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Minorities to get places of worship in Pak jails 

ISLAMABAD: Places of worship for persons from minority communities will be set up in Pakistani jails as part of measures for the collective welfare of prisoners. Directives for constructing the places of worship have been issued by the human rights ministry and work will start as soon as funds are approved by the finance ministry, caretaker Human Rights Minister and leading rights activist Ansar Burney said. 

The decision was made in view of the fundamental right of every citizen to have the liberty of performing religious rites and rituals. It comes close on the heels of visits undertaken by Burney to jails across the country. "One of the major grievances I had to confront during my visits to certain jails like Kot Lakhpat and Haripur was that the prisoners belonging to minority groups had no separate places of worship inside jails," Burney said. 

It is the inalienable right of every citizen to have full freedom of religion even in jail, he said. A majority of prisoners usually resort to performing religious rituals to find solace while in jail and the new initiative will provide a similar opportunity to prisoners from minority groups as well. "It will be a harbinger of a comprehensive and compact policy (through) which we are striving to provide maximum relief to minority groups, even if they are confined in jails," Burney said. 

Minority communities including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis comprise three per cent of Pakistan's population.

6 February 2008
 

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