SARGODHA: Punjab Minister for Human Rights & Minorities Affairs (HR&MA) Khalil Tahir Sandhu Thursday said that Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif had approved five per cent quota for minorities in all kinds of jobs.
Addressing a ceremony held at DC Complex Sargodha to distribute scholarships among brilliant minority’s students, the minister said giving scholarships to students belonging to the minority community would encourage them to contribute in the development of the country.
Financial assistance cheques worth more than Rs1,900,000 were distributed among 68 Christian community’s brilliant students of matriculation, intermediate and professional education belonging to Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali and Bhakkar districts.
The minister congratulated the recipients of the scholarships and said that the chief minister had allocated millions of rupees to provide educational scholarships to the talented minority’s students during the year 2016-17.
He also said that educational scholarships were being provided purely on the basis of merit with complete transparency.
Later, the students thanked the chief minister for providing huge funds for the minorities and said it was a great gesture of inter-religion harmony. They also said that minorities were proud Pakistanis.
Among those who attended the ceremony were Additional Deputy Commissioner General Malik Asif Iqbal, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) minority wing president, MNA Chaudhry Mushtaq Gul, DEO Scandy Riaz Ahmed Cheema, Elementary DO Qazi Muhammad Ayub, Information Director Sharafat Hussain, minority councilors and a large number of minority students.