QUETTA: Parliamentary Secretary for Minority Affairs Khalil George has said that Pakistan is a safe country for minorities.

Speaking at a function organised by the Department of Minority Affairs on the occasion of International Minority Day here on Thursday, he said the main purpose of celebrating the Day around the world was to make people aware of their rights.

“Our forefathers had made the right decision to stay in Pakistan at the time of Independence,” he said

Mr George said the rights of minorities in Pakistan were not denied on the basis of colour, race, sect, religion nor were they considered inferior in any way due to which today people belonging to minorities were also involved in politics.

“The armed forces of Pakistan are rendering services in every field including bureaucracy, education and health,” he added.

He said Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had declared that every person living in Pakistan was an equal citizen. “Since then we have not faced any difficulty.”

He said that the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan had always listened to the problems of minorities and tried to solve them and expressed the hope that this trend would continue in future as well.

Mr George said: “The funds given to the minorities over the past three years are unprecedented.”

He said the Balochistan government under the leadership of Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani was also taking steps for the welfare of the minority community. An amount of Rs500 million has been allocated for the welfare of minorities in the current year’s budget.

Balochistan Awami Party leader and Sena­tor Dinesh Kumar, former provincial minister Roshan Khurshid Brocha, Mino­rity Aff­airs Secretary Noor Mohammad Jogezai, Rel­i­gious Affairs Secretary Abdul Latif Kakar, Qari Abdul Rashid, Tanzeela Khalil, Dr Faiza and others also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2021