Fostering unity: People from diverse faiths celebrate Diwali

PESHAWAR: The Diwali celebration in Peshawar promoted unity and harmony among people of diverse faiths by allowing them to mingle and express joy and solidarity with the Hindu community over the observance of their religion’s biggest festival.

Blue Veins, a non-governmental organization, organized the event in collaboration with the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and the Directorate General of Law and Human Rights Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

People from different faiths attended the celebrations and enjoyed the spreading of colours, candle lighting, lamps lit and distribution of sweets. “The best way to promote interfaith harmony in society is celebrating religious festivals by people of different faiths,” said Subhash Chander, a minority rights activist, who was jubilant over the participation of people from other faiths in Diwali.

Subhash recalled that his late father, Naveen Chander Rana, used to arrange new attire for him and his siblings on every Eidul Fitr, the religious festival of Muslims.“This was the true spirit of unity and mutual co-existence which our elders practiced and that needs to continue by us and our coming generations,” stressed the activist whose grandfather, Master Hukam Chand, was a dedicated teacher and respected by the people of Peshawar city.

He thanked Blue Veins and other partners for taking such an initiative which had not only won the hearts of the Hindu community but would promote sentiments of inter-faith harmony and mutual cohesion.

Subhash also welcomed Diwali celebration messages from different people and organizations on social media, reflecting the sensitivity of people about respect and honour for religious festivals of minorities.

Earlier, a representative of the Hindu community apprised participants about the background of the Diwali festival. He said the festival is known as the festival of lights to symbolize the triumph of light over darkness or good over evil.Sahibzada Haider from Auqaf, Hajj, Religious and Minority Affairs Department appreciated the efforts of organizers of the event in bringing people of different faiths on one platform.

Director General Directorate of Law and Human Rights KP, Ghulam Ali said the government of Pakistan had issued directives for celebrations of religious festivals of all communities for expression of solidarity with them.

He asked minority community members to approach the Directorate General of Law and Human Rights to seek justice. Ghulam Ali said holding such events was the need of the hour to bridge the gap among people of different faiths.

Provincial Coordinator NCHR Muhammad Rizwan highlighted efforts made by the government for the promotion of unity and inter-faith harmony in the country. Blue Veins Programme Manager Qamar Naseem said we were living in a multi-faith society and to make our country progressive, we have to accept diversity by respecting the religious festivals of other communities.

He said the purpose of arranging a joint celebration of Diwali was to foster stronger social bonds by providing a platform for people from diverse communities to come together.Later, people gathered over beautiful arrangements of different colours, lit lamps and distributed candies as part of the ceremony.