The faithful standing with govt, army for country’s prosperity: Ashrafi

LAHORE: The faithful of all religions and religious sects are standing with the government and the Pakistan Army for peace and prosperity of the country.

This was stated by Special Representative to the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi while addressing a conference, along with the leadership of different religions and religious schools of thought, here on Monday. He said all citizens, including the minorities, were first class citizens of Pakistan and no one would be allowed to create panic and terror in the country in the name of religion. He said the PTI government was taking all steps to resolve the issues facing the minorities, adding that owing to proactive role of the government, any instance of forceful conversion and misuse of blasphemy law had not been reported in the country during the last two months. Ashrafi said Maulana Shirani knows very well Maulana Fazlur Rehman as he had been part of his party. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had categorically stated Pakistan's stance on Israel. Ashrafi said the foreign minister visit to the UAE was scheduled and a meeting of Saudi ambassador with the COAS and PM were also scheduled. He said that the media should not spread sensationalism on every issue, adding that new year will further strengthened Pakistan's relations with the Arab world. “I appeal to all media organisations and political and religious representatives not to politicise Pakistan's relations with brotherly Muslim countries,” Ashrafi added. He said that Israeli and Indian media were hatching conspiracies to create misunderstandings in Pakistan and we should contain these elements together. Leadership of different religions told the conference participants that the government had been making endeavours for promotion of religious harmony in the country and any individual, group or organisation would not be allowed to propagate hateful content in the country. The speakers said that the Christian community in Pakistan had been rendering enormous services in the areas of education and health.

Provincial Minister Ijaz Alam Augustine said that on the instructions of the PM, the government had been making efforts to promote inter-religious harmony in the country. Father James Chunan said that the government had been making serious efforts to address the issues of minorities. He said minorities in India had been deprived of their right to live peacefully. Commenting on a report of US Commission for Religious Freedom, Father James Chunan said that it was regrettable that Pakistan had been enlisted among countries violating religious freedom.