Tag: minority

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-Top News UK News

‘Record British ethnic minority MPs to sit in Commons’

In case of the Labour winning 326 seats, the think tank claims that there will be 254 women MPs — 39 per cent of the total in the Commons…reports Asian Lite News

A record number of female and ethnic minority MPs in Britain are expected to sit in the House of Commons, following the much-anticipated general elections in the next half of this year, according to a report.

Whatever the actual outcome of the election, the number of ethnic minority MPs is most likely to rise from 65 to as many as 83, The Guardian reported, citing a study by think-tank British Future.

The number crossing 75 means a five-fold jump in a decade-and-a-half, with the 2005 to 2010 parliament having just 15 ethnic minority MPs out of 650.

“The next parliament will be the most diverse ever, reflecting a new norm across political parties. More ethnic minorities and more women are likely to sit in the Commons than ever before. Parliament is gradually catching up with the electorate that it represents,” said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future.

“But this needs to accelerate further if it is to keep pace with the growing diversity of our society and close the gender gap,” Katwala added.

The study estimates that in a first, there will be over 250 women in the Commons post the next general election — up from 220 in 2019 — with 153 of them in the Labour party and 72 in the Conservative.

In case of the Labour winning 326 seats, the think tank claims that there will be 254 women MPs — 39 per cent of the total in the Commons.

According to the news report, seven of the 14 constituencies in which Labour MPs have decided to stand down, have selected ethnic minority candidates.

For instance, Indian-origin Jas Athwal, who was selected in Ilford South in a contest with former shadow minister Sam Tarry, will defend a 24,101 majority in the London constituency.

Likewise, Baggy Shanker in Derby South, Satvir Kaur in Southampton Test and Harpreet Uppal in Huddersfield are in with a good chance of winning.

However, Katwal said that while having the strongest overall record on ethnic minority representation in the Commons, the Labour is selecting those candidates this time at a much lower rate of 12 per cent, compared to the 20 per cent proportion now in the parliamentary Labour party.

On a recent visit to Mansfield in central England, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that according to his ‘working assumption’, the UK will have a general election in the second half of this year.

According to some political experts, the Conservative party that has been in power since 2010, and has had five leaders and prime ministers in 14 years, is expected to lose the election to the main opposition.

The last general election, held in December 2019, was won by Boris Johnson on a pledge to get Brexit done.

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India News

SC seeks govt report on minority status for Hindus by Aug 30

The court allowed the central government to carry out consultations and was informed by Mehta that this exercise could take three months…reports Asian Lite News

Not happy with the Centre changing its position on whether minority status could be given to a religious community based on its population within a state, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the central government to consult stakeholders on this sensitive issue, and submit a report by August 30.

The bench was hearing a public interest litigation by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who challenged two laws – the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, and the National Commission for Minorities Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act, 2004.

Upadhyay asked why minority rights and benefits of establishing educational institutions were only available to six notified communities — Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains — and contended that Hindus lost out on these benefits despite being minority in some states.

The ministry of minority affairs filed an affidavit on Monday, through which it withdrew its earlier stand taken on March 28, and submitted that the question has “far-reaching ramifications throughout the country” and, therefore, “any stand taken without detailed deliberations with the stakeholders may result in an unintended complication for the country”.

In the earlier affidavit, the Centre termed Upadhyay’s plea “untenable and misconceived in law”, and stated that Parliament and state legislatures have “concurrent powers to enact law to provide for the protection of minorities and their interests”.

“Another counter affidavit has been filed which seems to back out of what was stated earlier, something we do not appreciate,” a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh said.

Saying how the Centre “turned turtle”, the bench told solicitor general Tushar Mehta: “How can in a matter like this an affidavit be filed that both Centre and state have power, and then say Centre alone has power? We gave you a number of dates. Consultation should have taken place. One should be careful before such an affidavit is filed and put out in public domain as there is so much of diversity in our country.”

The court allowed the central government to carry out consultations and was informed by Mehta that this exercise could take three months. The bench posted the matter for hearing on August 30 and sought a status report before the next date.

Upadhyay told the court that his prayer was not just for seeking minority benefits for Hindus as there was a larger issue raised in his petition questioning the validity of the two laws. Section 2(f) of the 2004 law gave wide powers to the Centre to restrict benefits to only six notified religious communities, he contended. The Centre was wrong in suggesting that states too have power to declare a community as minority, he argued.

