President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said that terrorism and extremism did not belong to any single religion, and added that all religions across the world gave the message of peace and brotherhood.
Addressing the participants of the National Interfaith Peace Conference in Lahore, the president said that during the recent Pak-India tension along the Line of Control, the entire political leadership, people and media of the country endeavoured for peace.
He said Pakistan had been rendering valuable and unprecedented sacrifices for the establishment of peace at the cost of 70,000 lives.
He said the people of Indian-held Kashmir were struggling for their right to self-determination, and would continue to render sacrifices until the achievement of their fundamental rights.
Dr Alvi said all the minorities were enjoying equal rights in Pakistan as per the constitution. He said the PTI government was fully committed to promoting inter-faith harmony and communal brotherhood in the country.
He suggested the Indian leadership to learn the value of peace from Pakistan, besides respecting and protecting minorities living within its territorial boundaries.
He said religion was never responsible for terrorism or unrest anywhere, as every religion proclaims peace and love. “What I learnt from the study of different religious schools of thought is that humans have always fought for their ego and used the name of any religion as a tool,” he added. He regretted that hatred was found in human psyche.
Quoting the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he said Islam orders forgiving others and forbids backbiting, which forms the basis of hatred. “Nowadays, the social media has become a big source of backbiting and rumouring,” he added.
He said that when anything was shared without context, it helped promote hatred in society. He said millions of people were killed in World War I, and the human generation learnt the value of peace only after they fought another world war, in which millions of people were killed again.
“These wars were not fought in the name of religion, but for personal egos,” he added. He said a true leadership was needed to promote peace and harmony in society.
“The prime minister of New Zealand is an example of true leadership,” he added. He said that he had offered Pakistan’s cooperation for peace in Sri Lanka in his phone call to Sri Lankan president for condolence. “I told him that we (Pakistanis) faced pain of terrorism more than any other country,” he added. The president said that hatred would never be tolerated in Pakistan, as followers of all religions enjoyed equal rights in the country. “No doubt, Pakistani government is responsible for maintaining harmony, but at the same time, it is also the responsibility of leaders of all religious and political schools of thought to take measures for ensuring peace,” he added. He said it was a golden period for Pakistan to promote peace, as today’s generation knew the price of peace very well.
Earlier, MNA Shaneelah Rooth in her address stressed the need for promotion of interfaith harmony and peace amongst various communities so as to make Pakistan an epicenter of peace and tranquility. She paid rich tribute to the soldiers of the armed forces for rendering sacrifices for the protection of the people of different faiths and restoration of peace. Later, the president lit the ‘candle of peace’ in the conference.
MNA Shanila Raut, Hindu religious leader Haroon Dayal, Bishop of Peshawar Humphrey Sarfaraz Peter, Sikh leader Bishon Singh, Bahai leader Dr Romani Mughredi, Bishop of Lahore Sebestian Francis Shaw and Muslim scholar Abdul Khabir Azad also spoke on the occasion.
