US lawmakers ask Sharif to protect religious minorities

Expressing deep concern over human rights violations in the Sindh province of Pakistan, influential American lawmakers have asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to protect Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities in the country.
"We are urging Prime Minister Sharif to do everything in his power to protect the Sindh community, as well as religious minorities, from attacks," Congressman Brad Sherman said yesterday as he and four other members of the US House of Representatives wrote a letter in this regard to Sharif.
"The Sindhi community includes tens of millions of people in Pakistan who are striving to preserve their language and culture, but Sindhi activists are subject to enforced disappearances and sometimes targeted killings," said Sherman.

The four other lawmakers are Kerry Bentivolio, Adam Schiff, Tulsi Gabbard and Tom Petri.
"Violence against minorities everywhere is an unacceptable violation of human rights," said Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"In Pakistan, we have heard reports of torture, executions and disappearances of peaceful and politically active Sindhis and Balochs who are Hindu, Christian, Shia and other religious minorities.

"These religiously and politically motivated attacks are abhorrent, and I strongly urge Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take action to address these troubling offences.
"The Government of Pakistan must stand up for human rights, and against violent radicals who seek to persecute and kill those with differing beliefs," Gabbard said.

The five Congressmen expressed deep concern for the declining human rights situation in the Sindh province of Pakistan through a letter issued yesterday.
"Sindhi activists are regularly persecuted for voicing their concerns about government policies.
We are greatly troubled by reports of repression and attacks on non-violent, politically active Sindhis attacks that include enforced disappearances, torture, and executions," the letter said.