President Asif Ali Zardari has stressed the need for increasing jobs quota for them in different government departments as he signed the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 on Tuesday.

Addressing a ceremony at the Aiwan-i-Sadr, the president said that he would write to the federal government to enhance the jobs quota in different departments including police, FIA etc, for the minorities.

“I will definitely write to the government and ask them for this,” he said and added that there should be a quota for the minorities in every department.

The president said that all the citizens of the country had equal rights and urged the minorities to continue playing their role in the progress and prosperity of the country as this soil and land belonged to them as much as to him.

He also advised them not to be disheartened at certain issues about politics as in every society, there might be some problems.

President Zardari mentioned that PPP had made sacrifices for the country as their leaders and workers laid down lives for the people.

Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Abraham Daniel said that raising the age of marriage for men and women had been a long-standing demand of the Christian community.

He expressed his gratitude to the President for signing the Act into law during a special ceremony and also thanked him for his role in his previous tenure in reserving a 5% quota for minorities in government jobs, besides allocating special seats for minorities in the Senate as well as declaring August 11 as Minorities’ Day in Pakistan.

Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024, during a special ceremony.

“The Act provides for raising the marriageable age for Christian men and women to eighteen years. The President accorded assent to the Act under Article 75 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Act amends Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. Prior to the amendments, the age of Christian men and women intending to be married was required to exceed sixteen and thirteen years respectively,” said the President Secretariat Press Wing in a press release.