August 12, 2026
By Shoukat Korai
KARACHI
The annual ‘Minority March’ was held in Karachi for the rights of religious minorities, with the year’s theme titled “Will Be Remembered.”
According to the organisers, the theme was meant to remind people of the stance taken by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, on the rights of religious minorities, how minorities have been treated in the country since then, and the problems they continue to face today.
Alongside members of religious minority communities, citizens from the Muslim community also turned out in large numbers. Participants included noted artist and social activist Sheema Kirmani, Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Naveed Anthony, representatives of various minority communities, human rights activists, and representatives of civil society organisations.
Besides speeches, the march featured a Kathak dance performance, along with recitations of poetry by revolutionary poets Habib Jalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Demands presented
At the occasion, participants presented 11 demands concerning the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan.
– Reform the curriculum and textbooks in both public and private sector education to eliminate discriminatory content and hate speech
– Amend the Constitution and other relevant laws to delete the word “non-Muslim” and replace it with language that acknowledges respective religious identities
– Criminalise forced religious conversions
– Protect minority communities’ communal property and places of worship from illegal seizure or occupation, and return and restore all property that has been seized or desecrated
– Implement the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s 2014 judgement by establishing independent, autonomous and empowered national and provincial commissions for minority rights
– Grant religious minorities equal citizenship rights, including equal and empowered representation
‘Implementing the Quaid’s principles is imperative’
March organiser Sheema Kirmani said that implementing the principles and message Quaid-e-Azam had laid down for Pakistan was imperative. “August 11 is significant because it was on this very day that the Quaid delivered his historic address on the rights of minorities,” she said, adding that despite 79 years having passed, religious minorities are still deprived of their basic rights.
Kirmani said the Quaid had made it clear that every citizen of Pakistan would enjoy equal rights, and that there would be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion or caste — a principle, she said, that has never been fully implemented. “Members of religious minorities are falsely accused and then killed, while cases of forced conversion of minor girls continue to come to light,” she said. She demanded that the education curriculum be reformed and that material promoting religious hatred in society be removed.
‘We stand with minorities through every hardship.’
Representing the Muslim community at the march, activist Anwar Sheikh said he had joined to assure religious minorities that they too are equal citizens, and that the Muslim community stands with them through every hardship. “Despite years of protest and demands, the problems faced by minorities still remain unresolved,” he said.
‘Our children are not safe’
Shiva Kechhi, chairman of the Pakistan Dravidian Alliance, said that legislation alone, or observing a single day, would not resolve the problems facing religious minorities, and that the injustices committed against them in the country have yet to be eliminated. “Our children are not safe. Minor girls are abducted and forcibly converted, and when we raise our voice against it, we are intimidated through false accusations,” he said.
‘There can be no development without equal rights’
Participants said their gathering was, in essence, an attempt to remind the state of the message Pakistan’s founder had left for religious minorities. Human rights activists said Pakistan cannot truly progress without granting equal rights to religious minorities. They demanded that the state ensure religious minorities are recognised as equal citizens of Pakistan, with equal rights, protection, and empowered representation at every level.