Once Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, as Governor General of Pakistan, has said that the minorities in the Pakistan territory would have protection with regard to their religion, faith, life, property and culture. They would, in all respects be citizens of Pakistan without any discrimination and no doubt along with it they would have the obligations of citizenship. The minorities would have to be loyal to the State and owe true allegiance to the State. The country which was created on the basis of golden values of tolerance, equality and peace, was, no doubt, to form an independent state where Muslims in majority could be able to run the country affairs.
And the fortitude we observed in the recently held General Election-2018 in Pakistan where for the first time in history, non-Muslims have been elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly on general seats. These are important win in a time where the world tried to show that extremism is on the rise and violation of the rights of non-Muslims increasingly rampant in Pakistan. And this is a clear victory of Pakistan stance over those who blame Pakistan for human rights violation and extremism.
Dr. Mahesh Kumar Malani won from NA-222, defeating the GDA, the Allah-o-Akbar Party and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. Other minority candidates nominated by the PPP also won two provincial seats to the Sindh Assembly. Other parties had also given tickets to minority candidates in Sindh but they were unable to win their seats.
Dr. Malani has held key responsibilities in Sindh and says he is prepared to take his experience forward into the National Assembly, where he will sit on the opposition benches. He has emphasized that combating extremism and discrimination against minorities will be one of his priorities.
The change in electoral laws in 2002 had effectively ending separate electorates for non-Muslims and permitted non-Muslims to contest on general seats and for Muslims to vote for them. Early this year, Krishna Kumari, a Dalit Hindu woman from Tharpakar, had also been brought into the Senate by the PPP, making her the first woman from her community discriminated against both on the basis of caste and religion to reach this office.
We hope that the active involvement of Non-Muslims in state affairs could also give a positive message to the Non-Muslims living across and beyond the country and will play a positive role in the country development.
Active involvement of Non-Muslims in state affairs shall also give a positive message across the globe.