Minorities Rights Day
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 16 2012:
Like in the past Manipur State Minorities Commission will observe Minorities Rights Day on December 18 at Kangla Hall, Imphal in association with All Manipur Meitei Pangal Welfare Association (AMMPWA), Meitei Christian Forum, Manipur, All Manipur Minorities Forum, All Manipur Muslims Organizations Co-coordinating Committee (AMMOCOC), United Manipur Muslims Women Development Organization (UMDWO), Buddhists Council, Manipur and many other NGOs.
The main objective of the Observance shall be highlighting rights of Minorities, Protection and Safeguard of the rights of the Minorities as enshrined in the Constitution of India, said a Commission statement issued by its secretary Dr Md Raheijuddin Sheikh.
Pointing out that the Commission had been playing a major role in protecting the rights of the minority communities and in bringing about better understanding among the various religious minority communities in Manipur, Dr Sheikh asserted "It is the duty of the state to provide all the rights to the minorities irrespective of their population and religion.
Providing an equal right to minorities is true hallmark of a democracy" .
There are hundreds of instances in the world when a particular minority group had to suffer because of policy discrimination.
To handle such situations and to stop the occurrence of discrimination against the minorities, United Nations had adopted and promulgated the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Linguistic and religious minorities, further statement the Commission secretary.
Elaborating the UN declaration as : "States shall protect the existence of the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity", he observed that this declaration was a huge step in protecting minorities group all over the world.
Though the republic of India has always provided equal rights to all the religions, pertinent issues regarding minority rights keep creeping in.
However, to the credit of the nation and its secular fabric, India remains a peaceful nation with no minority conflict, expressed the secretary and called upon all Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and general public to participate at the Observance of the Minorities Rights Day.