MPA questions why minorities miss out on education, infrastructure
Khokhar lamented that local government funds had not been spent in minority areas during the last four years.
KARACHI:
The Pakistan Peoples Party minority MPA Saleem Khurshid Khokhar on Wednesday complained about the injustices being meted out to religious minorities in the country.
While taking part in the budget debate in Sindh Assembly, Khokhar claimed that the curriculum taught across schools and colleges in Pakistan were creating a gulf between Muslim and non-Muslim students. “Muslims have been given priority over non-Muslims in school books? Why are people like Justice Dorab Patel, Captain Cecil Chaudhry [who fought the 1965 and 1972 wars] and others who devoted their lives for the cause of Pakistan not included in school books?”
Khokhar also lamented that local government funds had not been spent in minority areas during the last four years. He cited Esa Nagri, Pahar Ganj, Akhtar Colony, Kashmir Colony, Manzoor Colony as examples of areas where proper water and sanitation facilities were nonexistent.
Khokhar also cast doubts on the government’s claims about empowering women by giving land and plots to female peasants, and said that not a single non-Muslim woman had become a beneficiary of the programme so far. “We are the sons of this soil and have rendered sacrifices for this country. We want to know why we are subjected to such kinds of discrimination,” said Khokhar.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2012.
The Pakistan Peoples Party minority MPA Saleem Khurshid Khokhar on Wednesday complained about the injustices being meted out to religious minorities in the country.
While taking part in the budget debate in Sindh Assembly, Khokhar claimed that the curriculum taught across schools and colleges in Pakistan were creating a gulf between Muslim and non-Muslim students. “Muslims have been given priority over non-Muslims in school books? Why are people like Justice Dorab Patel, Captain Cecil Chaudhry [who fought the 1965 and 1972 wars] and others who devoted their lives for the cause of Pakistan not included in school books?”
Khokhar also lamented that local government funds had not been spent in minority areas during the last four years. He cited Esa Nagri, Pahar Ganj, Akhtar Colony, Kashmir Colony, Manzoor Colony as examples of areas where proper water and sanitation facilities were nonexistent.
Khokhar also cast doubts on the government’s claims about empowering women by giving land and plots to female peasants, and said that not a single non-Muslim woman had become a beneficiary of the programme so far. “We are the sons of this soil and have rendered sacrifices for this country. We want to know why we are subjected to such kinds of discrimination,” said Khokhar.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2012.