Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Shazia Marri on Thursday said the government was taking concrete measures to facilitate and safeguard rights of minorities in Pakistan. The minister was speaking to the members of National Lobbying Delegation who called on her to discuss various issues being faced by minorities in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Shazia Marri said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had declared August 11 as Minority Day in light of the August 11 speech of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. After listening to the issues being faced by the minorities, the minister assured the delegation of maximum possible assistance for resolving issues faced by the non-Muslim Pakistanis.

Earlier, Anthony Naveed, member provincial assembly of Sindh, who was leading the delegation briefed the federal minister about the basic goals of National Lobbying Delegation for Minority Rights and their efforts to resolve issues faced by the minorities in Pakistan.

The delegation highlighted their efforts of lobbying for implementation of a 5% job quota for minorities in government departments and passage of Family Law for Hindus in 2016. The delegation apprised Shazia Marri about the hardships and challenges faced by the non-Muslim sanitary workers all over the country.

They explained that these workers were not equipped with modern tools for sanitation purposes and were forced to work in hazardous environments.

The sanitary workers are not being provided social security or insurance in case of an accident while performing their duties. Hundreds of sanitary workers belonging to minorities were facing the issue of job regularisation in different parts of Pakistan.  MPA Anthony Naveed, said that Institutions should have a code of conduct to ensure conducive  working environment for all employees irrespective of their race, color, creed or religion as envisaged in the Constitution of Pakistan. Since the minorities did not get anything from the Zakat Fund in public hospitals, there should be some  mechanism for their support too, he added.

The minister assured the delegation that the present government will take every possible step to address their issues on priority basis.