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| September 30, 2005 | Friday | Sha'aban 25, 1426 |
25 couples tie the knot at mass wedding
QUETTA, Sept 29: Twenty-five poor couples were married in a collective marriage ceremony held here at Darbar Marriage Garden here on Thursday.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf was chief guest at the ceremony that was attended by around 1000.
Twenty-one of the couples are Muslims and four Christians. Provincial Social Welfare Department bore expenditures of 24 couples while jeweller community provided funds for one marriage. Majority of the couples belong to Quetta, Loralai and Khuzdar.
While speaking on the occasion provincial Minister for Social Welfare Parveen Magsi announced that her ministry would arrange collective ceremony for marriages of another 150 couples whose application had already been received by the Social Welfare Department.
The department could arrange marriages of only 25 couples due to shortage of funds. However, soon the arrangements would be made for remaining couples, Mrs Magsi added.
Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf said that collective marriage was a positive concept and his government would promote it. He said that women were very important part the society and there was a need to abolish all outdates traditions against them. He said gender discrimination should also be done away with.
He appreciated the efforts of the Social Welfare Department and said it was a ray of light for those poor parents who could not arrange marriages of their daughters.
ETHNIC PARITY: Former Senator Khalid Khan Kakar has sought implementation of what he called one of the recommendations of the parliamentary sub-committee on Balochistan to maintain parity between Baloch and Pukhtun people in the province.
Talking at a news conference at the press club, he criticized the Pakistan Oppressed Nations’ Movement and the four-party Baloch alliance for rejecting the recommendations of the sub-committee, headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain.
He said that the Baloch leadership made tall claims of Baloch-Pukhtun unity in political gatherings but practically opposed equal rights of the Pukhtuns.
He claimed that the paragraph XVI of point 7 of the sub-committee report said that to promote harmony among different communities in Balochistan, it was recommended that Baloch-Pukhtun parity be maintained in all spheres of life.
The recommendation added that until the structural problems involved were resolved by mutual dialogue and consensus, the sub committee strongly felt that regional equity
and balance within different parts of the province was as important as inter-provincial equity and balance, Mr Khalid said.
He called on the government to implement the recommendation and urged the Baloch leadership to accept it to maintain the solidarity and goodwill between both the ethnic groups in the province.
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