No religion says we should hate or fight, but all religions have one strong message and that is love and respect for others – Pandit Vithal Mahraj
Diversity tour are the need of the hour and focusing on youth is the perfect strategy to curb the menace of extremism and intolerance.
Karachi
A group of youth visited different places of worship including an Imam Bargah, a Cathedral and a Temple in Karachi on Sunday to promote the spirit of tolerance, peace and harmony in the society.
The tour of the worship places was jointly organized by Collective Pakistan and Aman Zindabad, the non-government organizations.
The tour aimed at building the narrative of tolerance, harmony and acceptance. The main emphasis of diversity tour was to provide youth with an insight into different worship places and peace-building techniques so that they could engage in mutual respect, interfaith harmony, acceptance, and tolerance.
While welcoming the youth, Collective Pakistan and Aman Zindabad team at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Kashif Anthony said that every positive gesture depends upon our dialogue with self and with each other. “Dialogue based on respect and reconciliation is the most effective way for transformation and building peace. Peace is all about understanding each other’s perceptions,” he added.
After visiting the Cathedral, caravan moved to a Temple in Solider Bazar. The management of temple and host welcomed participants by showering flower petals.
Pandit Vithal Mahraj said, “I strongly believe that all faiths show the path of love, humanity, and integration. Every person has the right to follow his or her faith but, at the same time, one must learn to regard other religions.”
“No religion says we should hate or fight, but all religions have one strong message and that is love and respect for others,” he added.
“When a Pandit can earn huge respect from an Imam, when a caretaker of temple get love and respect at Imam Bargah, Madrasa or Mosque it is the gesture that should be premiered and highlighted on every single outlet,” he said and urged ‘Those who seek for such gesture should come forward.’
Allama Abdul Khalid Fareedi expressed that ‘we welcome you all for visiting this place with diverse group of people; your efforts are incredible for peace building, and we appreciate your initiative of capacity building training.’
‘We want peace and friendly relations with one another based on mutual respect, by visiting the holy places of one another and sharing briefing can minimize misconception and misinformation.’ Fareedi added.
On the conclusion, Collective Pakistan’s Sameer Ali Khan and Aman Zindabad’ Sanjay Mathrani emphasized that religious, community and social factors can serve as channels for implementing and sharing such knowledge among the faithful for effective peace-building in communities.
They said Karachi needs such people who know how to respect every individual by knowing the difference and similarities.
Haseeb Iqbal, Raj Khatri, Tofique Wassan, Shahroz, Zehra Shellwani, Komal Sharda and Syed Abqurah Shaukat also shared their views and appreciated the efforts and said that events like the diversity tour were the need of the hour and focusing on youth was the perfect strategy to curb the menace of extremism and intolerance. (PR)
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