The International Day for the Rights of Religious Minorities was celebrated across Pakistan on Sunday, August 11. The Easter festival of the Christian community was also on the same day, which has the status of Eid.

The Federal and provicial high-ups addressed various ceremonies in Islamabad on this occasion. Expressing thier firm determination to protect their rights, solve their problems and give them a legitimate place in the society, they said that the minority communities not only actively participated in the struggle for the establishment of Pakistan, but their services in every field of life for the development of the country are laudable. Be it war or peace, their practical role for the stability and prosperity of Pakistan cannot be forgotten.  Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself, during his speech to the Constituent Assembly on 11 August 1947, emphasized the fundamental rights of the citizens and the practical role of the state for their protection.The purpose of celebrating the Minorities Day was to reiterate the protection of their rights while sticking to the promise of their predecessors. Sindh Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also stressed on their equal rights in his message on International Minority Day. Human rights activists say that special quota for minorities in government jobs and educational institutions should be ensured. The Hindu Marriage Act and Christian Personal Laws are also ready, which will be presented in the assembly soon.  For the first time in Punjab province, a special budget of 2.85 billion rupees has been allocated for minorities.

 As a matter of fact, the creation of a society based on justice, equality, tolerance  is need of the hour. At the same time, all kinds of discrimination should be removed and equal rights and opportunities should be provided for the followers of all religion.  In the Holy Quran, the rights of all human beings have been emphasized and it has also been said that there is no coercion in religion.  In the light of the vision of the founder of Pakistan and Islamic teachings, equal rights of minorities are guaranteed in the country's constitution, but it is a pity that despite the comprehensive strategy and constitutional guarantees, incidents of intolerance towards minorities continue to occur in the country.  The only solution to this problem is to bring those involved in such acts to justice in an immediate and decisive manner. The protection of cultural and religious heritage is not only the protection of buildings or antiquities, their equal participation in the completion of national identity is also necessary. This situation is also harmful for the economic and social development of the country. It has negative effects on foreign investment and tourism which also causes other crises and national unity is also damaged.  Therefore, it is necessary that we should guarantee the protection and good treatment of minorities, should be fully observed.Since the majority of our minorities are Christians, we start with them. There are three major Christian festivals, Christmas, Good Friday and Easter.  Now why we do not participate in Christian festivals or send greetings to them is beyond comprehension. Christians are people of the book and are our close brothers because we also consider Jesus as a prophet. The second largest minority is the Hindus, our thoughts about them are very objectionable, what to talk about the common people. The civilization and history of thousands of years that we are proud of is the history not only of Muslims but also of all other non-Muslim nations which consists of ancient scriptures, sacred buildings and places of worship. There is no room for intolerance against minorities. No one should be allowed to take the law into their hands.

There is so much talk about how the incidents of burning and encirclement like the one in Jaranwala took place. But it is irony that it is with mixed feelings of hatred, contempt and anger, while the actual facts are also clear to all of us, currently we are not ready to accept that ignorance, fanaticism and intolerance has been embedded in a section of the society and continues to do so.  The civil society respects the minorities but there is a section of society which shows hatred to minorities. The kind of incident that happened in Pakistan against minorities  make one wonder as if  there no human rights of other people? After all, who has created the kind of psyche or mind-set of a particular section of the society, which gathers and flares up at the slightest announcement.We have all seen the videos of 'maddened mobs' setting fire to private and public property, maybe half of the people in that mob pray regularly and that too on Friday. It can be said with almost certainty that they have never understood the teaching in the books of the Qur'an and Hadith.   For instnce in the Jaranwala incident, some miscreants inflamed emotions and provoked them to climb on the roofs of the churches and set fire to the houses and places of worship of the Christians, even those clerics would never have read the Quran with complete translation.  If they read the entire Quran with translation. If they had read it, they would have known what was said in the Qur'an about the prophets of Allah, including Jesus, and the holy books revealed to them. Who is responsible for people who nurtured extremist thinking in the society, these people are also among the scholars and columnists, university teachers and politicians too. Watch, read their writings, listen to their lectures or examine their sermons delivered.Today, all these people are also issuing a statement of condemnation and expressing their regret that the Christian brothers and sisters have been wronged in Jaranwala and other incidents, even though they are equal participants in this crime.  Another thing is also important on such occasions. It is said that the minorities have equal rights in our society. These things have now started to sound hollow and the reason for this is our hypocritical attitude and double standards towards the minorities. Now let's talk about the police. When people were creating the riot in Jardanwala, the police were present at the scene but they were watching the spectacle. On such occasions, the police often become disappeared. They have a concocted excuse.

The purpose to say is that we will have to change the mindset of quite a good number of people regarding the rights of minorities and the prime responsibly lies with the government to guarantee rights of minorities and safeguard them.