The issue of religious minorities in Pakistan needs urgent attention to resolve it through
multiple actions from the Government of Pakistan.
Recommendations to the Government of Pakistan:
1. Separation between state and religion
2. Enforcement of the constitutional clauses that guarantee fundamental rights to the minorities.
3. Reformed curriculum
4. Strict implementation of laws against hate speech.
5. Enactment of a law to address forced faith conversation of girls from religious minorities.
6. Drafting and enactment of anti-discrimination legislation to protect minority communities with the
consensus of respective groups.
7. Declare caste discrimination a crime.
8. Ban on un-registered and Dangerous madrassas
Role of International community
There is key role of international donor agencies in reforming the educational system and enforcing
international human rights laws. The World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank, USAID and other
UN agencies are investing billions of dollars in the education sector in Pakistan. These donor agencies
need to impose conditions on the Government of Pakistan while investing the money in the country. All
prejudice should be removed from the curriculum and it should be designed in a modern way, free of
any religious bias.
The United Nations need to push the Government of Pakistan to respect the UN treaties ratified by
Pakistan and translate into the domestic legislation.
Finally, we urge the Secretariat to specifically address violence and atrocity crimes targeted against
Dalits in the recommendations and to explicitly mention and consider caste identities and caste-affected
communities in the calls for particular focuses in approaches, policy and legislation.
I thank you and look forward to our interactive exchange today and tomorrow.