ISLAMABAD: National Party lawmaker Jan Muhammad Buledi in the Senate on Friday strongly advocated for the second phase of the Aghaze Haqooqe Balochistan Package (AHBP), citing ongoing insurgency and unrest among local youth.
During budget debates, Buledi noted Balochistan’s persistent issues: “There appeared effort to address Balochistan’s deep-rooted issues, which had been ignored in the proposed budget as well, as the province continues to face serious security, health, education issues and there is rampant corruption in provincial government departments like P&D and Finance departments.”
He criticised delayed development schemes: “Some on-going schemes in the province were started 15 years ago and one could not speculate when would these be completed, asking would this way, Balochistan be developed.”
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar responded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was personally overseeing initiatives, including four new Danish schools, emphasising the PM’s priority for Balochistan.
The session saw two opposition walkouts over ministerial absence and a quorum issue, later resolved after treasury members persuaded opposition senators to return.
Balochistan Awami Party Senator Danesh Kumar raised alarm about three Hindu girls and a minor boy reportedly abducted for forced conversion in Sanghar, Sindh: “Why such incidents happened in Sindh, where most of the Hindu minority lived?”
He appealed to the Muslim religious leaders to intervene to stop this injustice as well as to the chair to act and summon Sindh police chief to question him about such incidents.
Majlis-e-Wahadatul Muslimeen (MWM) Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas concurred: “Cases of abduction and forced conversion of minority girls were rampant throughout the country, especially in Sindh.”
Senator Abbas raised a strong objection over the Punjab government move to ban the entry of pedestrians into the processions of Muharram by dubbing the action as ‘unwarranted’, ‘bid’at’ in Islam. He questioned who had given the status of ‘faqih’ to the provincial government to call anything ‘bid’at’.
He charged unlike Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government of Punjab was creating hurdles for the Shia Muslims in performance of their rituals, being their fundamental rights, enshrined in the Constitution.
Senator Attaur Rehman said Islam did not allow acts of forced conversion and claimed that in Pakistan including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, not only minorities but also Muslim community is facing many injustices. He agreed that the governments concerned should be questioned over the issue raised by Senator Kumar.
Minister of State for Religious Affairs Kheal Das said that the police have presented the girls in a local court and noted that there is an unrest among Hindu community in Sindh over the issue and they are protesting. He emphasised that there should be some legislation over this matter as girls below the age of 18 years are being converted forcefully and married to Muslim boys. He urged the federal government to take immediate action.
Law Minister Tarar said Parliament had already passed the bill to establish the National Commission for Minorities Rights, which had been given quasi-judicial powers and would be headed by a minority member.
