Costs and lack of helpful resources are the most prominent barriers for religious minorities in accessing justice in Pakistan, according to a survey by a legal group.
“Religious minorities were less confident about attaining a fair trial compared to their Mu-slim counterparts. They foremost identified themselves as not aff-luent and powerful, and therefore not possessing the law to seek protection within its ambit, nor the law taking ownership of them. Consequently, they seldom approach the judicial system to seek justice,” found the Legal Needs Assessment Survey laun-ched on Oct. 20 in Islamabad.
“They repeatedly referenced poverty, and not religious dis-crimination, as their biggest problem. They identified their minority status as exacerbates of their poverty. Instead, a dearth of opportunities, corruption and administrative incompetence were the primary suspects.
“These problems are a direct result of poverty and dire living conditions. Structural discrimi-nation, including absence of employment opportunities and lack of provision of legal identities, creates and traps these communities in a problem loop by limiting avenues for awareness and information and thus altering legal behaviours.
“The majority of our res-pondents were unaware that their problems are legal issues with a predetermined solution. Majority versus minority rhetoric has made our respondents believe that this country is for Muslims and so is the law. The discrimi-nation faced by these marginali-zed communities is not only external but is also fuelled by ca-steism and socioeconomic dispa-rity within these communities.”