Workshop discusses importance of interfaith harmony

MINGORA: Speakers at a workshop here on Saturday discussed the importance of harmony among followers of different faiths in the country.

They were speaking at a workshop on interfaith harmony and diversity. Mostly students attended the event.

Columnist, Muhammad Amir Rana said the young people in Pakistan needed a drastic rethinking of how they constructed their primary identities in their minds.

He noted that many young people showed the tendency to define their primary identities on religious or even sectarian terms.

During the workshop, students were also asked to read these documents out to other participants.

This was followed by discussions on the UDHR in the global as well as national contexts.

Journalist, Sabookh Syed, showed a documentary to the workshop participants about the mob violence against a Hindu shrine in Karak in recent past.

Filmed by Syed in the aftermath of the incident, the documentary shed light on the relatively unknown aspects of the incident.

In addition, a session was dedicated to highlight the lives and services of prominent women in Pakistan as well as globally.

Speaker Qurat-ul-Ain said Pakistan had about 100 million women but unfortunately the women’s contribution to public life was limited in Pakistan.

She urged young women to pursue their dreams and overcome social obstacles that come along the way.

The Parliament represents the will of the people, and is superior to other two state pillars i.e. judiciary and executive. And supremacy of the people is the first identifying mark of any civilized nation.

These views were expressed by noted investigative journalist and author, Azaz Syed, during a workshop with university students on Saturday Feb 20 in Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Syed said democracy is the yardstick with which to measure if a contemporary nation is civilized or otherwise, adding that in Pakistan democracy had never been allowed to flourish. Intermittent dictatorships have derailed democracy and weakened public institutions throughout Pakistan’s eventful history, he said.

In a session on Pakistan’s cultural diversity, Zubair Torwali said that South Asian culture is rooted in ancient civilizations like Mehrgarh and Gandhara.

He said the youth are often encouraged to exercise tolerance towards other religions and cultures, but what is truly needed is deeper understanding of other faiths and cultures.

The term ‘tolerance’ is largely a post-9/11 construct and it has been widely used in literatures published after the 9/11. He urged the youth to understand and accept diversity instead of tolerating it, adding that culture was nothing but a product of human’s interaction with nature over time.

Similarly, Dr Fazal-ur-Rehman, director of China Study Centre at the University of Sargodha, said social and cultural conflicts are inevitable but not inherently violent.

Dr Fazal noted that there is a serious need for a culture of dialogue, reasoning, and logic in Pakistan in order to promote social and religious harmony.

A session of the workshop was dedicated to thinking processes amongst the youth. Dileep Doshi, a minority’s rights activist, urged the workshop participants to identify positive things in their lives.

In the end, Dr Qibla Ayaz, chairperson Council of Islamic Ideology, had an interactive session with the university students. Dr Ayaz said acceptance for diversity was key to social cohesion and economic progress in Pakistan.

He discussed interfaith harmony and highlighted reasons behind incidents of mistreatment of citizens on the basis of faith. The Pakistanis need to focus their attention and energies more on addressing their own internal social and political issues instead of worrying about the global issues.