KARACHI: President Ayub Khan said in Karachi last night that his ultimate objective was to see Pakistan as a strong and prosperous country in which every citizen without caste and creed distinction gets a fair deal.

Addressing a big gathering, mostly of the Parsis, in connection with Zorashtra’s birthday anniversary celebrations, the President stressed that Pakistan had pledged the fullest safeguards to all minorities.

He was confident that the fair and equitable treatment meted out to the Parsi community and to other minorities, since the inception of Pakistan, had reassured them regarding their future prospects and prosperity in Pakistan.

The President, who was replying to a welcome address by Mr. D.B. Avari, Chairman of the “Prophet Zoraster’s Birthday Celebration Committee”, said that he had done his best to tackle the manifold problems inherited by the country and also those facing it now.

He was glad to hear, he said, that the Parsi community also felt with other right-thinking persons that political institutions such as Basic Democracies which were in consonance with the spirit and circumstances of the country had made a significant mark in the progress of Pakistan.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from Islamabad,] the Foreign Minister, Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada, said here today [Aug 26] that the Foreign Office had no information that a Pakistani student in Cairo was allegedly involved in the activities of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and had been arrested by the UAR authorities.

The Minister’s attention was drawn to a news item broadcast by All-India Radio this morning which, quoting the Indian news agency PTI, said that the UAR authorities have refused to release a Pakistani student said to be involved in the activity of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

According to the Indian news agency, “literature supporting the Brotherhood is said to have been seized from the room of the student and that the Pakistan Embassy in Cairo has been trying to secure his release but has not succeeded”.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016