First minority Youth Exposure Programme kicks off in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Over 300 students from across the country showed up at the three-day conference organised by Department of Auqaf, Haj, Religious and Minority Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday.

The purpose of the conference is to promote interfaith harmony and initiate dialogue on diversity and to bring together people from different faiths under one roof. Secretary Auqaf, Hajj, Religious and Minority Affairs Hassan Mehmood Yousafzai welcomed the participants.

Advocate Ali Gohar briefed the students about minority rights in the Constitution and the role of majority and state. Dr Qibla Ayaz, Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology, spoke about safeguarding minority rights under the constitution and the role of council. He said that Muslims were killed in New Zealand and Christians were killed in Sri Lanka to create misunderstanding among the followers of various religions but we have to be vigilant and act with tolerance. These bad elements are using the name of religion but they have no religion.

Sohini Jana, Peace Activist, International Fellow of KAICIID for South & South East Asia Region briefed the youth through an Online Session on "Walking Together: The Importance of Interfaith Dialogue as a Path to Understanding." “Interfaith harmony is all about the notion of live and let live and that is the need of time,” she said. A Hindu girl from Quetta, Rajeshwari said that she witnessed a historic event where she and her cousin had a chance to connect with people from different faiths.