CM Murad Ali Shah promises to resolve issues of religious minorities

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said his government treats people belonging to religious minorities as equal citizens, has given them a quota in jobs and set up a special desk in the home department to redress their grievances then and there.

“On the ticket of our party, the PPP, one MPA Gianchand Israni and MNA Dr Mahesh Malani of minorities were directly elected from Sindh, and this shows our commitment to the minorities and interfaith harmony in the province we have developed,” he said on Monday while talking to a delegation of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), led by its chairman Chela Ram Kewlani.

The other delegates were Dr Jaipal Chhabria, Mufti Gulzar Naeemi, Dr Sarah Safdar, Saroop Singh, Dr Liaquat Masih Qaiser, Safdar Masih, Ramesh Kumar, Sardar Manmehan, Trushna Patel and Mohan Dar.

Minister for Minorities Affairs Gianchand Israni, Principal Secretary to CM Fayaz Jatoi and Secretary Minorities Abbas Baloch also attended the meeting.

The NCM chairman and members of the commission raised issues such as protection of their religious places, child marriage and implementation of the five per cent quota in government services.

The CM said he had allocated a five per cent quota in government jobs for minorities and “we are implementing it in true letter and spirit”. He said his government had taken necessary measures to protect the rights of minorities.

Talking about forced conversions, he said the minorities had been given due protection; therefore, no such case had emerged in the recent past.

Shah said Sindh is the land of Sufis; therefore, our people believe in respecting the religions of the minorities.

The CM told the chairman of the commission that five facilitation desks at division level had been established to provide a suitable platform, especially to the minorities, where they could resolve their day-to-day problems.

He directed his principal secretary Fayza Jatoi to notify the additional secretary home as focal person for redressing the grievances of the minority communities.