SCFP celebrated the Independence Day

MITHI: The Scheduled Castes Federation of Pakistan (SCFP) and Meghwar Social Council (MSC) jointly celebrated the Independence Day on August 14 at the headquarters of desert district of Tharparker on Saturday and asked the President General Pervez Musharraf to order immediate ban on every sorts of untouchability and caste discrimination all over the country especially Tharparker district and its neighbouring areas. "The untouchability and caste discrimination are alien to Pakistani ideology and are against the spirit of human equality which the Quaid-e-Azam had professed," said S Surendar Valasai while delivering his keynote speech at the Independence Day function held at Balani House, Mithi. The function was addressed among others by Kanjimal Meghwar, Naib Taluka Nazim Mithi, Arjundas Advocate Secretary General SCFP, Hasanand Meghwar, Kirshanlal, Leemoonmal and others of MSC. The speakers paid glowing tributes to the founder of the nation and the martyrs of freedom movement and stated that the Scheduled Castes in Pakistan are living in much better conditions in Pakistan then those living in India. "However, some forms of untouchability and caste discrimination and deprivation of political representation are still in vogue in the country which all the patriotic people of Pakistan have to remove to attain the dream society of the great Quaid of the sub-continent." A seminar on "Quaid-e-Azam & Scheduled Castes" was also held on the occasion where speakers read out their papers highlighting the position of Scheduled Castes in the philosophy of the founder of Pakistan. The Independence Day cake was also cut on the occasion. The SCFP Senior Vice President Bherulal Balani was in Islamabad and met Shaukat Aziz to extend SCFP's support to his candidature for bye-elections in NA-229. The SCFP and MSC leaders said that Scheduled Castes form 40 per cent of the total votebank in NA-229 which will be cast en masse for the candidate of President Musharraf because the latter spoke of atrocities against Scheduled Castes in India, and paved way for recruitment of Scheduled Castes in law enforcing agencies. The SCFP and MSC hoped that President Musharraf will do more for the Scheduled Castes by ensuring that they should get their own representatives instead of caste Hindus as Quaid-e-Azam had refused to accept caste Hindu representatives for the Scheduled Castes and appointed a Scheduled Caste person as first Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the first Pakistani Cabinet.