Protection of minorities a govt priority: Shahbaz

LAHORE: Spiritual leader of Sikh community Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia, who is also the chairman of Nishkan Group, called on Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif with regard to celebrations on the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.

The chief minister promised full cooperation for the event and said protection of constitutional rights of minority communities, including Sikhs, had been fully ensured in Pakistan. “Historic steps have been taken for wellbeing and prosperity of the Sikh community living in Punjab,” he said and added that all possible steps were being taken for maintenance and protection gurdwaras and religious places other minority communities.

“In fact, protection of fundamental rights of the minority communities, along with protection of their life and property, is part of the Punjab government’s priorities,” he said. Shahbaz said all religious minorities enjoyed complete religious freedom and constitutional rights. “It is governmental policy to ensure protection and provision of different facilities to the Sikh community and other religious minorities for performing their religious rituals,” he noted.

He said implementation on minorities’ quota in public sector recruitments was followed. “The Punjab government is following the golden principles of Islam including inter-religious harmony and tolerance,” said Shahbaz.

Ahluwalia said they were thankful to the chief minister for providing different facilities to the Sikh community along with maintenance of religious places and their beautification. “The steps of the Punjab government taken for wellbeing of the Sikh community are laudable and credit of complete religious and interfaith harmony goes to Shahbaz,” he added.

Separately, the chief minister described protection and preservation of mother languages a collective social responsibility and said education given in the mother language leaves positive impacts on mental growth of children.

In his message on International Mother Language Day, he said the importance of mother language could not be ignored, adding, “Language is not only a tool of communication and expressions of ideas, but different nations are indentified through their languages also.” “The status of mother languages is recognised as a symbol of cultural heritage and national identity,” he noted.