Young members of national and provincial assemblies on Wednesday announced the launch of “Green for White” campaign in a press conference at Lahore Press Club.
The campaign is meant to bring the religious majority together to stand up for minority title of the campaign referring to the colours in the Pakistani flag; green representing the majority (Muslims) and white the minority (non-Muslims).
The campaign will commemorate International Peace Day and National Minority Rights Day 2015 on Thursday and a youth festival will be organized with 600 youth participants, policy makers and elected leaders of Punjab.
The campaign has been arranged by ‘Bargad and Umeed Jawan’ in collaboration with Youth Affairs Department Punjab government, Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) and the Punjab Youth Parliamentary Caucus (PYPC).
Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club Media Coordinator YPF MNA Romina Khurshid Alam said that the objective of the commemoration is to reassure religious minorities in Pakistan that the majority stands with them as fellow citizens of the country. She urged the need to promote diversity by showing equal acceptance for people of all religions.
“We need to harbour a peaceful, progressive, and democratic environment for youth with a focus on Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s August 11, 1947 speech to the 1st Constituent Assembly to acknowledge minority rights and diversity in Pakistan,” Vice Chairperson MPA Mary Gill said.
MNA Maiza Hameed said the campaign “Green for White” aims to bring the religious majority together to stand for minority rights. The campaign, to be run by Bargad, would entail events similar to this commemoration in the near future.
The parliamentarians urged people to remember and celebrate the contributions of marginalized heroes of Pakistan.
Sabiha Shaheen said Bargad seeks to garner the potential of youth for promoting diversity and protection of equal citizenship for all as a form of countering violent extremism in Punjab. She said Bargad is committed to raising awareness about the social issues of minorities in Pakistan.
Overall aim of the campaign is to build public and policy imperatives through youth engagement for freedom of religion and equal citizenship for all and to provide a platform to support the National Action Plan to counter terrorism announced by the government in December 2014.
International Peace and National Minority Day will be celebrated at Ali Institute at Ferozpur Road on October 8. It includes a panel discussion on the role of minorities in Pakistan. MNA Romina Khurshid Alam, MPA Mary Gill, MPA Sardar Vickas Hassan Mokal, MPA Ramesh Singh Arora, Deputy Director Human Rights and Minority Affairs Muhammad Yousuf, Peter Jacob, Taranjeet, and others will participate in the discussion. Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Michael will be the Chief Guest. Provincial Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus will be the Guest of Honour for the closing session.
The celebrations also include a selfie video campaign, dhol drumming performance by Goonga Sayeen, theatre on “Youhanabad Incident” by Interactive Resource Centre and other cultural events.
The organizers appealed to the youth to support the campaign and use official hash tag #GreenForWhite to post messages of solidarity.
