Afridi urges Christian scholars to raise voice for 8 mln Kashmiris caged in biggest human prison ever

ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP):Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and Narcotics Control, Shehryar Khan Afridi Friday urged the Christian scholars to raise their voice for the eight million Kashmiris who have been caged in the biggest human prison ever by India’s fascist regime.

He during a meeting with a delegation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who called on him here, said the Christian leadership needs to build pressure over the Modi government to lift siege in Kashmir where around one million Indian security officials are committing worst crimes against humanity, a press release said.

He said it is unfortunate to note that the United Nations has failed to take action against India over recovery of mass graves in Indian occupied Kashmir and unfortunately no practical steps have been taken by the world to investigate the crimes against humanity by Indian army which is tantamount to giving Indian army a license to kill Kashmiris.

He said under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, the federal government ensures equal rights for minorities in Pakistan and the government has implemented the court verdict in Asiya Bibi case in the same spirit.

He said minorities enjoy equal rights and opportunities under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s model governance and his vision is to promote interfaith harmony in our society.

Shehryar Afridi said serving humanity is a noble cause and the government is implementing this model religiously.

He said missionary schools have rendered laudable services in Pakistan and he himself had been transformed by missionary schools.

“Pakistan has unfortunately been misperceived and a very negative picture has been painted. Pakistan is heterogeneous society and minorities have been a part of us,” he said.

The minister said Pakistan had been the fastest growing economy in 1960s but the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan derailed Pakistan from the path of becoming the Asian tiger.

“In 1960s, Pakistan gave economic aid to Germany. We gave economic model to South Korea and opened a window for China to connect to the world. But it was the Soviet invasion into Afghanistan which derailed Pakistan from the path of economic development,” he said and added Pakistan fought a war for the world but the world did not reciprocate Pakistan’s sacrifice.

He said the PTI government now is taking care of 34,000 religious schools.
“No madressah would be allowed to accept foreign funding. The prime minister has directed that nobody could be humiliated in the name of specific jobs in the government.  My team would help you get registered in Pakistan. Clean drinking water, education, IT parks, vocational training centres, scholarships, healthcare, rehabilitation centres for drug affected are potential areas where you can chip in with your assistance,” he added.

Peter F Merus, Asia President, Bradley R Hansen, Mission President and Imran Shaukat, President Pakistan were part of the delegation.

Peter F Merus said what the media reports about Pakistan is not the truth.

“We want to fully register ourselves with religious group. We have some good expertise in rehabilitation and we would love to chip in with our assistance,” he concluded.