President greets Hindu community on Deewali; reiterates govt’s pledge to safeguard rights of minority

By Gopinath Kumar (Editor-in-Chief)
Friday, November 12, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Nov 5 : President Asif Ali Zardari while extending greetings to the Hindu and Scheduled Castes community in Pakistan on the occasion of Deewali reiterated the pledge of the government as well as Pakistan Peoples Party to safeguard the constitutionally guaranteed rights of all minorities.

 

    “I wish to extend on my behalf, on behalf of the Pakistan Peoples Party and on behalf of the people of Pakistan heartiest greetings to the Hindu and Scheduled Castes community on the occasion of Deewali.“The Hindus and the Scheduled Castes, indeed, all minorities of Pakistan are equal citizens of the state and entitled to equal rights”, the President said in a message on the occasion of Deewali.

      President Zardari also reiterated the pledge made by the government and the Party (PPP) to safeguard the constitutionally guaranteed rights of all minorities in accordance with the teachings of the founder of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the founder of the Party Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

        He said, the Party has been fighting religious apartheid foisted on the people by the extremists and will continue to fight it with unabated vigour and intensity.

        “I wish to make it clear that no one will be allowed to victimize and hound members of minority communities in the name of religion and faith”, he maintained.

          The President further said, “We partake in Deewali celebrations also for promoting interfaith harmony as a means to fight religious apartheid on the one hand and the militants and extremists who seek to impose their ideological agenda on the people by force on the other”.

         “We respect and uphold the UN Resolution calling for interfaith harmony”, he added.

The President called upon the relevant Ministry to step up plans for the setting up of a federal interfaith complex in the federal capital and interfaith harmony committees in all districts of the country with representation from members of all minorities besides the Muslim members.