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Sunday, July 25, 2010
Mobarik A. Virk
Islamabad
Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti has said that his ministry is preparing to initiate a move very soon to put a draft legislation before the Parliament against hate preaching and printing, publishing and distribution of hate material, which may be found to be inciting discrimination and violence in the society.
It has been frequently observed that these particular issues have led to create some serious social problems leading to extreme forms of violence in the society in which people, who have lived together for generations like brethren and without any problem stand up as enemies against each other, he said while talking to The News.
He said that his ministry is organising a National Interfaith Peace Conference on Sunday (July 25, 2010) at a local hotel in which leading Muslim ulemas, scholars of all sects and religions will participate and deliberate on the ways and means to create interfaith harmony and religious tolerance in the society.
We have launched this interfaith campaign to bridge the gap and to promote dialogue, cooperation, unity, understanding and tolerance among people belonging to different faiths and religions, Bhatti said.
He said that his ministry has arranged a series of consultative meetings and seminars on this subject and are planning to organise interfaith regional conferences in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan in the first phase.
Later, similar conferences and workshops aimed at creating interfaith harmony and uprooting religious and sectarian violence from the society will be organized in every district of Pakistan, involving ulemas from all sects and religious scholars from all faiths and will be invited to sit together, deliberate on the issues confronting the society and come up with recommendations for solving this sensitive issue, he said.
He also said that the Interfaith Harmony Committees are being established at district level all over the country. I hope these committees will play a vital role to counter the trends of extremism and intolerance in their respective areas and work for promoting national unity and inter-religions harmony. The establishment of these committees at district level will certainly help prevent sectarian and religious extremism at grassroots level in the society that would create conducive environments and people will be living in peaceful coexistence while respecting each others faith, Shahbaz Bhatti said.
He said that his ministry is also proposing to the Education Ministry as well as the managements of Madrassas as well as the government and non-governmental education institutions to include some sort of subject on interfaith harmony and religious tolerance to convey the message in the minds of children at a young and highly impressionable age.
He pointed out that terrorism, no matter in what form, is badly damaging the social fabric of society and reflecting adversely on the economic development tourism and eventually prosperity of the whole country.
We know that such elements are very few, who believe in the philosophy of terrorism and violence. The government cannot allow such elements to use religion, as a toll for inflicting violence on their own countrymen. Every religion preaches for peace, harmony and brotherhood. I believe that if we succeed in promoting the message of interfaith harmony and religious tolerance, we can effectively counter this menace of terrorism, sectarianism and extremism in the society, he added.
Law being drafted against hate preaching
Mobarik A. Virk
Islamabad
Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti has said that his ministry is preparing to initiate a move very soon to put a draft legislation before the Parliament against hate preaching and printing, publishing and distribution of hate material, which may be found to be inciting discrimination and violence in the society.
It has been frequently observed that these particular issues have led to create some serious social problems leading to extreme forms of violence in the society in which people, who have lived together for generations like brethren and without any problem stand up as enemies against each other, he said while talking to The News.
He said that his ministry is organising a National Interfaith Peace Conference on Sunday (July 25, 2010) at a local hotel in which leading Muslim ulemas, scholars of all sects and religions will participate and deliberate on the ways and means to create interfaith harmony and religious tolerance in the society.
We have launched this interfaith campaign to bridge the gap and to promote dialogue, cooperation, unity, understanding and tolerance among people belonging to different faiths and religions, Bhatti said.
He said that his ministry has arranged a series of consultative meetings and seminars on this subject and are planning to organise interfaith regional conferences in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan in the first phase.
Later, similar conferences and workshops aimed at creating interfaith harmony and uprooting religious and sectarian violence from the society will be organized in every district of Pakistan, involving ulemas from all sects and religious scholars from all faiths and will be invited to sit together, deliberate on the issues confronting the society and come up with recommendations for solving this sensitive issue, he said.
He also said that the Interfaith Harmony Committees are being established at district level all over the country. I hope these committees will play a vital role to counter the trends of extremism and intolerance in their respective areas and work for promoting national unity and inter-religions harmony. The establishment of these committees at district level will certainly help prevent sectarian and religious extremism at grassroots level in the society that would create conducive environments and people will be living in peaceful coexistence while respecting each others faith, Shahbaz Bhatti said.
He said that his ministry is also proposing to the Education Ministry as well as the managements of Madrassas as well as the government and non-governmental education institutions to include some sort of subject on interfaith harmony and religious tolerance to convey the message in the minds of children at a young and highly impressionable age.
He pointed out that terrorism, no matter in what form, is badly damaging the social fabric of society and reflecting adversely on the economic development tourism and eventually prosperity of the whole country.
We know that such elements are very few, who believe in the philosophy of terrorism and violence. The government cannot allow such elements to use religion, as a toll for inflicting violence on their own countrymen. Every religion preaches for peace, harmony and brotherhood. I believe that if we succeed in promoting the message of interfaith harmony and religious tolerance, we can effectively counter this menace of terrorism, sectarianism and extremism in the society, he added.
Law being drafted against hate preaching
