Alam Zeb Khan
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Mufti Abdul Shakoor said on Tuesday that the constitution of Pakistan protects and guarantees equal rights and proportional representation in the elected institutions to minorities for ensuring the protection of their rights.
The Religious Affairs Minister was addressing the Interfaith Harmony Conference, organized by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, at a local hotel in Karachi.
According to reports received by WorldEcho, the Minister said that Islam teaches tolerance, peace, and equality, and there was no oppression in Islam, and the constitution of Pakistan nor the law of the country allows any compulsion over minority communities in the country.
He further said the government was committed to ensuring the rights and protection of minorities according to the law of the land and ensuring every possible step to resolve their issues.
He assured that minority communities living in Pakistan were safe and contented. He said that problems exist in every society, adding that we have to face those problems together as a nation.
The Minister cautioned that certain elements try to misuse religion to achieve their personal interests or for political gains. “Islam teaches equality and tolerance while extremism is the approach of a few self-serving people,” the Minister said, adding that the entire nation must stand united against the extremist approaches as those elements harmed the peaceful perception of the religion and the country.
Promoting Interfaith Harmony, Religious Tolerance
The Minister stressed the need to organize interfaith harmony conferences at college, university, and district levels and urged that we try to live our lives according to the teachings of Hazrat Muhammad s.a.w and follow the spirit of Meesaq-e-Madinah to promote tolerance and religious harmony in the society.
Shakoor said that amount of financial assistance for minorities was being disbursed directly to their bank accounts so that transparency could be maintained in the process.
Sindh minister of minority affairs Giyan Chand Essarani said that Sindh had taken the lead in legislation on minority affairs, implementation of the reserved quota of 5 percent in public sector jobs was ensured, and they had considerable representation in the provincial assembly as well in cabinet.
Essarani said that there was unprecedented interfaith harmony in Pakistan, and there was no coercion or intimidation over them, while across the border in India, minority communities were unsafe and under oppression.
MNA James Iqbal said that all religions prohibit vice, and their followers should follow their religious teachings in letter and spirit.
Moulana Ahmed Ali Marwat, Bishop Humfry Sarfraz Peters, Additional Advocate General Sindh Kalpana Devi, Dr. Syed Javed Ikram Bukhari, Mufti Abu Bakar Muhiuddin, Khurshid Kotwari, Mufti Yousuf Qasuri, Allama Athar Hussain Mashahadi, Chela Ram Chhabria, Bishop Fredrick John, Khan Ahsan Imam, Sardar Ramesh Singh also spoke at the occasion.
They said that followers of different faiths and religions were living in harmony in Pakistan, and such events would help further promote inter-faith harmony in the country.
