The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM) is the fourth largest party and is particularly powerful in Sindh. It does not mention scheduled caste members or Hindus but wants to cease the use of the term “minorities” and wants to undo political quotas for minorities (MQM, 2013:29). It suggests amendments to the Tenancy Act, Domestic Violence Act and the establishment of hari courts. Civil Society and Social Movements The Scheduled Castes Federation of Pakistan is a forum to raise awareness of issues but its scope and reach is very limited. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the National Commission of Justice and Peace work on human rights and minority rights, and as a consequence deal with some issues of scheduled caste members (Alaiwah, 2012). The Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research (PILER) looks into the issues of bonded laborers. The Applied Social Research Centre/Institute of Women’s Studies Lahore produced a short pamphlet in Urdu concerning the issues of scheduled caste members in 2004. Thardeep Rural Development Organization carries out development programs in Sindh and may serve the needs of local scheduled caste members (Alaiwah, 2012). The Sukaar Development Foundation and the Association for Water Applied Education & Renewable Energy (AWARE) also work primarily in Tharparkar and Umerkot. SCOPE has been working in Tharparkar district for some time, and has developed and implemented projects to work closely with these communities particularly in promoting and protecting their land rights to private land, communal land and exploitation in agriculture labor. 94 The South Asia Partnership – Pakistan and the Bhit Shah Deceleration & Coordination Council organized a Hari Conference on April 8, 2007. Landless peasants came up with a list of terms that would ease their conditions (Arif, 2008:3839). Currently, there are no governmental or nongovernmental commissions or groups to monitor instances of abuse against scheduled caste members. The statistics that have been compiled are a result of extrapolation from smaller surveys. The media can also play an active role in the possibility of a future broad-based social movement. A study of Pakistan’s various English newspapers has shown consistent positive coverage for minorities (Ambreen, 2014). n References: Alaiwah. (2012). Plight of Dalits in Pakistan: Report on recent Karachi Meeting January 17-18, 2006. Retrieved from https://alaiwah.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/plightof-dalits-in-pakistan/. Ambreen, Q. (2014). Representation of religious minorities in Pakistani print media: a study of Daily Dawn. The News and the Nation. American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 4(1): 140-157. Arif, M. (2008). Land rights: Peasants’ economic justice. South Asia Partnership – Pakistan. Retrieved from http:// sappk.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/eng_ publications/land_rights.pdf. Asian Development Bank. (2014). Indigenous Peoples. Retrieved from http://www.adb.org/site/safeguards/ indigenous-peoples. Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC)

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