Rwadari Tehreek, a social movement working to promote religious and social harmony, in a press conference at Lahore Press Club on Tuesday expressed grave concerns and outrage over the hate speech in the parliament by a ruling party parliamentarian and has demanded of an appropriate action to avoid such instances in future.
Addressing the Press Conference Samson Salamat, Chairman Rwadari Tehreek said that the speech by the Parliamentarian was highly discriminatory and inciting violence against minorities and was contrary to the vision of the founder of Pakistan.
The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, during his first address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan said "We are all citizens and equal citizens of one state. Now I think, we should keep that in front of us as our ideal, and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State."
Samson Salamat said that "the discriminatory and hateful speech in the parliament has fueled the highly intolerant society, and has increased a sense of threat and terror among the citizens belonging to religious minority communities who in the past have fallen prey to religious discrimination and violence."
Salamat suggested that proper mechanisms should be formulated to monitor hate speeches and all the individuals and groups involved in spreading hatred and violence should be held accountable indiscriminately. Sadia Sohail MPA of PTI said that rather than speaking ill against minorities, we must appreciate their role as Pakistanis and give them confidence and ensure the vision of the founder of Pakistan is being implemented who categorically said that all citizens are equal.
Sadia Sohail demanded that the National Action Plan should be implemented in letter and spirit to plug sources of hate speeches and use of religion for political purposes. Abdullah Malik said, "the religious minorities of Pakistan have played a vital role in the socio-economic development since the creation of Pakistan but this is extremely disappointing to see that they are being discriminated against and considered as lesser citizens which is the violation of their constitutional rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan and international human rights standards."
Malik suggested that an effective de-radicalization plan should be devised which should include ban on hate speeches, elimination of biased material from the curriculum, ban and action against all terrorist outfits and their financiers, facilitators and supporters and de-weaponization policy to curb gun and bomb culture.