ISLAMABAD, April 14: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Thursday Pakistan believed in interfaith harmony and minorities enjoyed equal rights protected by the country’s constitution. He was talking to a delegation of Sikh Yatrees who are in Pakistan for Besakhi. Prime Minister Aziz said the government was duty bound to look after the places of worship of minorities in the country. It was a duty, he assured, the government would continue to discharge.

The Sikh leaders praised the government for the excellent upkeep of their holy places.

Talking to APP, head of the delegation Sardar Pritpal Singh, convener of the American Gurdawara Parabandhak Committee and Member Pakistan Sikh Gurdawara Parabandhak Committee, said: “Pakistan always feels like a home to us.”

He added: “We have never encountered any problem in performance of our religious rites and visits to the country.”

He said it was always a pleasure to meet the leaders of Pakistan. He expressed gratitude to the people of Pakistan for extending hospitality and courtesy.

“We are not guests, Pakistan is like our home,” Sardar Manmohan Singh Khalsa, chairman of World Muslim Sikh Federation, UK, said.

On a question about the upkeep of their places of worship, he said “we are very satisfied.”

He said in their talks with the prime minister, they also discussed plans for an anniversary of the fifth guru of Sikh religion in a befitting manner in 2006 and issue of a commemoration stamp.

Besides, he said, a Sikh-Muslim day would also be observed. —APP