Haqnawaz’shinwari
PESHAWAR
Representatives of the Diocese of Peshawar, Church of Pakistan strongly condemned the increasing number of cases being reported of forced conversions and marriages of underage girls belonging to minority communities in Sindh and Punjab.
Addressing a press conference here at Peshawar, Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz Peters and others called on the government of Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to crack down on forced conversions and forced marriages of minority girls.
Prosecution of Forced Conversion Bill 2021 which was rejected by the national assembly should be brought back and send it to Human Rights Commission, he added.
The Church of Pakistan and other minorities requested Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and Asad Qasr, the Speaker of the National Assembly and other authorities to re-introduce the said Bill in Parliament and pass it by an overwhelming majority.
Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz Peters said that we (Christian-community) also protest against the brutal murder of factory manager Priya Natha Kumara in the Sialkot tragedy.
There was a great humiliation of humanity in the name of religion and some people misuse the laws of blasphemous religion, he added.
They demand that such accused and groups be brought to justice.
Later, the Diocese of Peshawar, Church of Pakistan also held a protest walk regarding their demands in which a large number of members of the minority community participated.
