President Asif Ali Zardari has said that all minorities are equal citizens of Pakistan who have equal rights, underscoring the need to further enhance the employment quota for them in all government jobs.
President Zardari said this while addressing a special ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr after he signed into law the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024, raising the marriageable age for Christian men and women to eighteen years, according to the press release issued on Tuesday by the President’s Secretariat Press Wing.
Speaking about increasing the employment quota for minorities in all government jobs, the president said that he would write to the government in this regard.
Highlighting equal rights for all minorities in Pakistan, he stressed that minorities should not be disheartened by some isolated incidents, saying that they had equal ownership over the homeland as much as anybody else.
The president accorded approval to the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 under Article 75 of the Constitution. The act amends Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. Previously, the age of Christian men and women intending to be married was 16 and 13 years respectively.
The ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs, Zulfiquar Haider, members of the Christian community and senior government officials.
