Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has reiterated the commitment of his party towards complete protection of minorities and equal rights on the eve of National Minority Day being observed in Pakistan on August 11.
It may be recalled that August 11 was officially declared National Minority Day by former president Asif Ali Zardari during the PPP government in 2009 in line with the historic speech of Founder of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah at the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947. “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state”. In the same speech, Quaid-e-Azam said: “We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one’s caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle: that we are all citizens, and equal citizens of one state.”
Bilawal said it was imperative to follow the footsteps and vision of Quaid-e-Azam, Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The PPP would continue to struggle for the rights and protection of minorities amid a rise in bigotry and extremism, he saidid. “The PPP gave representation to minorities in the Senate in 2012 for the first time in the history,” he added.
He said the PPP and its leadership had an unshakable commitment to the protection and safeguard of the minorities as equal citizens with the same rights as that of the majority. It was with this commitment and pledge that the party was fighting against the forces and elements who were bent upon targeting the innocent people of minorities, he added.
He said the party was concerned at the wave of violence against minorities in Punjab, Sindh and KPK where families and homes of minority communities were burnt in Gujranwala, Gojra and Hindu traders were killed in Umerkot while Sikh traders were attacked and gunned down in Peshawar. The PPP condemned these incidents in unequivocal terms and stood by the bruised communities for justice.
The PPP patron-in-chief further said that the PPP always stood in the frontlines to safeguard minority communities and places of worships. “PPP-led Sindh government is the first provincial government which announced recruitment of 2,000 police constables from minority communities to guard their worship places.”
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the PPP fully owned the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah about Pakistan including his historic policy statement about the citizens of both minority and majority.