Pakistan, Feb. 6 -- The government's recent establishment of the National Commission for Minorities Rights (NCMR) has been presented as a landmark step toward protecting Pakistan's religious minorities. In a country where discrimination, violence, and systemic exclusion remain routine realities for minority communities, the creation of a statutory body appears, at least symbolically, to acknowledge long-standing injustices. Yet institutions must be measured not by their announcements but by their capacity to change lived outcomes. When examined through data, legal standards, and Pakistan's human rights obligations, the NCMR Act risks becoming another gesture of recognition without meaningful protection.

Recent figures from the Centre for...