A/HRC/13/40/Add.1
enquiries have been ordered by the Chief Justice of the High Court and the National
Assembly, the leaders of the mob have reportedly not been arrested yet.
208. The Special Rapporteur recalled that the Human Rights Council in its resolution
6/37 urges States to “take all necessary and appropriate action, in conformity with
international standards of human rights, to combat hatred, intolerance and acts of violence,
intimidation and coercion motivated by intolerance based on religion or belief, as well as
incitement to hostility and violence, with particular regard to religious minorities”. The
Special Rapporteur also urged the Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee
that the rights and freedoms of the members of the Christian community are respected and
accountability of any person guilty of the alleged violations is ensured. She also requested
that the Government adopts effective measures to prevent the recurrence of these acts.
(b)
Response from the Government dated 11 August 2009
209. The Government, in its response dated 11 August 2009, referred to the Constitution
of Pakistan which guarantees equal rights to all its citizens irrespective of race, religion and
creed. The Government emphasized that it undertook its responsibility seriously and was
committed to take all necessary and appropriate steps, in conformity with international
human rights standards, to promote and protect the rights of all its citizens, including
religious minorities.
210. Accordingly, the Government stressed that it had not only strongly condemned the
incident of violence in Gojra, at the highest levels (President, Prime Minister and Federal
Cabinet), but it had also taken a series of immediate steps to address the situation, which
inter alia included the following:
• The Prime Minister of Pakistan visited the site along with the Chief Minister of
Punjab and assured the local Christian community to protect the victims of the riots
as well as to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice
�� The Federal Government had ordered a high level inquiry and, on the request of the
Provincial Government, the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court had initiated a
judicial inquiry into the incident
• A Presidential relief package announced by the Government included 500,000
rupees to the family of each of the deceased and 300,000 rupees for each family
whose house had been burnt
• A grant of 200,000,000 rupees had been announced by the Federal and Provincial
Governments for the rehabilitation of the affected houses in the Christian colony of
Gojra
• The Government would also bear all expenses of the development, renovation or
repair of churches and other places of worship
• A Committee was formed by the Chief Minister of Punjab to supervise the
rehabilitation work in Gojra and to create religious harmony in the province
• An assessment team was carrying out a survey of the damaged properties to pay
compensation in line with the package announced
• A relief camp had been established at site, while the Home Secretary of Punjab
along with the Commissioner and Regional Police Officer of Faisalabad were
monitoring and supervising the investigations and rehabilitation activities
• An officer of the rank of the Secretary had been appointed as Relief Commissioner
• Free medical treatment was being provided to the injured
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