Zardari tells Sindh to frame law to prevent forced conversion

Islamabad, Aug 18: Pakistan President

has directed the Sindh government to frame a draft law to amend the Constitution to prevent the forced conversion of minority communities in the southern province.

During a meeting held in Karachi on Thursday, Zardari directed Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to form a committee under provincial Law Minister Ayaz Soomro to prepare the draft law to amend the constitution.

Elected representatives and leaders of the Hindu Panchayat will be included in the committee, The Express Tribune quoted its sources as saying. The President made the decision after he was briefed about the concerns of Hindus by his sister Faryal Talpur, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, and Chief Minister Shah.

"The reports of the mass migration of Hindus to India are merely speculative but people of the Hindu community are insisting that a law is made against forced conversions," Shah was quoted as saying by the sources.

Zardari directed Talpur and Shah to visit Jacobabad and meet representatives of the Hindu community before the draft law is framed. The President recently formed a committee of three parliamentarians headed by federal Minister Maula Bux Chandio to meet the Hindu community across Sindh following reports of their mass migration to India due to forced conversions, kidnapping for ransom and extortion demands.

A member of the Sindh cabinet familiar with the latest developments said, "If any case of conversion is reported without the consent of a girl and her parents, the (police station chiefs) would frame charges of kidnapping against the people involved."

PTI