Respect for other religions would create culture of peace : Deputy Ambassador of Netherland

Lahore : Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu has said that to create culture of peace and coexistence we need to recognize respect for other religions and reconcile all the conflicts dismantling the culture of war living with justice and compassion building cultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity. Social media is the most effective communication tool preferred by young generation to foster positive change in society, engaging Pakistani Interfaith Communities for promoting sustainable peace and security in the country.

He stated this while addressing launching ceremony of EPIC “Engaging Pakistani Interfaith Communities”, a pilot project of FACES Pakistan and Kingdom of Netherlands, here today.

Deputy Ambassador of Netherland’s Embassy in Pakistan Renate Pors, Shehzad Munshi MPA, Principal College Dr. Rukhsana David, President FACES Pakistan Javed William, Secretary General Elaine Alam, religious scholars Allama Abdul Wahab Ropari, Mushtaq Hussain Jafri, Pir Muhammad Zubair Abid, Shakeel-ur-Rehman Nasir, Kalyan Singh from GC University, Prof. Dr. Herman Roborgh from Minhaj University, Prof. Dilshad Rehmat from Islamia University Bahawalpur, Dr. Syed Mubasher Ali from LUMS along with representatives from different religious faiths, International Human Rights activists Rafia Alam and Aron Kumar were present on this occasion.

The Minister Khalil Tahir Sandhu said that social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube have brought positive societal changed in the world empowering people to unite, fighting corruption and ills of society including extremism and terrorism.

Mr. Sandhu said in present scenario the need of combine efforts and struggle for peace and security without any discrimination of cast and creed has increased. Our youth is a powerful force for change and their activism in on rise, communicating ideas aimed at catalyzing positivity in society, he added.

Deputy Ambassador of Netherlands Renate Pors said that government of Netherlands has been supporting the initiatives of Punjab government as well as local NGOs to create awareness among people of different religions regarding human rights cultivating inner peace. She said that Netherlands is very keen to expand this initiative further with FACES Pakistan and will facilitate them to expand its coop to other parts of the province.

President FACES Pakistan Javed William said that EPIC has been designed to promote religious harmony, tolerance and peace through social media engagements along with Street theatres to intervene with laymen of different stressed upon the need to observe and implement on basic human rights engaging all the stakeholders from different sections of society for promotion and exchange of ideas and experiences between Pakistani youth and communities.