PESHAWAR, April 14: Parliamentarians have urged the government to do something concrete for protection of minorities and for their religious freedom. They were speaking at a seminar on “Protection of Minorities Rights” organised by the Parliamentarians Commission for Human Right at a local hotel on Saturday.
PCHR chairman Riaz Fatyana, MNA Rifat Javed Kahloon, MNA Maulana Rehmatullah, MPA Gursaran Lal and HRCP vice-president Kamran Arif were among the speakers.
They said minorities were an integral part of Pakistan and they were equally loyal to the country with the Muslim majority.
They said: “The Islamic principles and the 1973 Constitution provides for equal rights to all human beings irrespective of their race, sex or religion. However, despite constitutional provisions, minorities in Pakistan are faced with a lot of problems and they aren’t feeling protected.”
Mr Fatyana said that despite the government’s steps like introduction of joint electorate and ensuring their representation in local bodies, minorities were facing different forms of discrimination.
He said there was a need to change the attitude and mindset of the society toward minorities. “We need to promote the respect of other faiths and beliefs. It is the responsibility of leaders of the majority community and particularly religious scholars to teach the society about unity and mutual respect. It’s the time we should work together for the national interest and discourage each and every effort of dividing the nation on various hollow slogans.”
Maulana Rehmatullah said Islam was the most peaceful religion of the world and the only solution to the present day situation of conflicts and distrust. He said Islam gave special protection to minorities and the MMA government was fully aware of its task and responsibilities in this regard.
He said the hate speech was a wrong thing and Muslims should take notice of such incidents. He said the MMA government would protect minorities’ worship places and nobody would be allowed to damage them.
Ms Kahloon said protection of minorities was a sensitive issue and political leadership should initiate an open dialogue with minorities to understand their problems. She said issues of social discrimination and religious intolerance could be addressed only by initiating positive discussion.
Mr Lal said social discrimination was at its peak in society at this time. He asked the government to provide protection to minorities’ religious places. He stressed on religious leaders to play their role efficiently to eliminate social differences and cultivate religious harmony in society.
