FM Bilawal ensures protection of minority rights in high-level meeting on UNGA's sidelines

NEW YORK: Speaking on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was taking "all measures to protect the rights of minorities" and that everyone in this country had religious freedom.

FM Bilawal's comments were made during a high-level meeting on the effective promotion of the Declaration on Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities.

The minister added that the protection of minorities' rights was the basic tenet of the protection of human rights in Pakistan.

"Kartarpur Corridor is a reflection of our efforts for interfaith harmony and it is a corridor of hope," Bilawal said, highlighting that Pakistan celebrates Minority Protection Day on August 11 every year.

Commenting on the state of minorities in India, the PPP chairperson said that a "poisonous" anti-Islamic trend is spreading therein.

"Unfortunately, there is a state where the minority rights are being suppressed," he said.

He added that minorities are being suppressed in this state under its policy. "India was once a secular state, but now it's becoming a Hindu-dominated country."

Bilawal said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Hindutva ideology is being promoted in India, which has fuelled violence against its two billion Muslim minority in the country.

"India's Muslim minority is the largest in the world and Muslims are killed by mobs over the issue of cows," he added.