CM Punjab delivers message on Holi, emphasising love, peace, and brotherhood

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Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has reiterated that the protection of minorities' lives and property is a top priority for her government, calling it a "red-line" that will be safeguarded at all costs.
In her message on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Holi, she emphasised the importance of the occasion as a symbol of love, peace, and brotherhood, Express News reported.
She noted that Pakistan is a harmonious blend of various religious communities, all of which enjoy equal rights and opportunities.
Maryam Nawaz further stated that Punjab, the land of Sufis, is committed to fostering an environment of love, tolerance, and mutual respect, where every citizen, irrespective of their religion, feels safe and empowered.
The government is taking practical steps to ensure the welfare of minority communities, providing equal access to education, health, employment, and other essential services.
She highlighted that the introduction of the Minority Card is an important initiative to support economically disadvantaged members of the minority community. Additionally, the provincial government has increased grants for religious festivals and cultural celebrations, and allocated additional funds for minority welfare programs.
Punjab's government is also working towards celebrating religious and cultural festivals at the official level, ensuring that the rights and traditions of all communities are honoured.
Earlier this year, Punjab Chief Minister increased the number of Minority Cards to the issued in the province to 75,000 from 50,000.
Launching Pakistan's first Chief Minister Minority Card in a ceremony attended by women and men from the Hindu, Sikh, Christian and other communities, she said, "It is our responsibility to protect the minority communities and improve their lives. I am fulfilling my duty to grant protection to the minorities with full responsibility."
She added, "We will hinder the path of those who endanger the lives and property of the minority communities with an iron hand. Minorities also have an equal role in the development of Pakistan. Whenever any dangerous situation emerges for the minorities, I myself monitor and oversee it as minorities are a symbol of pride for us." She distributed the cards and observed the transaction process via ATM of a beneficiary.
Provincial Minority Affairs Minister Ramesh Singh Arora expressed gratitude to the CM in Punjabi language.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said, "The Punjab government has launched the Minority Card for the well-being of our sisters, brothers, elders and children so that they should realise that they are also Pakistanis and Punjabis. I am not making a political statement but everyone should realise that the minorities are also as much a part of our beloved homeland as other Pakistanis. The name 'minority' has been given in Pakistan to which I disagree."
She added, "I am pleased to see that the rightful owners are happy to receive their right as all religions are united in a strong bond."
She said messages of felicitation had been received from all over the world on the appointment of the first Sikh minister in the Punjab cabinet. She added, "My father Muhammad Nawaz Sharif always forbade me from using the word minority for the communities. They may be fewer in number, but are no less than anyone with regard to patriotism and humanity. I deem it imperative to participate in every festivity of the Sikh, Hindu and Christian communities."
The chief minister said all commissioners and DCs had been directed to decorate the minorities' places of worship and neighbourhoods for every religious festival, including Holi and Easter.
She said the PML-N government had increased the budget of the minority affairs department.
She said 50,000 families in Punjab would receive Rs10,500 after every three months and the amount would be increased in the coming years, while number of beneficiary households would be hiked to 75,000.
She added that Rs10,500 was a meagre amount but a token gift on behalf of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Punjab government. She said the grant issued on the eve of minority festivals had been increased from Rs10,000 to Rs15,000.
"Neighbourhoods and religious places of the minority communities are also being developed. A cemetery for the Christian community will be ready in a few months. The annual development budget for the minority communities has been increased by 60 per cent," she added.
Bishop Nadeem Kamran, Sardar Saranjit Singh and Pandit Lal prayed on the occasion.

