South Asians for Human Rights

Promoting Democracy, Upholding Human Rights

The minorities and civil society organisations continued for the third consecutive day their protests, demonstrations and rallies against the setting ablaze of Saint Joseph Colony in Badami Bagh, on Monday.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Peoples Rights along with other civil society organisations held a joint protest demonstration and sit-in at the Charing Cross against the tragedy, terming the attack contrary to the teachings of Islam and the country’s laws. Prominent figures of society, like IA Rehman from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), AGHS’s Advocate Hina Jilani, Irfan Mufti and Farzana Mumtaz of South Asia Partnership (SAP), representatives of Aurat Foundation and some of the victims of Joseph Colony, also participated in the sit-in and condemned the incident.
The protesters chanted slogans calling for promotion of religious harmony between Muslims and people of other faiths. They demanded the government take serious action against the people responsible for the attack and also urged it to compensate the victims. Addressing the gathering, the civil society representatives said that the Punjab government had not learned a lesson from the incidents of Gojra and Shanti Nagar.
They said that the Joseph Colony tragedy would not have happened if the government had taken serious action after similar incidents in the past. They termed the attack a failure of the provincial government, saying it has failed to provide security to the minorities. Separately, Pakistan Minorities Movement (PMM) and Pakistan Qaumi Masiha Party (PQMP) also held a protest rally against the attack in front of the Lahore Press Club and chanted slogans against the Punjab government for its failure to secure Christian community’s properties.

Source: The Daily Times – 12/03/2013 (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\03\12\story_12-3-2013_pg7_9)