BAHAWALPUR: Hindu community leaders have demanded the government repair their worship places, particularly temples.

The demand was voiced at a function by Hindu community representatives, including Ratan Lal, Akmal Das, Raju Ram, Chaman Lal and Mohan Lal, at the Circuit House on Saturday.

The function was held to distribute cheques under the Holi package on behalf of the chief minister among deserving Hindus belonging to Bahawalpur district.

It was addressed, among others, by minority MPA Kanji Ram and PML-N MPA Fauzia Ayub Qureshi.

MPA Ram said the government was safeguarding minorities’ rights at each forum. A proof of this, he claimed, was the representation of minorities on merit on reserved seats in all assemblies.

MPA Fauzia said the government resolved minorities’ problems on priority and these cheques were in fact a gift from the CM on the occasion of the Hindus’ religious occasion of Holi.

The Hindu leaders demanded their worship places in a dilapidated condition be widened and renovated so they could perform their religious rituals without any difficulty. They also demanded their children be provided facilities for education, admission to higher educational institutions according to the Hindu quota system on reserved seats and construction of boundary walls around Hindu graveyards.

Admission

A Unicef campaign to admit each child to school has been launched. This was announced at the first day of a two-day workshop that began on Saturday.

According to speakers, the campaign has been launched in 10 districts of Punjab, and 100 schools with low performance in each district have been selected.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2014