Businessmen to contribute to peace-making, safety

LAHORE: Interfaith harmony and tolerance can play a key role in social cohesion and role of every segment of the society is imperative in this regard including the business community. Businesses cannot prosper in the absence of peace and tolerance and the case of Karachi is quite pertinent here which suffered heavily for the lack of these.

These views were expressed by the Punjab Minister for Human Rights, Minorities Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Ejaz Alam Augustine during a Consultative Workshop on ‘Interfaith Harmony’ held here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry held in collaboration with Youth Development Foundation (YDF)- an organisation working for the promotion of peace in the society. He stressed upon the importance of social and religious harmony. He spoke about the initiatives the government had taken to ensure a just and tolerant society.

Senior Vice President LCCI Ali Hussam Asghar appreciated Ejaz Alam Augustine for sparing time to preside over this important session. He said the business community truly believes in promoting social tolerance that holds key importance in maintaining peaceful co-existence among various groups of society which are classified in terms of religion and social class etc. He said our own religion Islam commands the Muslims that there should not be any discrimination based on clan, creed, race or religion. The word ‘Islam’ itself refers to peace. Muslims are strictly instructed to treat all people with kindness through dialogue and show full respect to freedom of faith.

Senior Vice President LCCI said establishing peaceful coexistence has now become a challenge. It is either because of our lesser understanding about teachings of Islam or paying more attention towards such opinions spread by various extremist groups who have their own vested interests in sustaining differences among the multiple sections of society. Executive Director, Youth Development Foundation (YDF) Shahid Rehmat said on the occasion that ‘We have to remain vigilant and at the same time act wisely to differentiate which ideology is better to be followed’, he further added that “We should vow to play our specific part to promote the soft image of Pakistan. Without any doubt, creating widespread interfaith harmony can be one of the factors to achieve this objective.”