HYDERABAD, Sept 3: The Sindh chapter of the All-Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) on Monday demanded that a member of minority communities should be appointed as the governor of Punjab and a Hindu should be made governor of Sindh.
APMA president and former MPA Saleem Khursheed Khokhar along with former MPA Michael Javed, M. Parkash advocate, Riaz Nazir and other alliance leaders said at a news conference at the press club that the Punjab had opted for Pakistan after decisive vote by minorities.
While a large number of Hindus were living in Sindh and it was the duty of the government to ensure that they took part in the affairs of the province, hence a Hindu governor be made governor.
Mr Khokhar said that it was not a novel idea because a Muslim had been appointed as the president of India although they were in minority in that country.
The leaders regretted that the senate had become a no-go-area for minorities and demanded reservation of seats for minorities in the senate. Similarly, their seats should also be increased in the national and provincial assemblies as their population had increased manifold over the years.
They argued that if the number of Muslim seats had been increased in assemblies due to rise in population, why the same yardstick should not be applied to the minorities.
Presenting a 31-point charter of demands, they said that the demands, which had been signed by 100,000 minorities people had already been submitted to the president and prime minister of Pakistan, chief ministers, superior judiciary and authorities concerned as well as the United Nations.
They demanded that the guarantees given by Quaid-i-Azam in his address to the first constituent assembly of Pakistan on Aug 11, 1947, should be made part of the Constitution of Pakistan and all the anti-minorities laws should be repealed.
They said that free, fair and transparent elections should be held under the supervision of an autonomous election commission and the independence of judiciary and supremacy of parliament should be ensured.
They said that minorities should be granted due representation in the government, civil services, defence forces, police, judiciary and other organs of the state.
They said that personal laws of minorities should be reviewed in consultation with the religious scholars of minorities and laws should be enacted for the promotion of religious and social harmony for which a national commission should be appointed.
They said that the council of Islamic ideology should be replaced with multi-religion council to promote religious tolerance towars each other. They said, religious places and properties of the minorities should be given in the control of the respective religious communities and a member of the minorities should be elected a chairman of Evacuee Property Board.
They said that religious programmes of minorities should be given due coverage in the government and private media and the sacrifices of the minorities given in the Pakistan Movement should be officially acknowledged. The APMA leaders demanded that ban should be imposed on all the organisations, which were spreading terrorism, hatred, extremism and intolerance.
They said that the murderers of minorities and religious leaders should be arrested.
