tackle religious intolerance. Further measures include taking action against those who incite religious hatred via social media, protections for children who suffer for their faith at school, the development of school and college curricula that are unbiased, and the enforcement of the five per cent quota for non-Muslims in the state employment sector.
