Nationalism, democratic values key to tolerant Pakistan: Gilani

Islamabad

The inculcation of nationalism and democratic values in the youth would help harness the larger benefits of a peaceful Pakistan, said former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani while inaugurating the youth peace conference ‘Together for Tolerance’ here on Wednesday.

The conference was well represented by the youth representatives from 28 cities to mark the World Peace Day.

Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani asked the leadership of different sectors and segments of society to vigorously take the youth’s on board for their active role in the respective fields. “Dynamic youth is our future that is 65 per cent of the total population, and we cannot afford to lose their potential and active participation in the development process,” he noted.

Gilani said who else know the importance of peace more than us who have been suffering from terrorism for the last two decades. Only youth with their positive attitude and productive initiatives can dispel the image that Pakistani Muslim youth is engaged in negative agenda against anyone.

The Executive Director Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) Munir Ahmed while talking to this scribe said the more responsibility of promoting peace and tolerance among the youth is on the shoulders of the politicians and the religious leaders. Good leadership makes the youth follow their footsteps. The hostile attitude of the political and religious leadership is damaging the entire fabric of the society. The government should take steps from district to provincial and national level to engage youth in different productive initiatives including arts, culture, environmental improvement, gender development and health and ecotourism, he said.

Zain Baloch, the Team Leader of the conference said' Together for Tolerance' is Pakistan’s indigenous youth movement that set out on a mission to build muscles of tolerance across the country. As part of this mission, we have travelled to different parts of the county to find the energetic and potential representative to take the message to their peer groups.

Mustafa Shahbaz, the Lead Trainer, said that 'Together for Tolerance' would be taken to the global level in phase-wise process to showcase the potential of Pakistani youth and dispel the current image of the country. We need to have inter-sectoral, inter-provincial and interfaith harmony to promote peace and tolerance at every tier not only in the country, but in the region and internationally too.