Daijiworld Media Network - Belgium (SR)

Belgium, May 3: The European Union (EU) has threatened Pakistan that it will suspend all subsidies and trade preferences for 'persecution of religious minorities' and has asked Islamabad to immediately take steps to 'dismantle its discriminatory system'.

As reported in ANI and EP Today, fifty one members of the European parliament in a letter addressed to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said, "Over the last few years, religious extremist groups, often with the support of Pakistani state, have grown in influence, further generating religious prejudices against minorities. Concomitantly, instances of attacks against minorities, their places of worship etc have also increased year upon year."

The letter further said, "As members of the European Parliament, we would wish to remind the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that the oppression of religious minorities violated the United Nations treaty on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which is the foundation for the International Convent on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a binding UN human rights agreement. We would be compelled to suspend all subsidies and trade preferences until the effective implementation of the convention could be assured by the Government of Pakistan."

The previous and present Pakistan governments are responsible for contributing and encouraging 'acts of violence against minorities by radical Islamic groups' said the Commission in the letter. Expressing 'grave concern' over the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who had been falsely charged under the draconian blasphemy law, the European Union wrote, 'The existence of such religious discriminatory laws encourage citizens to engage in intolerant and violent acts against non-Muslims'.

The EU citing a report by the NGO, Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan, noted that at least 1000 girls belonging to religious minority groups, Christian and Hindu communities, often minors are kidnapped and forced to marry Muslim men every year.

Attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan have claimed hundreds of lives, such as Pakistani Ahmadis, Hindus, Sufis and Christians. Three years ago, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015, which made forced conversions punishable by law but following a backlash from conservative Muslim groups, the legislation never saw the light of day.