Sindh government to take back forced conversion bill, Zardari assures Jammat-e-Islami

KARACHI: Co-chairman Pakistan People’s Party Asif Ali Zardari has given his word to the Ameer Jammat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq to strike down the recently passed forced conversion bill in the Sindh Assembly, claimed a JI spokesperson.

Siraj thanked the PPP leader for taking into consideration the reservations against the bill and said that every citizen of Pakistan deserves equal rights irrespective of their religious affiliations.

Forced Conversion Bill

The Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a bill against forced religious conversions in the province. The Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015 was tabled by PML-F’s Nand Kumar and Khatu Mal Jeewan.

According to the bill, change of religion will not be recognised until the person reaches 18 years of age, moreover at least seven years for perpetrators and five-year jail was recommended for facilitators of forced conversions. Moreover, it said that adults considering to change their religion be provided with a safe house to live for 21 days, to ensure that they are making the said decision without any coercion.

Religious parties critical of conversion bill

Earlier, The News reported that Secretary General Jammat-e-Islami Liaquat Baloch said: “The provincial assembly has passed the bill in haste to please some foreign lobbies,” further adding, “however, we will not let it sail through and will challenge it in the Council for Islamic Ideology (CII) as well as in Federal Shariat Court,” warned Baloch.

Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Maulana Samiul Haq also criticised the federal and provincial governments for enacting what he argued were un-Islamic laws.

He was speaking as chief guest at a meeting of the consultative council of the JUI-S Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter at the Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak. He said the passage of a bill by the Sindh Assembly making “forced conversions punishable” was un-Islamic and demanded dissolution of Sindh Assembly