Human Boundaries is an initiative by National Hindu Students’ Forum (UK), supported by numerous partners. It has been set up to pursue equal rights for religious minorities in Pakistan. We are running both a petition and an awareness campaign, which involves screening an award-winning film across the country with guest speakers giving deeper insight into the issues. Secondly, we are running a petition which focuses on religious freedom. One of the things we are petitioning is for the Pakistani Government to pass the Hindu Marriage Act, which allows Hindus to prove they are married. Lack of legislation restricts women in their rights in various ways, including; freedom of movement, claiming estates of dead husbands and divorce.
For more information visit: www.nhsf.org.uk/human or Email: chirag.patel@nhsf.org.uk
Project Partners:
• Interfaith
o Council of Dharmic Faiths
o National Union of Students
• International
o Hindu American Foundation (USA)
o Hindu Forum of Europe
o Werkgroep Agni (Netherlands)
• Hindu Organisations
o British Hindu Voice
o City Hindus Network
o Hindu Council UK
o Hindu Forum of Britain
o Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (UK)
o International Society for Krishna Consciousness (UK)
o National Council of Hindu Temples
o Nepalese Hindu Forum
o Om Group
o Vishwa Hindu Parishad (UK)
We are petitioning for:
• The Government of Pakistan to implement meaningful constitutional and legal reform to ensure equality and religious freedom for all Pakistanis.
• Urge Pakistani officials to enact legislation to protect minorities from abductions and forced conversions and to initiate a formal inquiry into the issue of kidnapping and forced conversion of minorities.
• Implore Pakistan’s government to pass the Hindu Marriage Act without delay, thereby officially recognising Hindu marriages and providing full legal rights to Hindu women.
• Government of India to grant Pakistani Hindu refugees asylum or legal status in India, given their fear of persecution if forced to return to Pakistan.
List of more articles highlighting the importance of the issue is here: http://humanboundaries.nhsf.org.uk/about/background/
Minority citizens in Pakistan, including Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, and Ahmadis, face a multitude of legal and institutional challenges, systematic violence and discrimination, and widespread restrictions on religious freedom. Pakistan’s constitution and laws, for instance, institutionalise the inferior status of minorities by promoting an explicit preference for Islam and Muslims and limiting the rights of non-Muslims. In addition, the blasphemy laws, codified in Pakistan’s penal code, disproportionately affect minorities and prevent Ahmadis from openly practicing their faith. Furthermore, there is currently no legal mechanism to officially register and recognise Hindu marriages in Pakistan. Without legal recognition of their marriages, Hindu women have been unable to obtain national identity cards, have no property rights, and face discrimination in obtaining a variety of government services.
Beyond discriminatory laws and constitutional injunctions, religious minorities are subjected to violence on a routine basis. Hindu temples, Ahmadi mosques, and Christian churches, for instance, are frequently targeted and attacked by extremists. And in recent years, there has been a dangerous upsurge in the abductions and forced conversions of Hindu girls, some as young as 12 years old. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, 20-25 Hindu girls are kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam every month in Pakistan. Similarly, the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference of Pakistan reports that hundreds of Christian girls are being kidnapped and forcibly converted every year. The police, government officials, and the court system have all failed to stop such incidents and are often complicit in them. Moreover, the absence of comprehensive legislation to protect minorities from these types of abductions and forced conversions has rendered them helpless in obtaining justice.
As a result, thousands of Pakistani Hindus have sought refuge in India in recent years. Unfortunately, the Indian government lacks a coherent refugee policy and has failed to recognise the majority of Pakistani Hindus as refugees or grant them asylum, leaving them at risk of being deported. Given their well-founded fear of persecution if forced to return to Pakistan and the Pakistani government inability to protect them, these refugees should be accorded asylum or formal legal status in India.
