Pakistan marks country's Minorities Day

Christians call for equal rights, slam 'nation splitting' laws.

Members of Muslim Christian Unity Forum hold a peaceful demonstration at the National Press Club in Islamabad to mark Minorities Day

Islamabad:  Pakistan yesterday observed Minorities Day to highlight the sacrifices and services rendered by the country’s non-Muslim communities in the nation-building process.

The day was first celebrated in 2009 by the Pakistan People’s Party-led government. Since then it is marked annually by federal and state governments as well as private organizations.

In Islamabad, the Pakistan Muslim Christian Unity Forum (PMCUF) staged a peaceful protest in front of the press club to demand equal rights for what it called the country’s marginalized minorities.

Addressing the gathering, PMCUF Chairman Sameul Yaqoob cited founder of the nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s address to the nation on August 11, 1947 in which he said all Pakistanis were equal citizens of the state, regardless of caste, creed or religion.

“Instead of marking a Minority Day, [August 11] should be celebrated as a national citizens’ day to demonstrate interfaith unity and harmony,” Yaqoob said.

“Harsh laws against minorities and controversial topics in the national curriculum have fueled anti-minority sentiments in the country,” he said, adding that the new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was adding hate material to text books.

“Controversial laws have divided the Christians and Muslims who, otherwise, live peacefully,” he observed referring to the country's blasphemy laws.

“It is about time the country moved out of the majority-minority divide and instead focus on the development of the entire population as a whole, as that is the only way to take Pakistan out of its present quagmire.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari urged religious leaders and the public to embrace the value of tolerance towards people of different faiths and also spread the message of harmony and tolerance,

“We are living in times of great intolerance. The intolerance towards non-Muslims has spread to sectarianism,” President Zardari said.

He said the observance of “Minorities Day” every year “is a reminder to us all to strive to fulfill the promise made to our non-Muslim brethren by the founder of the state Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on the very inception of the state.”

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif urged the people to promote democratic values and culture as a necessary tool of promoting tolerance, peace and harmony, besides alleviating violence, extremism and sufferings of non-Muslim brethren.

Source: ucanews.com