Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed grave concern over the “volatile situation” in Mandi Bahauddin where according to reports, non-state actors together with extremist groups “were inciting violence against Christian community and threatening them to convert or leave”.

In a press statement issued here, the PPP chairman said his party won’t remain silent on any atrocities against the poor and marginalised communities, including the Christians of Mandi Bahauddin and asked the federal and Punjab government to take immediate action and catch the culprits behind “victimisation and atrocities” against the minority community in the Punjab town.

Bilawal said that he had been pointing out that the PML-N government has turned “National Action Plan into Noon-league Action Plan”, and only selective points of the plan are being “invoked”. “Why the federal and Punjab governments are silent on the NAP’s point which proclaims end to religious extremism and protection of minorities,” he stated.

The PPP chairman demanded special security to be provided to Christian hamlets and neighbourhoods in Mandi Bahauddin so that any loss to the life and properties to the people in Mandi Bahauddin is averted.

Expressing solidarity with the minority community of Mandi Bahauddin, he assured them that his party would raise their concerns at every forum and would not leave them alone in the hour of need.