As concerned citizens and tax payers supporting foreign aid to Pakistan, we are extremely troubled by the growing plight of religious minorities in Pakistan. Consequently, we respectfully urge you to press Pakistani authorities to take concrete steps to protect minorities. Specifically, we request the Government to:
• Work with the Government of Pakistan to implement meaningful constitutional and legal reform to ensure equality and religious freedom for all Pakistanis.
• Urge Pakistani officials to enact legislation to protect minorities from abductions and forced conversions and to initiate a formal inquiry into the issue of kidnapping and forced conversion of minorities.
• Implore Pakistan’s government to pass the Hindu Marriage Act without delay, thereby officially recognising Hindu marriages and providing full legal rights to Hindu women.
Similarly, we call on the Government to:
• Formally request the Government of India to grant Pakistani Hindu refugees asylum or legal status in India, given their fear of persecution if forced to return to Pakistan.
Introduction:
Due to the number of human and civil rights abuses being faced by religious minorities in Pakistan, NHSF (UK) has decided to lead a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of these problems. Alongside the awareness campaign we are also looking to petition the government to see if we can have any impact on certain legislations which are being requested by religious minorities in Pakistan.
As indicated above, we have made contact with organisations Pakistan. The main organisation which we are working with is called Pakistan Hindu Seva. The organisation is mainly run by a Masters student studying in Karachi and has a team who look into problems being faced by Pakistani Hindus, but also run a number of educational and social activities.
Petition:
Background:
In order to have maximum impact with the petition, NHSF (UK) have teamed up with not only Pakistan Hindu Seva, but have also sought the guidance of Hindu American Foundation (HAF). HAF have extensive experience and expertise of working on Human Rights cases, and have authored nine Human Rights reports which can be found on their website. The petition itself has been drafted by a Director of HAF and is one of their Senior Human Rights Fellows, who has expensive knowledge and experience with the Pakistani judicial & legal systems and human & civil rights abuses.
As a faith group leading this project we are reaching out to different communities to strengthen our campaign, this petition mentions and looks for protection for various religious minorities, including – Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Amadhis (a Muslim sect).
Aims:
We aim to petition the British Government on 3 accounts:
• Pakistani Government Protection: For the Pakistani Government to explore legal opportunities which will protect religious minorities in Pakistan.
• For the right to register a marriage: Currently there is no system for Pakistani Hindus to be legally married, and it is the only faith group not to have this right. This is having a direct impact on women in Pakisan, but such legislation will give women full legal protection, as well as reducing the number of kidnappings, forced marriages and forced conversions.
• Support from Indian Government: There are currently issues, which are explored in the film, of Pakistani Hindus unable to gain asylum in India. The issue is that Pakistani Hindus are treated very differently and are singled out, compared to Asylum Seekers from countries such as Bangladesh and Burma.
Screenings of the film Human Boundaries:
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_xVpC949gs
Aims:
• Raise awareness of the plight of religious minorities within Pakistan
• Create a national movement to sign the petition
• Coordinate with other faith and community groups, both in and outside the UK
In terms of creating maximum impact we are looking to hold at least 9 screenings in November & December 2013, of Human Boundaries, across the UK at our Chapters in the following locations:
• Manchester
• Leeds
• Nottingham
• Leicester
• Birmingham
• London x 2
• Reading
• Portsmouth
We are also looking at having screenings with:
• Om Youth, an organisation based in Luton
• Hindu Lawyers Association – who can work BPP Law School in London
Talks at Screenings:
At these screenings we will look to have one key note speech at each one. Some suggested topics are:
• How can religious tolerance within British society can be exported globally?
• What lessons have been learnt over the last 50 years to accept ethnic and religious minorities?
• The role of women within society.
Final Screening:
The final screening will be held in the Houses of Parliament. At this meeting we will look to have representation, on an invitation basis only, at a closed door meeting to show senior Ministers the film and to also to hand over the petition.
The NHSF (UK) PR & Admin Team will be reaching out to various organisations that fit into the above categories and more.