Socioeconomic development linked to interfaith harmony

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Speakers at a workshop here on Sunday stressed the need for promoting interfaith harmony for the socioeconomic development of society.

The two-day workshop was organized by Pakistan Institution of Peace Studies (PIPS) at a hotel here. A large number of students attended the workshop. The first day session of the workshop was moderated by the resource persons Muhammad Aamir Rana and Mujtaba Rathor.

The speakers underlined the need for creating awareness about the importance of the interfaith harmony among the students and other segments of the society. The workshop participants also discussed cultural diversity and its role in the promotion of interfaith harmony. The speakers maintained that the diversity and cultures in the society were the virtual products of over the time interaction among human beings.

The resource person Yasir Pirzada urged youth to develop critical thinking to understand the vitality of social and cultural diversity to establish their primary identities. The workshop also highlighted the injustice being done to the minorities in the country. A documentary was also shown to visualize the recent mob attack on a Hindu shrine in Karak.

The objective of the documentary filmed by Sabukh Syed was to ascertain the positive and negative aspects of investigative journalism.

The second day session held the modules of “freedom of speech and expression”. The resource persons Muhammad Aslam Awan and Ahmad Ali maintained that freedom of expression was the constitutional right of every citizen.