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It emerged unexpectedly — a byproduct of lobbying by Muslim ashraafia in UP, demanding British-granted political rights, employment, and support for business opportunities. These concessions came not from British compassion but to counterbalance Hindu nationalism. Jinnah and the Muslim League (1906), initially loyal to the British Raj (a shield against Hindu majoritarianism), sought a negotiated constitutional role for Muslims in a united India, mirroring the early Congress demands (1885). But Congress later rejected any reforms for Hindu self-rule that accommodated Muslims. The British, however, enforced electoral reforms and held legislative elections in 1937. Muslims remained blind to Hindu discrimination, evident in communal violence particularly after Bengal's partition, and to the League's hard-won safeguards like separate electorates (1909). Gratitude failed to translate into votes: The League flopped in 1937. Why? The answer was naked self-interest. Muslim-majority provinces clung to their feudal strongholds, abandoning the plight of minority-province Muslims — their support could have fortified the League's fight against Hindu domination. Let's see how each province failed to support Jinnah's Nobel cause: Punjab, ruled by British-crafted feudal-military-bureaucratic loyalists (the future PakRaj), gave the League just 2/84 seats. Sindh, trapped in sufi-wadero culture but resentful of Hindu traders, granted only 3/35 seats. Sindhi nationalists triumphed. NWFP (KPK), obsessed with Pashtun nationalism under the Red Shirts, rejected the League entirely (0/36 seats). Bengal, home to the 1857 Revolt's sepoys, was receptive (40/119 seats), but peasant parties dominated. Balochistan had no elections; Kashmir remained a princely state. Congress won 8 of 11 ministries but refused to share power, oppressing Muslims under its rule, as documented in Jinnah's 1938 'Suffering Muslim Minorities' report. A crushing outcome for Jinnah. Yet he didn't give up and reinvented the League: from an ashraafia guild to a mass movement, shifting focus from resisting British to defying Majority Hindu rule. He synthesised Hindu discrimination with religious emotion, weaponised it, and crafted the 'Two-Nation Theory' demanding a separate Muslim state in the 1940 Lahore Resolution. (Congress had demanded full independence in 1930.) British control waned. Their constitutional reforms — falling short of independence but including Muslim safeguards — were rejected by Congress, radicalising Hindus against both the British and Muslims. Jinnah established that Muslims, a perpetual minority in united India (Hindus 66%, Muslims 24%, 1941 Census), without doubt face eternal discrimination by Hindus' legislative domination - passing laws adversely affecting Muslims, leading to their social, economic and cultural erasure. The British last-ditch effort to preserve India under a weak federal structure (Jinnah favoured) collapsed due to Congress's objection after the July 1946 elections, splitting the subcontinent: Congress won Hindu support for united India; the League became Muslims' sole voice for Pakistan. Jinnah's political mantra and surging public sentiment coerced reluctant provinces to switch sides: Sindh endorsed Pakistan first (1943) under GM Syed, backing Jinnah in 1946, though Syed later became disillusioned by Pakistan's federal politics and demanded Sindhudesh. Punjab joined only when Pakistan's inevitability became obvious (1946). East Bengal overwhelmingly accepted Pakistan in 1946. NWFP, perhaps fearing Afghan annexation, agreed but remained immersed in the Pakhtunistan dream. Balochistan was reluctant but coerced (March 1948) and still rebels. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority princely state, was invaded by Pakistan in 1947 after its Hindu ruler opted for India. India's intervention birthed the Line of Control and conflict between the two nations. India blamed Pakistan for the recent Pahalgam incident and launched retaliatory strikes. However, Pakistan's swift and overwhelming response — leveraging advanced Chinese military technology — forced India into an immediate ceasefire, at least for now. British intransigence after the January 1946 elections pushed Jinnah to call for Direct Action Day (16 August 1946), triggering Bengal riots that spread nationwide. The Raj's indifference, poor management and hasty withdrawal ignited history's largest migration and over a million deaths. Pakistan — a state for some Muslims of India — was born on 14 August 1947. Jinnah was fully aware of the new country's socio-political and economic impediments and its "moth-eaten, truncated" territory. Besides, he knew that millions of Muslims spread across India could not benefit from his design, yet he endeavoured to provide freedom to those who did not want it to begin with. Jinnah's calculus — perpetual Hindu domination of all Muslims versus a flawed independent Pakistan — drove him to choose the latter. The ultimate irony is that post-1857, the British cultivated a Punjab-centric feudal-military-bureaucracy in a close, dependent relationship to secure their rule, which oddly could not help them retain power in India. They never imagined this system would outlive them, morphing into the governing structure of Pakistan, as the PakRaj. Jinnah was acutely aware of their presence and inherent opposition to a modern, democratic, egalitarian Pakistan and their dominance of politics, governance and economy. Jinnah's stark warning was that while Pakistan could not be easily challenged externally, it would collapse under its own contradictions — the PakRaj, denied genuine and fair democratic rule, resulted in Pakistan's breakup in less than a few decades. Alas! There is never a precise time to undo past wrongs; one must willfully choose to correct the course — it is always a matter of will.