Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz said on Saturday harder efforts should be made to promote interfaith harmony to make the world a better place to live. The Prime Minister was talking to a delegation of Sikh Yatrees here at the Prime Minister House.
Members of delegation represented various organisations of Sikhs based in Pakistan, USA, UK, India, and IOK. "In today's increasingly globalised world, all of us need to break the taboos, think as citizens of the world and work for peace and conflict resolution to leverage the true potential of various regions as it is vital for growth and development," the Prime Minister said.
He said the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees equal rights to minorities. For the first time in the country's history minorities have been given dual right of vote. They can cast their votes both for minorities' and general seats. They have equal access to opportunities in every facet of life, the Prime Minister added.
He said it is heartening to note that first Pakistani Sikh Cadet, Harcharan Singh is undergoing training at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul which will inspire others. He said the government is paying special attention to preserving religious and cultural heritage of Sikhs and special allocations have been made for maintaining their sacred places.
He said the government is encouraging the visits of religious pilgrims and a number of steps have been taken to facilitate the visit and stay of religious pilgrim.
Three hotels will be constructed one each at Lahore, Panja Sahib (Hassanabal) and Nankana Sahib to make the stay of Sikh pilgrims comfortable. The construction of hotels is expected to commence in July.
The Prime Minister said that a terminal of international standard would be set up at Wagah border where visitors will be provided one-window operation for customs clearance, immigration formalities and other procedures.
The delegation requested the Prime Minister to give instructions for setting up a visa office at Amritsar to facilitate the Yatrees. They also reiterated their demand for the grant of liberal visa regime.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan will consider the requests.
The arrangements for the celebration of 400th year of martyrdom day of Guru Arjun Dev came under discussion. The event will be held in June at Lahore.
The meeting was attended among others by Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq, Minister for Religious Affairs, Muhammad Ali Durrani, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister and senior officials.
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