Drive against Covid-19 spread misconceptions

LAHORE:Punjab Ministry of Human Rights and Minority Affairs (MoHRMA) has launched a dedicated communication campaign containing messages of top community leaders, religious leaders and celebrities from various walks of life and faiths on peace, harmony and tolerance.

The campaign has been launched to counter the practice in which different religious groups returning from Iran and members of Tablighi Jamaat are being held responsible for spreading Covid-19 in Pakistan. The ministry is running the campaign in collaboration with the Youth Development Foundation (YDF) - an organisation which has executed several projects on peace and interfaith harmony.

While launching the campaign, the MoHRMA Minister Ijaz Augustine said the country cannot afford such divisions in these testing times. He said these positive messages coming from religious leaders and other notables would have the desired effect and help in removing the misconceptions regarding Covid-19 spread. The messages have been recorded and being broadcasted as Public Services Messages (PSMs). Banners, billboards and streamers have been placed all over City. The campaign also extended to Okara, Multan, DG Khan and Bahawalpur.

The faith leaders whose messages have been collected included Raghib Naeemi, Allama Muhammad Akbar Hussain, Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad, Allama Tahir Ashrafi, Bishop Sebastian Francis Shaw and others.