Multan – Speakers at a workshop said peace was the outcome of tolerance and social harmony, which could only be brought in the society by holding dialogue among people from diverse backgrounds, including different faiths, ethnicities and languages.
They said ensuring rule of law, giving people their due rights and making them a stakeholder in the power structure were other key factors that could bring harmony and peace in the society.
Experts expressed these views at a two-day national workshop on ‘Building Bridges: Fostering Tolerance and Inclusivity among Youth’, held at the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) in Multan.
Students from different faculties of the university and local seminaries participated in the event organized by the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).
Professor Abdul Quddus Suhaib, director of the Islamic Research Centre at the BZU, said tolerance ensured equal rights to all people in a society to lead their lives according to their own faiths and religions. “Tolerance means giving equal independence and respect to every sect and faith,” he said, adding that Islam provides equal rights in this context.
He further said tolerance had three stages in Islam including giving complete independence to all citizens to live according to their own faiths, to provide liberty to them to celebrate their religious festivals, and allowing them to do what is lawful or permitted (halal) in their own religions.
“Overall, five elements including educating the people and giving them their complete rights, holding dialogue, making people part of the power and ensuring the rule of law can bring social harmony and peace in society,” said Suhaib.
Professor Zia ur Rehman, chairman of the Department of Qur’ānic Studies at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, participating in a panel discussion talked about ‘Paigham-i-Pakistan’ – an Islamic decree that serves as a national narrative to counter extremism and terrorism in Pakistan. “The use of violence against the state, increasing sectarianism, trend of declaring others as infidels and wrong interpretation of jihad were among key factors that became the reason for introducing this document,” he said. He also held social media responsible for growing extremism and intolerance in the country for the last over a decade.
Professor Altaf Hussain Langrial, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at the BZU, said efforts like Paigham-i-Pakistan to counter extremism couldn’t succeed unless people, especially suppressed and vulnerable segments of the society, were given an opportunity for dialogue. He noted that student unions could also give youth an opportunity to express their sentiments and discourage the growing trend of extremism among them.
Columnist and blogger Farnood Alam underlined that ‘uniformity’ was a negation of ‘diversity’ and a negative term, under which any community or ethnicity had to surrender its ‘separate identity’ before a ‘specific identity’ to serve interests of a certain segment of society. “It is the banner of ‘unity’ under which people with different faiths, ethnicities and languages can sit together under one roof on the basis of some common grounds,” he said, noting this would protect their separate identities as well. The basic needs of life and fundamental rights can be among these common grounds, he added.
Political activist and lawyer Dileep Doshi in his session said culture encompassed shared values, beliefs, customs and languages of people living in a society. “The trend of living in the society with an inclusive approach will ultimately end all our conflicts,” he said, urging the need to make the curriculum inclusive for all communities and faiths living in Pakistan.
PIPS President Muhammad Amir Rana said inclusivity involved providing equal opportunities in education and employment as well as ensuring civil liberties for all citizens. “Inclusivity is a process to bring an inner change at an individual level and it is an antibiotic of anger,” he added.
Rana said every era had its own worldview and all conflicts developed in the world due to differences among different worldviews. He emphasized the youth to broaden their worldview to better understand the world around them and make informed decisions, which would facilitate their personal growth and progress.