Rs two billion endowment fund: government reserves five percent quota for deserving minority students

Senior Minister Raja Riaz Ahmad has said that the government has reserved five percent quota for deserving students belonging to various minority communities in the Rs two billion 'endowment fund' created for helping the poor and needy students enrolled in educational institutions in the province. This fund will go a long way in enabling the poor students to bear educational expenses, he hoped.
He told this while talking to a delegation of minority leaders comprising of councillors and political workers at his residence, here on Sunday. Raja Riaz maintained that government was adopting holistic policies to ameliorate the lot of the minority communities so that they could play a more proactive role in national development. Minorities enjoy equal status in society, he maintained.
The government has also doubled the funds to the tune of Rs 200 million for improving socio-economic conditions of the minorities, he told.
The divine religious have taught to their followers the lessons of religious peace, harmony and brotherhood for the collective salvation of the whole humanity, he added. Raja Riaz asked the community leaders of the religious minorities and Islamic scholars to come forward and sensitise the people that we are a peaceful nation. The places of worships are the best places to foster the concepts of religious tolerance and peace, he observed.
Pakistan is a proud symbol of religious minorities' wellbeing and protection, as Islam has especially stressed for the welfare of the non-Muslims, he concluded.