Faisalabad: March 20, 2015. (PCP) The government must take practical measures to ensure protection of the minority settlements and worship places. The government must ensure that no groups found involved in the terrorist attacks in the name of religion and sect be spared, and take concrete steps to curb religious extremism and terrorism through effective implementation of National Action Plan on Counter Terrorism. These demands were made by the participants of a protest demonstration entitled “Ensure Protection of Religious Minorities” held on March 16, 2015 outside the Faisalabad Press Club to strongly condemn barbaric and inhuman act of twin suicide attacks at St John’s Catholic Church and Christ Church during Sunday prayers in Youhanabad Lahore, leaving17 people dead and over 75 people injured. The protest demonstration was jointly staged by the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM), Peace and Human Development (PHD) Foundation, and REAT Human Rights Defenders Network. The protestors were carrying play cards and banners against the terrorism and victimization of minorities. They were wearing black armbands and holding black flag to observe the day of mourning. At this juncture, they lit candles to demonstrate solidarity with families of the victims, and enchanted slogans against the attack on Christian Community and other incidents of terrorism in the name of religion and sect, and criticized the authorities for failing to take adequate security measures to safeguard Christians. Speaking on the occasion, the director of the AWAM, Nazia Sardar said, “The government must take practical measures to ensure the safety and security of the minority settlements, as the onus of responsibility lies with the state to safeguard life, liberty, properties, religious sites and graveyards of the religious minorities.” “The government must redefine its policies and make genuine efforts to ensure that such kinds of merciless acts against minority groups are not repeated, and persecution of religious minorities is stopped through bringing the perpetrators to justice,” she added. The project manager of the AWAM, Shazia George said, “This incident has occurred, because the government has failed to effectively implement the National Action Plan to curb terrorism, and bring the perpetrators of violent attacks on minority groups to justice, breeding frustration and resentment among minority groups.” “The government must implement the judgment dated June 19, 2014 of the supreme court of Pakistan through constituting a National Council for Minorities’ Rights to monitor the practical realization of the rights and safeguards provided to the minorities under the Constitution and law, and frame policy recommendations for safeguarding and protecting minorities’ rights by the Provincial and Federal Governments,” she demanded. The director of the PHD Foundation, Suneel Malik said, “Attack on humanity is a failure of government to protect the lives of citizens. It is the fundamental duty of the state to provide protection to the general public, and deal with the culprits with iron hands, but the terrorists are moving freely in streets and fearlessly carrying out criminal activities, which indicate that the writ of the government is nowhere.” “The federal and provincial governments must set up special police force with professional training to take pro-active stance for protection of settlements and worship places of minority groups from terrorist and mob attacks,” he demanded. A human rights activist, Shafiq Sharif said, “The government must seriously address the growth of religious radicalism and intolerance, and augment efforts to protect vulnerable sections of the society and to provide them with legislative, administrative, institutional and infrastructural supports to enable them lead a dignified life free of terror.” “Just making arrests and registering religious seminaries is not enough, the government need to take bold stand practically for elimination of banned outfits and others responsible for circulating hate material and making hate speech inciting violence,” he demanded. A human rights activist, Manzoor Anthony said, “The state and government of Pakistan has failed to protect the minority groups, as they are being targeted frequently in the name of religion and sect. The negligence of the government in a bid to maintain power and support of hard-line religious elements had cost Pakistan a huge loss. The judiciary has failed to convict people known to be involved in terrorist attacks. The government and the judiciary are under the control of religious groups, because they never take action against religious elements despite having known that they conspire to target minority groups and spread sectarianism.” A human rights activist, Naseem Anthony said, “The failure of the policemen to protect Christian worshippers represents the impotence of state’s writ despite being deployed at the churches. It is sad that they were busy watching the cricket match rather than performing their duty of protecting Christians when the suicide bombers tried to enter the churches. In result of this negligence, many Christian people have lost their life and families their loved ones. A team of Christian volunteers performing job of security guards bravely stopped the intruders, saving thousands of worshippers from massive casualties at both churches.”