CM says equality, tolerance define democracy

"I salute every brother and sister of Punjab belonging to the minorities. The Quaid-i-Azam had declared all the citizens free to visit their worship places. Equality, tolerance and patience aptly define democracy and every citizen holds an equal status irrespective of their religion, caste and creed," Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif stated in her message on the National Minorities Day.

She said all the citizens are beautiful and colourful flowers of a bouquet. Pakistan belongs to everyone.

The chief minister said, "The minorities enjoy equal rights in Punjab according to the vision of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. All our brothers and sisters belonging to the minorities have been provided equal education and employment opportunities. I, while delineating Punjab's roadmap during my maiden speech, had declared the minorities as very dear to our hearts. Easter was celebrated along with the Christian community in the Maryamabad church."

She said she had also visited Kartarpur and harvested wheat on the eve of Vaisakhi.

Punjab holds a unique distinction of being the first province across the globe to enforce registration of Sikh Marriage Act and work on Hindu Marriage Act and Christian Personal Laws is ongoing, which will be submitted in the assembly soon.

She said the Punjab government had allocated a record budget for the minority communities worth Rs3.66 billion, while Rs4 billion development budget had been allocated for the minorities affairs department and Rs2.5 billion for the Minorities Development Fund.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterMaryam Nawaz congratulated Fatima Saeed, a student belonging to Multan, for attaining the highest marks in the 9th class examination result across Punjab.