HRCP, Christian group stage rallies to highlight rights abuses

Rights activists in rallies marking International Human Rights Day, which falls on December 10, demanded of the government to declare enforced disappearances a crime and recover all the missing persons.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan along with other rights groups on Friday organised a rally to mark the global day to highlight the rights abuses in the country.

A large number of rights and political activists attended the rally that started at the Regal Chowk and ended at the Karachi Press Club (KPC). HRCP-Co Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt led the rally. Labour and human rights activists Karamat Ali, Qazi Khizer, Saeed Baloch, Nasir Mansoor, Sarang Joyo, Abdul Khaliq Junejo and Mahnaz Rehman were prominent among the other participants.

The activists raised concerns over rapidly eroding space for freedom of expression in the country and said that the right to know, dissent, and free expression of ideas was essential to any democratic setup.

They also demanded an end to sedition cases against veteran politician and Awami Workers Party president Yousaf Masti Khan for attending a local residents’ rights campaign in Gwadar.

The Muttahida Masihi Council, a Christian rights body, also separately organised a protest in connection with International Human Rights Day, where speakers said cases pertaining to forced conversion and marriages of underage girls were on the rise but the government was not taking pragmatic steps to stop such incidents.

They demanded that Prime Minister Imran Khan implement legal and administrative measures to protect the minorities, especially their underage girls, from forced conversions and marriages.

They also demanded of the Sindh government to ensure protection to the minority communities, particularly the Hindus and Christians, as most forced conversion cases in the country had been reported from Sindh.

They claimed that in most of the forced marriage cases, the girls were found underage but no steps were taken by the relevant departments to stem the alarming situation.