The chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday said that Punjab is being made an exemplary province with regard to protection of minorities' rights while the Punjab Minority Package would prove to be an exemplary programme with regard to minorities' welfare.
He said this while talking to a delegation of National Commission for Minority Rights, which led by Dr Muhammad Shoaib Suddle met him, here. The meeting discussed about the provision of facilities and matters pertaining to the welfare of minorities. A principle decision was also taken to compile the data of non-Muslim employees from across the province of Punjab.
Talking on the occasion, the chief minister said: "Youhana Abad will be made a model area with an amount of Rs 300 million; while a provincial focal person will be appointed for resolution of matters relating to the minorities."
The CM maintained that non-Muslim students are being given educational scholarships worth Rs.25 million while another amount of Rs.25 million will be distributed among non-Muslim research scholars and postgraduate students as scholarships.
The chief minister informed that a proposal will be reviewed to exempt non-Muslim students to appear in the competitive examinations during their religious days. He said that lands reserved for minorities in the province are being retrieved from squatters. He asked the police officers to personally check the security of churches.
Dr Shoaib Suddle apprised the chief minister about objectives of the commission and added that Punjab will emerge as a model with regard to protection of rights and provision of facilities to non-Muslim communities. Ramesh Kumar MNA, Saqib Jillani Advocate, provincial minister Ijaz Alam, ACS (Home), administrative secretaries and others attended the meeting.
Moreover, the Punjab CM in his message on "the International Day of Tolerance" said the religion of Islam stresses for promoting the norms of tolerance and harmony in the society and it is the need of the hour that these norms should be promoted because intolerance creates societal disorder.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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