Minorities commission: a wait worth it? |
Finally, the National Commission for Minorities Rights Act, 2025 came into effect on December 16, 2025, after the President of Pakistan's assent. The government moved a bill on the National Commission for Minorities Rights (NCMR) in the Senate in January 2025, while Naveed Amir Jeeva of Pakistan People's Party moved another draft in the National Assembly in the following month, which he later conceded to merge with the government bill.
On March 19, a delegation of civil society, led by former Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Peter Jacob of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), who had carried out a massive awareness campaign over the years for statutory NCMR, held a meeting and proposed substantive recommendations to Senator Ali Zafar who was convener of the sub-committee of Human Rights Committee of Senate on this bill. The sub-committee further invited minority MNAs and Senators, along with a civil society delegation, in the meetings held on March 26 and another on April 17, where input from all stakeholders helped improve the bill considerably. In a leap forward, the Senate passed the bill on April 29.
Federal Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar presented the bill in the National Assembly, which was passed on May 12. However, the President returned the bill on 15 June with some reservations. The parliament passed the bill in a joint session on December 2, 2025,........