Punjab govt has empowered minorities, says minister

LAHORE: The Provincial Minister of Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu on Saturday presented a booklet to media persons prepared by the Department of Human Rights in the Punjab Assembly.

According to a handout issued, Khalil Tahir Sandhu, while addressing a meet the press, briefed media persons about initiatives taken by the department to secure Human Rights all over the province. He said millions of rupees in the wake of scholarships have been allocated for brilliant students of minorities during the current fiscal year. Punjab government has already taken various initiatives along with effective legislation to protect the rights of minorities, the minister said.

These steps include; establishing Minorities Development Fund, implementing on five per cent quota in government jobs for minorities, disbursing education scholarships to the students of minorities and creating interfaith harmony among different religions, he said.

He said the Punjab government has set up a taskforce to speed up women’s empowerment agendas. The Punjab government has taken a number of concrete steps for the welfare of common citizens, including promotion and protection of equal human rights, peace, tolerance and religious harmony as Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) had been providing legal assistance to the victims of any injustice and cruelty across the province.

Provincial Members of Minority Shahzad Munshi, HRMA Secretary Asim Iqbal, media persons and officers of Human Rights were present at the occasion. ‘Human rights abuses increasing’: Pakistan Muslim League-Q senior leader Moonis Elahi, in his message on the World Human Rights Day, has said that the world is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the past memories of World War II and the Holocaust are growing distant but the present day human rights abuses are increasing rather than decreasing.

In his message, he said that the human rights of innocent Kashmiris, Palestinians and Rohingya Muslims had been usurped by powerful illegal occupants with no concrete mitigation efforts made by the UN and other globally influential forums. He said that Pakistan's domestic human rights situation was also a matter of great concern. Citing the example of the 2014 Model Town massacre, Moonis Elahi said that it was one of many cases where the government itself was playing the role of a perpetrator of violence on the people instead of protecting human rights in the country.

PU sign MoU: Punjab University’s College of Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore-based DARCO Group. According to a press release, the college principal, Prof Dr Sajid Rashid, DARCO Group Managing Director Calvin Thye and faculty members were present at the MoU signing ceremony held at PU CEES. The MoU will facilitate mutual sharing of best practices and expertise in environmental sciences especially in waste management and professional development of faculty, trainers and students.

DARCO Group provides wastewater treatment and solid waste management facilities. The group has already operations in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia. Now it is extending its operations to Pakistan.