Multan

Minorities in India are facing the worst time and the media, minorities and political activists in Pakistan should join hands to highlight this issue jointly, former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani emphasised on Monday.
“They claim to be the largest democracy of the world. What kind of democracy it is if they cannot give rights or protection to the minorities?” Gillani posed a question while addressing a conference titled “Voices of Minorities in Motherland.” The conference was organised by All-Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) with the collaboration of Farmers Development Organization (FDO) here at a local hotel the other day.
The former premier paid glowing tributes to the minorities, saying they played key role in creation, stability and solidarity of Pakistan. He lauded the services of Christian Community in education and said that the efforts to promote literacy proved the biggest obstacle in the way of terrorism. “Illiteracy and poverty are the major causes for the spread of terrorism, extremism and intolerance. When the term Talibaniation is used, it means the areas without development and education,” he added. He said that he got education from educational institutions run by the minorities, adding that the Christian community played a laudable role in education sector. He added that he always said that women and minorities were his constituency. “Both are highly vulnerable and that’s why I have always strived to empower them,” he said. He said that he envisioned a Pakistan where the minorities get all those rights which are given to them by Quaid-e-Azam.
Referring to his party policy, he said that the PPP gave the minorities voice in the Senate by getting elected two minority senators on Muslim seats. He added that the All-Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) made electoral alliance with the PPPP and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto asked him to accept the list of candidates given by the APMA as it is. He said that his government did legislation to give representation to the minorities in the Upper House and allocated four seats for them besides fixing five percent job quota for them. He said that his government created a special Ministry of Interfaith-Harmony and nominated Shahbaz Bhatti as its minister. Gilani said that he issued order for launching development projects at katchi abadis of minorities. He demanded the government to regularise katchi abadis of minorities like that of Muslims. He asked media to create awareness on rights of minorities while all political parties should include minorities’ rights in their manifesto.
Earlier, addressing the conference, the speakers highlighted issues being faced by the minorities especially the denial of land ownership rights. The speakers MPAs Shakeel Khokhar and Merry Gill said that they raised voice in Punjab Assembly for getting resolved ownership problems being faced by the minorities in Punjab. Executive Director of FDO Ghulam Mustafa, Vice Chairperson of APMA Najmi Saleemi, Secretary of APMA Naveed Aamir Jeeva and others said that Benazir Bhutto and Shahbaz Bhatti were the flag bearers of the struggle to turn Pakistan into a true welfare and democratic state where the minorities got equal rights as envisioned by the Quaid-e-Azam.
They lamented that the minorities were being targeted on basis of religious bigotry and their worship places were attacked by the mobs. They further pointed out that the agricultural and residential lands allotted to the minorities were also under illegal occupation of influential people. They demanded the government to take steps for getting the lands vacated from the illegal occupants.
The conference was also addressed by former president of District Bar Athar Shah Bokhari, Safiya Aftab, Akmal Bhatti and others. A large number of people participated in the conference.