Seminary students, especially women, have a greater role in influencing public opinion and role to spread peace and tolerance in their respective communities and at national level. Up to eight female seminary students and their teachers from Muzaffargarh and Multan discussed their roles in online workshops from Nov 2 to 13. Also, civil society activists, lawyers, and journalists attended sessions.
“This feels good to interact with trainers and other workshop participants online,” said Saira, a participant from Muzaffargarh. The programme discussed the importance of seminary leaders in peacemaking, peace building, understanding conflicts, conflict resolution, maintaining inter-sect and interfaith harmony, cybercrimes, and the responsible use of social media. The workshops were supported by the US Mission in Pakistan in partnership with the Pakistan-US Alumni Network.
“Religion is still an important factor in people’s lives as despite economic and scientific advancements, religions have a greater role in our social, economic and political spheres,” said the lead trainer and organizer of the workshops.
Another trainer, Sana Rasool, said that seminary women can play their role in conflict resolution. “To achieve that, you people need to understand what a conflict in fact is. Once you understand the nature of conflicts and their positive and negative sides, it becomes easier for you to handle them,” she said.
Trainers Ali Abbas, Faheemul Hassan, Sarwat Bukhari, Sadia Bari, Rehan Hyder and others discussed security and safety of seminary students while taking up peace building missions, digital and physical threats and how to cope with them. Issues related to cyber laws and threats attracted participants’ attention given the fact a number of blasphemy cases were registered in recent months. Participants were stressed to use social media responsibly and mostly for peace keeping and peace building. The workshop urged the world leaders to adopt a framework on respect for religions, and that more dialogues be held between religious leaders for peace. Though the workshops were often disrupted because of the connectivity issues, participants remained engaged in the activities.
