Lockdown-affected minorities get food rations

Governor Sarwar says no nation can thrive without role of its minority communities

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar has said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was truly following the vision of Quaid-i-Azam, by ensuring the protection of life and property of the minorities.

He expressed these views during a campaign to distribute ration among the Christian families, whose breadwinners lost jobs in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

Launching the ration distribution campaign at the central Church in Shahdra on Saturday, the governor said some 500,000 families would be provided ration in collaboration with the Punjab Development Network.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was truly following the vision of Quaid-i-Azam, by ensuring the protection of life and property of the minorities. Terming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “butcher of Gujarat”, the governor said Modi was constantly targeting minorities and spreading hate against them. The governor said the Christian community was also facing a tough economic situation as most businesses were closed in the wake of the spread of coronavirus. For this reason alone, he said, he himself came to Shahdra to provide Christian community ration and fulfil their other needs.

“We will continue standing by the Christian community until the coronavirus pandemic subsides,” he said.

The governor said the Punjab Development Network, Sarwar Foundation, Sheikh Ijaz Trust, Akhuwat and other social welfare organizations were working day in and day out to provide ration to the poor families in these testing times. He said some 200,000 poor families in Lahore alone had been provided ration. “Ration distribution in other cities is also in progress. Those participating in the distribution of ration are actually serving humanity. The PTI government will ensure the provision of all basic rights to the minorities in the country and added that even the US acknowledged that minorities in Pakistan were safe and strong.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2020.