Christmas celebrations held

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Ejaz Alam Augustine has said that there is a need to give practical meaning to the lesson of equality for the development of country.

He was addressing a ceremony to honour Christian staff of Punjab University organised by the Department of Social Work at Al Raazi Hall here on Thursday. A Christmas cake was cut and gifts were distributed among the Christians.

Justice (retd) Nasira Javed Iqbal, MPAs Sadia Sohail, Youdester Chohan, Chairperson Prof Dr Syeda Mahnaz Hassan, Dr Aliya Khalid, senior faculty members and a large number of students attended the event.

Addressing the ceremony, Ejaz Alam Augustine said that we must figure out those elements who fanned hate on the basis of religion, ideology etc. He appreciated the role of PU for promotion of interfaith harmony. Justice (retd) Nasira Javed Iqbal said that we needed to promote interfaith harmony in the light of the directions of Quaid-e-Azam.

NH&MP: Motorway Police DIG and Commandant NH&MP Training College Mahboob Aslam distributed gifts, cash awards and certificates among the Christian employees of the Police Department. He also issued orders for leave for all Christian employees of the college. Deputy Commandant Taimoor Khan, CPO Training Nasim Abbass, officers and all Christian employees were present. Mahboob Aslam also distributed gifts and Eidi among the Christian officials. He expressed solidarity with the Christian community and acknowledged their services in community policing. A Christmas tree was decorated and a cake-cutting ceremony was held to show solidarity with all Christian employees.

CCP Headquarters: A cake-cutting ceremony in connection with Christmas was held at Capital City Police (CCP) Headquarters on Thursday. SSP Discipline/Admin Ejaz Rasheed was the chief guest on this occasion whereas DSP Admin Khalid Masood, DSP Complaints Mustafa Hassan and a large number of Christian police officers and officials attend the ceremony.

SSP Admin also distributed Eidi among the Christian employees and announced three days of Christmas vacations for them as well.

ceremony: To promote peace, tolerance and harmony in the country, a Christmas ceremony was held here Wednesday. Followers of different religious schools of thought attended the event. MPA Uzma Kardar, President Youth Development Foundation (YDF) Shahid Rehmat, IDEA Executive Director Salman Abid, CHANGE Executive Director Mumtaz Hussain, a Lab CEO Gulbaz Ali Khan and PTI MPA Sania Kamran spoke on the occasion. Uzma Kardar from ruling party said that Pakistan is a peaceful country where minorities are safe and can perform their rituals freely. We are here to promote inter-religious harmony, she added.

Salman Abid of IDEA lauded the effort made by Hindus and Sikhs community to promote socio-religious harmony by arranging Christmas celebrations for Christian friends. Shahid Rehmat emphasised the growing need of spreading the message of tolerance, love and harmony in the society and urged that all countrymen should see one another as fellow human beings instead of classifying others into different religions, sects and races.