Sunday, October 12, 2014

Pakistan: Christian delegation calls on Wattoo

A delegation of Christians hailing from Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Narowal called on Punjab PPP President Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo on Saturday to apprise him about the problems the community was facing in the respective regions. They however appreciated the 5 percent quota reserved for the minorities in the government services by the PPP previous government that meant for their social upward mobility.
Wattoo said that the PPP considered the minorities as Party’s natural allies because of the progressive and liberal orientation of the political philosophy of the party.
He added that the PPP declared the 11 August as the Minority Day each year according to vision of the Quaid-e-Azam who declared that the citizens of Pakistan would enjoy equal rights regardless of their creed.
Wattoo said that the PPP previous government covered a lot of groundwork to legislate for providing representation to the minorities in the Parliament in accordance with the population. He further said that PPP reserved four seats for minorities in the Senate which was a leap forward for bringing them in the mainstream politics of the country.
He also said that it was the PPP government that decided to observe two religious functions of minorities officially each year.
Later, Abdul Qadir Shaheen, the newly appointed coordinator for minorities in Punjab, urged them that they should focus to organize at the district and Tehsil levels in view of the forthcoming local bodies’ elections.
Suhail Milk, senior vice president PPP, Punjab, organized the meeting.
In another meeting of PSF and the youth wing, Wattoo said that they should work for ensuring the maximum participation of them in the October 18 rally in Karachi.
They assured the PPP president that they were already on it and the level of participation of youth in the rally would please him.
The delegation praised the PPP governments for lifting the ban on student unions.

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