“Your prayer cannot be read in a vacuum,” the court said. “Due care must be taken wherever any community that is in minority is declared to be a minority.”

The new affidavit was filed after the central government undertook an interministerial consultation involving three ministries, which discussed the possible fallouts and decided to supersede its earlier affidavit with a fresh one, Mehta said.

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-Top News PAKISTAN

Religious minorities under attack in Pakistan

In 2020 and during the first seven months of 2021, several terror groups have been reportedly present in Pakistan and continue to carry out attacks on religious minorities…writes Sanjeev Sharma

There has been a significant increase in targeted killings, blasphemy cases, forced conversions, and hate speech against religious minorities in Pakistan, including the Ahmadis, Shia Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs, the European Asylum Support Office said in a report.

Militant groups continued to attack religious minorities in the country, the report said.

This report is an update to the previous EASO COI “Pakistan�Security Situation” published in October 2020.

In 2020 and during the first seven months of 2021, several terror groups, including Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Al Qaeda, Islamic State-Khorasan and the Haqqani Network, have been reportedly present in Pakistan and continue to carry out attacks in the country.

The groups frequently carry out targeted killings using different types of IEDs, suicide attacks, kidnappings, grenade blasts, rocket attacks and sabotage acts, the report said.

In 2020 and during the first half of 2021, 344 civilians were reportedly killed as a result of violence in Pakistan.

Pakistani security forces carried out 47 operations and raids against militants in 2020.

During the same period, security operations and armed clashes were reported in all the four provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh.

These operations resulted in the killing of 146 people including 129 militants and 17 security forces personnel.

Over 26,500 Pakistanis applied for asylum in 2019 and almost 12,000 did from January to September 2020, Samaa TV reported.

However, compared to the same period in 2019, the number of Pakistani asylum applications between January and September 2020 decreased by 37 per cent because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the end of September 2020, close to 19,200 Pakistani cases were awaiting a first-instance decision, down from almost 21,200 cases at the end of 2019.

The recognition rate for Pakistani nationals has been relatively low, with just 8 per cent receiving some form of European Union-regulated protection between January and September 2020, down from 10 per cent during the same period in 2019, it added.

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-Top News Asia News India News

India slams Pakistan for its human rights situation 

India slams Pakistan for its human rights situation 

“The plight of minorities in Pakistan is evident from their shrinking size. Forced conversions have become a daily phenomenon in Pakistan,” said India…reports Asian Lite News

India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan for the deplorable human rights situation in the country with forced conversions becoming a daily phenomenon there.

“The plight of minorities in Pakistan is evident from their shrinking size. Forced conversions have become a daily phenomenon in Pakistan,” India said while exercising its right of reply to the statement made by Pakistan at the interactive dialogue on the annual report of the UNHRC.

“We have seen reports of minor girls belonging to religious minorities being abducted, raped, forcibly converted and married. More than 1000 girls, belonging to religious minorities are forcibly converted in Pakistan every year,” India said.

Expressing shock at the plight of minorities, India maintained that systematic persecution of minorities, including Christians, Ahmadiya, Sikhs and Hindus through draconian blasphemy laws, forced conversions, marries and extrajudicial killings has become a regular phenomenon in Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan

“Holy and ancient sites of religious minorities in Pakistan have been attacked and vandalized,” India said in its right to reply, stating the South Asian country has become the land of enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings and arbitrary detentions of political activists, students, journalists and human rights activists.

Pakistan has the dubious distinction of being listed as one of the “most dangerous countries.” “Journalists are threatened, intimidated, taken off air, kidnapped and in some cases killed, mainly to silence critics of the Establishment. While families of victims continue to struggle for justice, the perpetrators of these acts have enjoyed complete impunity,” India stated.

Hitting hard Pakistan for its continued support to terrorism, India said: “The scourge of terrorism is the gravest violation of human rights and must be dealt with in strongest terms in all its forms and manifestations. Pakistan, as its state policy, continues to provide pensions to dreaded and listed terrorists and hosts them on its territory. It is high time that Pakistan is held accountable for aiding and abetting terrorism.” (INN)

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-Top News Asia News

Top court stops demolition of Hindu dharamshala in Karachi

A three-judge bench issued the order in the case related to the implementation of a 2014 judgment on minorities rights…reports Hamza Ameer

The Pakistan Supreme Court has barred the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) from demolishing a Hindu dharamshala in Karachi and leasing it out to an individual.

