FOR decades, discrimination and prejudice have narrowed the space for the country’s minority communities. The HRCP has warned that non-Muslim groups subjected to the misuse of the blasphemy laws as well as forced marriages and conversions endure constant violations of basic liberties. Its new report on the freedom of religion and belief welcomes the National Commission for Minorities Act, 2025, and laws in Punjab and Balochistan that set 18 as the minimum age of marriage, but expresses concerns about enforcement. The report highlights multiple aspects of exclusion — the legal limbo facing hundreds accused of blasphemy, persecution of the Ahmadi community, abductions of minority girls, and damage to places of worship. Sadly, the institutional resolve to implement legislative measures and protect the marginalised is absent. No citizen should have to live under a cloud of fear. Reportedly, nearly 60pc of minority students face bias, including enrolment refusals, isolation, and coercion to attend classes teaching the majority faith; 44pc of Sindh’s minority children are out of school. Additionally, the 5pc public sector job quota for minority communities is largely wasted as sanitation work and lower positions are reserved for them. These ills, made worse by poverty and the police’s shoddy response, reveal that discrimination is systemic and our societal health is in bad shape. Interfaith harmony will prevail when the message to end bias is conveyed from the pulpit, alongside efforts to punish zealotry. The formation of the National Commission for Minorities has to be immediate. Inclusivity should be embedded in school syllabi, and seminaries must be monitored regularly. The report calls on KP to raise the legal age of marriage, and recommends that consensual conversions take place in court. But injustices will be irreversible if the power elite does not pledge safety and equality for religious communities. Above all, transforming mindsets is central to harmony. Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2026