Will ensure minorities treated as equal citizens in Naya Pakistan, vows PM on Quaid's birth anniversary

Published December 25, 2018
Prime Minister Imran Khan said Naya Pakistan is Quaid's Pakistan.— DawnNewsTV
Prime Minister Imran Khan said Naya Pakistan is Quaid's Pakistan.— DawnNewsTV

Prime Minister Imran Khan on the occasion of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's birth anniversary assured minority communities that they would be treated as equal citizens in Naya Pakistan "unlike what is happening in India".

The prime minister on Tuesday tweeted that "Naya Pakistan is Quaid's Pakistan and will ensure that our minorities are treated as equal citizens, unlike what is happening in India."

He added that Jinnah had envisaged Pakistan as a "democratic, just and compassionate" nation.

"Most importantly, he wanted our minorities to be equal citizens. It should be remembered that his early political career was as an ambassador for Hindu Muslim unity," the premier said, adding that Jinnah's struggle for a separate nation for Muslims only began when he realised that Muslims would not be treated as equal citizens by the Hindu majority.

It is the second time in a week that the prime minister has highlighted the treatment of minorities in India. On Saturday, the premier had asserted that Pakistan would ensure equal rights to all minorities and show Indian premier Narendra Modi’s government "how we treat the minorities in Pakistan in stark comparison to the minorities’ status in India".

He had said that in India voices were being raised about the discriminatory treatment of minorities.

Opinion

Editorial

Liberties lost
Updated 10 Dec, 2023

Liberties lost

As Pakistan marks Human Rights Day today, it confronts a troubling panorama of human rights violations.
Careless remarks
10 Dec, 2023

Careless remarks

WHAT prompted the caretaker interior minister to sound a public alarm over the country’s political leadership...
Urea shortage
10 Dec, 2023

Urea shortage

IT is the time of the year when urea fertiliser vanishes from the market, and wheat growers are forced to pay a...
Healing old wounds
09 Dec, 2023

Healing old wounds

IN a development that will surely shine a spotlight on one of the darkest chapters in Pakistan’s democracy, the...
New Danish law
09 Dec, 2023

New Danish law

THE public defilement of Islamic sanctities — mainly by Islamophobic provocateurs in the West — serves no...
Elected set-up’s job
09 Dec, 2023

Elected set-up’s job

Backed by a powerful establishment, the interim government has done a fairly good job at executing IMF-mandated policies.