Pakistan’s Progress Depends on Inclusiveness and Protection of Minorities: Victor Gill
Report by Qaisar Abbas
Washington, DC: Salma Bhatti, widow of late Shahbaz Bhatti, the former Minister for Minorities in Pakistan who was gunned down in 2011, has asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to investigate the people who made money over the assassination of her late husband.
Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC on Monday she said that her husband’s assassination was over-politicized, and people raised funds illegally for their own benefit. She appealed to the Supreme Court to investigate the whole scam. The press conference was organized by the Christian Voice of Pakistan.
“I was much traumatized over the shocking murder of my husband, and the way I was discriminated by my own people and wanted to die,” she said. “As a woman and as a minority person I felt very weak at the time,” she elaborated on the shocking trauma of her husband’s murder. She tried to commit suicide but survived and subsequently moved to the United States to start a new life.
She said working with organizations such as the Progressive Pakistan Alliance (PPA) and Christian Voice of Pakistan, we will raise awareness for human rights and equal treatment of minorities in Pakistan.
Victor Gill, founder of the Christian Voice of Pakistan, who also addressed the press conference, said that the country which was created to protect rights of the Muslim minority in India, has failed to protect its own minorities.
He said Mohammad Ali Jinnah envisioned a nation where all minorities were to be treated equally. Unfortunately, the country has become hostage to fundamentalists where Christians are killed and imprisoned, their homes are burned, and they are tried in court falsely in the name of religion.
Mr Gill also emphasized that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s new strategy of change should also show up in policies and strategies for ending discrimination against minorities in Pakistan. “Discrimination dwells from living to dead on a daily basis,” he reiterated.
“Pakistan can thrive only on the principles of inclusiveness, equal treatment of minorities, and equal opportunities for every citizen,” he emphasized. He also demanded to have elections on the 70 minority seats in the National Assembly based on merit. Currently, minority seats are allotted to political parties proportional to their seats in the legislature.
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