‘Sindh has always lived in inter-faith harmony’

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) believes in a pluralistic society, says CM Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) believes in a pluralistic society, therefore its government in Sindh has enacted laws that support minorities, claimed Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

This he said while talking to an American delegation led by the US State Department's special adviser for religious minorities, Knox Thames.

The chief minister claimed that Sindh was the land of the Sufis, therefore the people of this province naturally respect human rights and live in harmony with people of other religions. "This is the reason that no inter-religious disputes have ever emerged in the province," Shah claimed.

He maintained that there was previously no legal precedent to register Hindu marriages, but now the Sindh Assembly has passed the Hindu Marriage Act, under which their marriages are registered legally. He added that his government has passed a law which allows individuals to change their religion before turning 18 years old."

Meanwhile, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani stated that, he was working out a plan to impart religious education to students pertaining to their respective religion.

Thames, however, asserted that students should be given human rights classes from primary school, so that they can respect other religions as adults. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2020.