An Iftar dinner was arranged here on Friday by the Christian community to promote interfaith harmony, peaceful coexistence, tolerance, equality and respect for the humanity in order to counter extremism and promote peace and stability in the society.
The ceremony arranged by Diocese of Islamabad Archbishop Dr Joseph Arshad at Our Lady of Lourdes Minor Seminary in Rawalpindi under the Sayaban-e-Pakistan initiative of the government of Pakistan was attended by Department of Comparative Studies of World Religions at Islamic International University Islamabad Dean Dr Aftab Ahmed, Department of Islamic Studies at Fatima Jinnah Women University Dean Dr Ayesha Rafiq, International Research Council for Religious Affairs Executive Director Tamheed Jan, Dr Malik Kashif and other Muslim scholars and religious leaders. From the Christian community, Diocesan Youth Commission Director Reverend Father Anthony Elias, Executive Secretary Caritas Pakistan Kamran Sattar, Christopher Sharaf, Catholic priests and Catholic sisters attended the event.
In their views on the occasion, the participants said such events are the best way to bring people from different religions together as well as bridge the gap between different religious communities. They termed the event a unique occasion that will go a long way in bringing about interfaith harmony in the country. They also stressed the need for concerted moves to foster tolerance and solidarity among all religions in Pakistan, adding that it was the time that different religions display greater tolerance towards one another in order to ensure peace in the country.
They were of the view that only a tolerant society based on the principles of interfaith harmony can ensure social inclusion by providing all citizens equal opportunities to grow irrespective of their religion or faith, adding that interfaith harmony is the way forward towards peace and prosperity in the society in line with the spirit of Paigham-e-Pakistan and Sayaban-e-Pakistan initiatives of the government of Pakistan.
They said lack of collective common sense, religious misconceptions, unfair and unjust election procedure for minorities, misinterpretation of jihad, partial and prejudiced religious discourse, insecurity of the holy sites of minorities, unjust distribution of socio-economic resources, absence of non-Muslim literature in national educational curriculum and misuse of blasphemy laws are some of the challenges to interfaith harmony in Pakistan.
The participants also highlighted the role media, universities, religious institutions, government, religious scholars, civil society and legislature can play in addressing the challenges facing interfaith harmony in the country. Underlining that promoting interfaith harmony is indeed a service to the humanity, they called for launching concerted efforts to heal the fractured relations between different religions in Pakistan.