Pak rights group demands legislation for Hindu marriage registration act

Islamabad, May 19 (ANI): Pakistan’s Scheduled Caste Rights Movement (SCRM) has demanded a legislation for registering Hindu marriages in the country, in the absence of which women of the minority community are deprived of their basic rights.

Speaking during a debate titled ‘Rights of the Scheduled-Caste Hindus’, several representatives of the community were of the view that Hindu women do not get their due share in the property of their husband or parents.

“They are also unable to get health services, cast a vote, obtain a passport, and buy or sell any property,” the orators opined.

Several human rights activists who participated in the debate, urged the law makers to hasten the progress of the Pakistani Hindu Marriages Registration Bill 2009, whose draft has already been submitted to the Ministry of Minority Affairs and Ministry of Human Rights for consideration, The Daily Times reports. (ANI)

Pak group calls for protection of persecuted Hindu scheduled castes in country

Islamabad, May 18 (ANI): Lending a voice to the long-standing demand of the suppressed Hindu minorities, the Scheduled Caste Rights Movement (SCRM) has urged the government to table a parliamentary legislation in the National Assembly which would ensure the legal protection of fundamental rights of the people belonging to that community.

The SCRM would put forth its demands during a policy forum, which would be held today (May 18) here, during which members of the movement from across the country and other minority leaders would discuss and hold a debate over recommendations for providing legal protection to basic rights of Hindu minorities in Pakistan, The Daily Times reports.

Due to the government’s apathy and faulty policies, scheduled caste Hindus, who form a good part of the population, are unable to obtain National Identity Cards, which denies them an access to other basic rights.

Since partition, the community has been the worst affected in Pakistan, as they have been denied even the basic civil rights. In most parts of the country, local landlords and politicians have illegally occupied religious seminaries, graveyards and land belonging to people of scheduled castes. (ANI)