Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that religious minorities are a pride of the country and steps need to be taken to ensure their rights. He said Pakistan is a strong refuge for them where they have complete freedom and rights. He said in an atmosphere of subcontinent drenched with caste ,creed and ethical prejudices, Pakistan is a safe haven for religious minorities where universal human values based on equality and love with humanity have great importance.
The CM said religious minorities had been brought into national mainstream of development equally in Pakistan so that no one should lag behind in the race of development. He further said elimination of poverty in the subcontinent was essential where everyone had equal opportunities of progress. He said a separate department had been set up for the welfare of religious minorities in the province. He said the department was playing an important role with regard to fulfilling the educational needs of non-Muslim students and welfare of the minorities.
He expressed these views while talking to a representative delegation of Dalit Scholars of South Asia on Saturday. Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistants Zaeem Hussain Qadri and Begum Zakiya Shahnawaz, prominent columnist Ata-ul-Haq Qasmi, information secretary and intellectuals were also present.
Shahbaz said special importance had been given to the progress and prosperity of all religious minorities including Hindu community in Pakistan. Terming the religious minorities as a pride for Pakistan, he said special attention was being paid to the protection and looking after of religious and historical places of minorities. He said Lahore, Taxila, Katas Raj, Pakpattan, Nankana Sahib, Hassan Abdal and other places in the country attracted non-Muslims all over the world due to their religious and historical importance. Shahbaz said scheduled caste community under the leadership of Jogindar Nath Mandal fully supported All India Muslim League during the struggle of creation of Pakistan. Similarly, Christian community also took part in the struggle of creation of Pakistan shoulder to shoulder with Quaid-e-Azam, he added. The CM said participation of non-Muslim community in the struggle of establishment of Pakistan was reflective of the fact that non-Muslim communities of subcontinent considered themselves safer with Muslims in Pakistan. The CM said besides setting up a separate department for their welfare, religious minorities were also fully benefiting from Punjab Educational Endowment Fund, Daanish school system, Aashiyana housing scheme and other such public welfare projects. He said the social gap between the poor and the rich was being reduced through Daanish school system in the province. He said the children facing financial constraints would be prepared as future leaders in Pakistan from the platform of Daanish school system and poverty or lack of resources will not be a hurdle in the way of their progress. Shahbaz said human societies based on social equality and fair system of justice achieve the goals of development and prosperity expeditiously and steps of Punjab government based on public welfare have accelerated the pace of national development in which every person played their constructive role with devotion and dedication. He said that Dr BR Ambedkar was the messenger of equality and human welfare in the subcontinent who had rendered invaluable services for the welfare of Dalit community.
Secretary of Indian National Dalit Forum Revi Kumar expressing his views on this occasion said that they could never forget the love and sincerity received in Pakistan. Coordinator of Bangladesh Dalit Pershad Bekash Das and General Secretary Ashok Das said that the hospitality of Pakistanis was unforgettable. Prof. Mujahid Mansoori said that Daanish school system was an excellent project of Punjab government due to which opportunities of quality education have become available to the poor male and female students. The CM also gave commemorative shields to the Dalit scholars.
Is he kiddin?what a hypocrite…Pakistan and THE PUNJAB is the worst place for minorities,Lohar is just trying to make his vote bank but he ignores that under his governance minorities suffered lot in PUNJAB,what does he thinks about Gojra incident?Are AHMADIS free to observe their religion in Pakistan?whats about Shia killings ?whats about forced conversion of hindu girls?In the last four months 51 Hindu girls have been forcibly converted to Islam in southern Sindh province.There are reports of kidnapping and killing of members of the minority communities and desecration and encroachment of their places of religious worship in Pakistan.It is a fact that Most of the non-Sunni sects have been targeted in Pakistan.
Pakistani women from religious minorities "are the victims of constant attempts at forced conversion or false charges of blasphemy. Christians and Hindu girls are regularly kidnapped, raped, forcibly converted, and "married" to their Muslim rapists.
SO MR.LOHAR CHIEF MINISTER OF PUNJAB,IS IT THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM MINORITIES HAVE IN PAKISTAN????
u r wrong .situation law an order throughout the country is bad but at least this is not at religious bases understand this is because of poverty and greedyness of our politician and musharaf traitor.for ur information sindh is a province and not under the punjab gov shahbaz shareef ok .plz think possitive
NO Sir,you need to stop living in denial.Justifying silence when those whose rights are being violated happen to be of a different ethnicity and culture is a species of racism, poorly disguised under the mask of "respect."I know where SINDH IS LOCATED,I was pointing general situation of poor christens,hindues,ahmadis,shias in Punjab,Sindh and other parts of Pakistan.
The first organised sectarian agitation that engulfed the country was the movement against the Ahmadi community in 1953 led by the Jamaat-e-Islami and Majlis Khatm-e-Nabuwwat, a Sunni vigilante group. Christians were burnt alive by radical Sunni Islamists in 2009.
Persecution of minorities is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan.
In Pakistan,religious radicalism was promoted as a state policy on a very fundamental level. School text books taught a whitewashed history, promoting hatred against non-Muslims, particularly Hindus. Christians were never accepted more than a social class of sewerage-drain sweepers in Pakistan.The violence against Ahmadis has increased in recent years. One ethnic minority group under routine sectarian attacks in Pakistan is the Hazaras of Quetta. According to media reports and human rights organizations, more than 700 members of this community of 600,000 people have been killed since 2001.So lets face reality and facts….IN PAKISTAN NON MUSLIMS HAVE NO RIGHTS.
" Minorities r our pride". That is why PMLN MPA with his goondas ran over a christian locality in Gojra
Treatment of minorities and Hindus in particular has drawn international attention. They maybe minorities but they are citizens of the country.Either they get fair treatment or permit them emigrate to the countries of their choice.
Jinnah the founder of Pakistan had made this promise when he said: “In course of time, Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense because that is the personal faith of the individual, but in the political sense as the citizens of one nation. One hopes this promise will be honoured .
I wonder some religious fanatic talk openly of imposing " JAZIA" on minorities. Shahbaz 's Punjab is a better place to impose JAZIA as Sharif brothers regularly cohort with some fanatic outfits.
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