- Nawaz says govt ready to bring more legislation to guarantee complete freedom for all; ‘Attempts to create provincial prejudices or bias to not be given room in Pakistan’
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said that his government stood for the complete religious freedom of all communities and without discrimination, ensured them equal rights as enshrined in the constitution.
Addressing a ceremony held here to mark the Holi festival, he said that Islam treated all communities as equal, guaranteeing their rights by even enforcement of law. He said that the government would ensure complete freedom for all the religious minorities and if required further legislation would be enacted with stringent enforcement of laws for their rights and protection.
He said that Pakistan was created on the basis of equal rights to all communities with complete religious freedom. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal had called for complete religious freedom for followers of different faiths, he said. He vowed that attempts to create provincial prejudices or bias would not be given room and hinder the path of religious tolerance and unity.
He noted that diversity of religions and faiths was the vital ingredient for unity and all the communities would have to transform this element to further foster the bonds of brotherhood and affection. In the past, some elements wanted to weaken Pakistan by misusing religious differences or distorting the history, he said, adding that the nation had rejected such attempts.
“As a nation, we share the common woes and joys. We are one,” he declared. Extending greetings to the Hindu community on their religious festival, the prime minister said that his government was committed to ensure equal opportunities for all the communities so that they could excel in different fields of life as such steps would help usher in collective prosperity.
“Our task is to transform this world into heaven,” he stressed. He elaborated that Islam was a religion which has attached the highest priority to the sanctity of life and property of all and declares equal punishment for violators. To force someone to abandon his faith was a crime and such spirit was manifested in the constitution, which was framed after complete consensus, he said.
The prime minister said that all the faiths shared similar teachings. He said that those elements, who tried to create fissures in a society on the basis of religion, had no place among the people. He stressed that the people should stand for truth and reality as these were the qualities which guaranteed complete peace and harmony in a society.
He expressed pleasure over attending the event, saying today, all the communities across the length and breadth of the country were closely attached in bonds of interfaith harmony. Terming the Holi an event for change, colours and happiness, he said that Pakistan was transforming into a prosperous country and the world had acknowledged its economic turnaround under his government.
He said that Pakistan’s development and prosperity belonged to all the people, whether they were young or old, or belonged to any community. On the occasion, he announced an amount of Rs 500 million for the betterment and welfare of the Hindu community and assured further assistance in future. He urged the people to stand together for protecting the religious places of all communities.
He said that there was no dispute over the religious freedom in the country today, the only tussle going on was between the good and the evil, the progressive and the retrogressive elements. The ones, who wanted better future for its youth, and the others, who wanted to exploit them, he pointed out. One side wanted prosperity whereas the other was out to wreck havoc, he added.
Addressing the ceremony, Dr Darshan Punchi, Sham Sundar Advani, Kail Das Kohistani, Islmail Rahu and others lauded efforts of the government for protection of the rights of religious minorities. On the occasion, Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair, federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal and Kamran Michael, lawmakers, political leaders and a large number of Hindu community members were present.
They said that due to policies of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan had achieved milestones of historic progress and prosperity. Prime Minister Nawaz is in Karachi on a two-day visit where he is expected to preside a high-level security meeting. He will leave for Gwadar on Wednesday, where he is scheduled to chair a high-level meeting on development projects in connection with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Schools are the basic source where religion conversion strategies are applied, in schools they are forcing non-Muslim children to study Islamiat as a subject which is ethically wrong, a child who is totally unaware about another religion and practicing his/her own religion at home is forced in school to study Islamiat subject and when they ask questions to their parents they cannot reply them the child get confused. A non-Muslim child is not aware about the importance of Islamiat book and they are taking it as a normal subject book due to which teacher get annoyed.
I suggest studying religion subjects must be removed from the school and all children living in Pakistan must practice their religions at home and not in school. In school children are studying all subjects together but whenever religion class starts Muslim children goes for Islamiat, Christian children goes for Christianity and Hindu children are either force to study Islamiat or in mostly Saints schools they are teaching Christianity subject which is known as religion. Few schools have introduced Hinduism and in few schools Christian and Hindu children are studying Ethics/Civics.
We need to educate ourselves to make a successful Pakistan which is also known as a Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam.
Comments are closed.