Give equal rights to minorities: MQM

MQM holds condolence meeting for Christian minister.


Express March 07, 2011

KARACHI:


Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s August 11, 1947 address in which minorities were given equal rights should be included in the Constitution of Pakistan as an Article 2B, to constitutionally assure them that we are all equal Pakistanis.


This demand was put forward by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar on Sunday. He was addressing a condolence meeting for Bhatti at the press club on Sunday. Bhatti was assassinated in Islamabad on March 2. The condolence meeting was attended by scores of MQM coordination committee members, party activists and people from different faiths.

MQM leader Raza Haroon said that the MQM did not consider non-Muslims minorities. “They are Pakistani, the terrorists and those responsible for this brutal act are the minorities.” He promised that when the MQM comes to power, the word minorities would be removed from the Constitution.

The MQM has demanded that the government arrest slain federal minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti’s assassins and remove terrorism and extremism from the country. Sattar claimed that the people would revolt and wipe out terrorism themselves if the government failed to take action.

A charged Sattar recited Urdu poetry to pay tribute to “the sacrifice Bhatti made for the country and the rights of minorities”. “Today your participation sends a message to the killers of Shahbaz Bhatti that they [terrorists] can kill him but they cannot demolish the ideology and thinking of people like Shahbaz Bhatti and Altaf Bhai”.

“We are with our Christian brothers and we assure them our full support,” he said, promising that the MQM would protect minorities.

Church of Pakistan’s Bishop Sadiq Daniel praised Shahbaz Bhatti in his address, calling him a polite and talented person. “If we are wasting our talent like this how can our Pakistan make progress?” he stressed.

Daniel claimed that this assassination was an attack on the government as well as on the Christians. Finally, he sent a message to the bereaved family, saying “we are with them in their misery and will struggle for them.” Afterwards, the participants lit candles for the deceased minister and observed silence for him at the press club’s main gate.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2011.

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