Arora, Canadian envoy discuss rights issues

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Ramesh Singh Arora and Canadian High Commissioner Leslie Scanlan discussed protection of human rights, especially the rights of women, children and others classes at his camp office on Friday.

Secretary Human Rights Ali Bahadur Qazi, the First Secretary Canadian High Commissioner and other relevant persons also attended the meeting. Congratulating the minister, the High commissioner said it is certainly a matter of great honour for the Sikh community that someone from their community got a ministry in Punjab for the first time.

The High Commissioner expressed good wishes for the future of the minister and expressed hope that the protection of human rights in Punjab would be ensured and assured that Canadian government will always stand with the Punjab government for the protection of human rights.

The minister told the Canadian envoy about the measures taken by the Punjab government for the marginal segments of society.

He said top priorities of the Punjab government is to promote inter-faith and for this it is being carried forward with the help of various scholars and religious leaders of different schools of thought.

He toldthe High Commissioner that recently the Punjab Chief Minister has highlighted the positive side of Pakistan in the world by actively participating in the festival of Easter and Baisakhi, while Pakistan is getting recognition due to the good actions of Maryam Nawaz.

The minister said all minorities are fully protected throughout Punjab while the Punjab government working on increasing the grant of scholarships.

The minister made it clear that in his five-year roadmap, he is doing short and long-term planning to stem incidents like Jaranwala tragedy.

Minister meets delegation of British varsities: Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique met a delegation of leading British universities at King Edward Medical University (KEMU) here on Friday.

The delegation was headed by Sir Steve Smith. In this meeting, Vice Chancellor KEMU Prof. Dr. Mehmood Ayaz and representatives of British High Commission Pakistan, Higher Education Commission were also present. A meeting was also held with the faculty members and students of the university. The delegation included Prof.

Wendy Alexander, Peter Clock, Yasmin Peter, Madeline Ansell, Charis Babier, Rebecca Landsey and others.

Matters of mutual interest were discussed between the health minister and the British delegation.