MULTAN, September 8th: Representatives from Christian, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim communities hav stressed the need to create an environment of tolerance for promoting peace and harmony in the society.They said that no religion allows terrorism,intolerance, hatred and inhuman behaviour. Fr.Riaz Gospel ,Mehandar Pal Singh,(Shukantla Devi could not attend the event due to some unavoidable reason) alongwith Khawaja Muhammad Usman and President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi, secretary General Khurram Javed Butt addressed a press conference here at MCCI's committee room on Friday.They said that Pakistan has rendered matchless sacrifices for peace and elimination of terrorism from the region.Acceptability to the rights of others is the key to promote peace and harmony in any society and there is no greater need at the moment but to show tolerance and understand other people’s rights to exercise their beliefs and religious rites in a peaceful and non-violent manner to bring about peaceful coexistence and promote harmony amongst all segments of the society in our country, they said. Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi said that it is the growing menace of intolerance in the society, which is leading to violence in the society because people and groups have stopped accepting other people’s rights and have started believing that they can enforce their ideas and thoughts on others by resorting to violence.He also stressed the need to shun the sectarian difference among the Muslim Majority. He said that Pakistan was passing through a crucial era and we have to forge unity on the basis of human being.“Our country is embroiled in a chaotic situation wherein we have been experiencing extreme forms of violence, conflicts, terrorism and even war-like situation and all this is only because of this growing sense of extreme intolerance. These elements have become a major threat as it is eating away in the bowls of our social fabric and sense of intolerance is running high,” We all are human being, then we are Pakistanis .We all are recognised as Pakistanis at global level.“The present wave of extremism, be it religious, ethnic, political, provincial or personal has grown out of simple sense of intolerance because we have stopped realising that everybody has a right to exercise one’s beliefs and rites while ensuring that those does not infringe upon other people’s domain,” Roomi said. He stressed the need to work together for shunning the differences by allowing and respecting other people’s rights to exercise their beliefs and join hands for a peaceful society where every segment of society is coexisting and hatred and intolerance is eliminated. Former President of MCCI Khawaja Muhammad Usman said “The national and international civil society organisations have been striving hard to promote inter-faith harmony, tolerance and initiating peace building measures in the country. The PIL also is part of this strenuous but most essential campaign,” . “We understand that there are always certain reasons behind intolerance, which could either be the fear or ignorance. And to deal with this menace is access to education, interaction at every level between all segments of the society, a meaningful and peaceful dialogue to understand each others’ point of view and respect each others’ beliefs,” he said. Khawaja Usman said “It is also a time of reflection and debate on the negative effects of intolerance in the society during to which we are confronted with serious problems of violence in the society. We need to join hands to work against injustice, oppression and discrimination all of which have a serious negative impact on the society.“Today we take the ‘Tolerance Pledge’ and condemn all means of intolerance and violence and vow to work together for greater peace, love and harmony in the society sprouting out of the simple sense of tolerance towards others,”He added. Mahendar Pal Singh stressed the need for the rehabiliation of Prahladpuri Temple which is a symbol of hindu festival "Holi" because god Vishnu saved his follower Prahlada from a pyre while Prahlada's evil aunt Holika burned.He also demanded for repossessing of minority's worship places. Fr.Riaz stressed the need for changing ourselves and adopting the tolerance, love, brotherhood and self accountability.The wave of globalization has been connecting all the countries of the world into a community to an unprecedented extent, which implies that a mankind society in its true sense is taking shape. In the meantime, the significance of peace and harmony is being recognized by more and more far-sighted people for Peace and harmony which is a basic prerequisite. Mirza Ali Ahmed,Haji Muhammad Ashraf Qureshi and took part.
