Islamabad:
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday confirmed the country’s commitment to protect the rights, welfare and equal inclusion of minority society in all areas of national life.
On the occasion of the National Minorities Day, which was observed annually on August 11, both leaders paid tribute to contributions from minorities in nation-building, emphasizing the principles of interreligious harmony, equality and mutual respect as imagined by Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
In his message, President Asif Ali Zardari renewed the national decision “to work for empowerment and promoting minority society” and promised to continue the efforts to “promote interreligious harmony, fraternity and unity to build an inclusive and prosperous Pakistan”.
He said that the Day of Minority reflected Quaid-e-Azam’s vision of a Pakistan “where every citizen lives in equality, harmony and mutual respect”.
He noted that Pakistan’s constitution guaranteed equal rights to all citizens, regardless of religion, throwing, faith or color and protecting the legitimate political, economic, religious, social and cultural interests of minorities.
“Pakistan is resolutely to all forms of discrimination, extremism and religious intolerance. We are still determined to build a society free of prejudice – one that embraces diversity as a strength,” he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his announcement that the government in Pakistan, led by “high religious and constitutional values,” was obliged to full involvement of minorities in government institutions, parliament and the national mainstream.
“Today, the entire nation is celebrating, including me, National Minorities Day to protect the rights of minority and appreciate their key role in the country’s development and progress,” he said.
“Today we renew our promise to always strive for religious freedom and equal rights of minorities in the light of the founder of the founder of Pakistan and Islamic Teaching,” he added.
By calling Quaid-E-Azam’s August 11, 1947, an “ideological guarantee of the minority’s secure future in Pakistan,” said Prime Minister’s welfare of Sikherne, Christians, Hindus, Parsis and all other minority groups “one of the priority duties in Pakistan’s government.”