A three-judge bench issued the order in the case related to the implementation of a 2014 judgment on minorities rights.

Ramesh Kumar, the co-opt member of the one-man commission on minorities, upraised the court that the property, located in the heart of Saddar town in Karachi city and measuring about 716 square yards, was a dharamshala.

Kumar also submitted photographs of the building and told the Supreme Court that the ETPB had leased the property to the individual for the demolition and allowed construction of a commercial plaza.

The Supreme Court’s order in the case, maintained: “The very photograph apparently shows that the building is of a dharamshala constructed in the year 1932, which can be read from the marble slab affixed on the building and must be protected heritage building.”

The court issued a notice to the Sindh provincial secretary heritage, asking for a report on the building and barred authorities from demolishing it.

“In the meantime, no demolition activity of the said building shall be conducted by anyone and possession of the building and the land shall be taken over by the Commissioner Karachi, who shall manage the same and not allow any person to enter upon it,” the order added.

The court noted that the one-man commission has also requested for allocation of more funds for clearance of outstanding liabilities and also for allocation of budget for the year.

“In the meantime, the amount of 14.994 million PKR be disbursed to the commission. For allocation of a new budget, let a proper response be filed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.”

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Asia News

‘Religious freedom conditions in Pakistan bad’

People walk at a market in eastern Pakistan's Rawalpindi

The USCIRF report cites Pakistan’s treatment of Ahmadiyya community, who continue to face severe official and societal persecution for their beliefs…reports Asian Lite News

Religious freedom conditions in Pakistan continue to worsen as the government systematically enforced blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws, according to a report released by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The USCIRF on Wednesday released its 2021 Annual Report documenting developments during 2020.

“Religious freedom conditions in Pakistan continued to worsen. The government systematically enforced blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws and failed to protect religious minorities from abuses by non-state actors. There was a sharp rise in targeted killings, blasphemy cases, forced conversions, and hate speech targeting religious minorities,” the report stated.

In its report, USCIRF stated that Pakistan’s treatment of religious minorities is best assessed through the prism of its treatment of the Ahmadiyya community, who continue to face severe official and societal persecution for their beliefs and self-identification as Muslims.

“The year saw a surge in targeted killings of Ahmadis. Between July and November, five Ahmadis were murdered, including 57-year-old Tahir Naseem, an American citizen accused of blasphemy who was shot in a courtroom in July.

“In May, the government formed the National Minorities Commission (NMC) required by a 2014 Supreme Court decision, however Ahmadis were excluded,” the report said.

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It further stated that Pakistan’s religiously discriminatory legislation, such as the blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws, used in combination with new media rules, contributed to egregious human rights abuses and fostered an overall atmosphere of intolerance for religious minorities that often leads to violence and discrimination.

In August, over 40 blasphemy First Incident Reports (FIRs) were registered, mostly targeting the Shia minority during the month of Muharram.

In 2020, there reportedly were 30 Christians, including seven on death row, jailed in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy, said the report.

Reports also highlighted the issue of abduction, forced conversion to Islam, rape, and forced marriage remained an imminent threat for religious minority women and children, particularly from the Hindu and Christian faiths.

“Pakistani courts systematically failed to protect and provide justice to victims, who are often forced to testify that they converted voluntarily to protect themselves and their families from further harm.

In April, Myra Shahbaz, a 14-year-old Christian schoolgirl, was abducted at gunpoint. Despite Myra telling police she was drugged, raped, and forced to sign papers her abductor later used to allege that she was 19 and had voluntarily married and converted, the court ordered that she be returned to her abductor,” the report mentioned.

As per the latest US rights commission’s recommendations to the US government, it stated that “Repeal blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws; until repeal is accomplished, enact reforms to make blasphemy a bailable offense, require evidence by accusers, ensure proper investigation by senior police officials, allow authorities to dismiss unfounded accusations, and enforce existing Penal Code articles criminalising perjury and false accusations.”

“Release blasphemy prisoners and other individuals imprisoned for their religion or belief,” it added.

The 2021 Annual Report also recommends holding accountable individuals who incite or participate in vigilante violence, targeted killings, forced conversions, and other hate crimes.

“Impose targeted sanctions on Pakistani government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations,” the report recommended. (ANI)

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