Rooting for Interfaith Harmony
By Asghar Ali Mubarak

Islamabad—The United Nations Millennium Declaration highlights the importance of shared values and principles such as freedom, equality, solidarity and tolerance, as essential to international relations in the twenty first century. In Pakistan , there has been a continuous disfigurement of human and social relations following the silhouette of September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center . In the present global socio-political circumstances, Pakistan is finding itself in a dilemma with its association with US led war on terror on one side and the misinterpretation and erroneous corroboration of religious violence by fundamentalist gurus, on the other. The country has long been on high security alert on account of unimpeded terrorist activities including suicide bombing as the newest tactic of human warfare.
To promote interfaith harmony and relay message of religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence, ActionAid Pakistan , Citizens’ Peace Committee and partner NGOs organized “Karwaan-e-Aman”, an inter-faith peace rally comprising Peace/Human Rights activists, religious leaders and men and women belonging to different faiths including Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Christians. The Peace Rally commenced from Rahim Yar Khan and reached Islamabad on Thursday via Multan , Lahore , Toba Tek Singh and Jhelum .
A press meeting was held where the objectives and significance of this peace initiative was shared. ‘We cannot build our nation on the foundation of Christian, Muslim, Sikh or Hindu triumphalism. Building trust, understanding and harmony across religious diversity is vital for interfaith understanding and collaborative march towards sustainable peace in the country” Said ActionAid Official Nusrat Sheikh. Participants also stated that successive Discriminatory legislation has fostered an atmosphere of religious intolerance and eroded the social and legal status of members of religious minorities. Despite Government’s repeated calls for religious moderation and tolerance, Sectarian and religiously motivated violence remains a chronic. Peace Activists demanded strengthening of democratic institutions in Pakistan , promoting reform in the school syllabus to expunge derogatory statements about religious minorities and initiation of a national level inter-faith dialogue. A resolution was passed reaffirming commitment to curb interfaith conflict and a favorable environment for religious sovereignty and interfaith synchronization.
On their way from Rahim Yar Khan to Islamabad, the delegates met with the political leadership , District public safety commissions and clergy of multiple faith communities, paid homage to the holy shrines of spiritual leaders including Bahauddin Zakkarya, Shams Tabrez, Baba Fareed, Guru Nanak, Bhulley Shah and Barri Imam, and offered prayers for peace and prosperity. They interacted with local communities, civil society and media and staged cultural performances to promote the message of peaceful co-existence among followers of different religions. The over-night stay and cultural events were organized and hosted by local Muslim and Non-Muslim communities and the community based organizations.
To mark the successful completion of Karwaan-e-Aman, a folk cultural evening was organized in Islamabad where Sufi singers and folk dancers from Rohi and Pakpattan gave colorful performances. ‘Music is the language of love and an effective instrument for promoting tolerance and pluralism among people of Pakistan . We are here to revive the message of peace and Love-for-All as promulgated by the Sufi mystics of Sub-Continent.
The delegates of Karwaan-e-Aman, adhering to different faith communities (Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Sikh) from the length and breadth of the province of Punjab herewith resolve to and put forth our demands to the Government of Pakistan and appeal to the people of this country that: Nobody be discriminated against on the basis of his/her religion/faith or belief, as per Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan and as envisioned in the Article 18 of the United Nations Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR).
Nobody be discriminated against on the basis of ideological or political conviction, sex, race, ethnicity, color, geographical area or language in line with the Article 2 of the UDHR and Article in the Constitution of Pakistan The freedom to practice and to profess one’s religion or faith (whichever it is) is ensured by the Government of Pakistan and is categorically guaranteed to the followers of all faiths residing here in, as envisaged in UDHR and in the Constitution of Pakistan We hereby assert that the politics of religion/politicization of religion should be stopped forthwith and we deplore that it is being abused by some having vested interests to gain or maintain (political) power.
We emphatically condemn the suicidal and terrorist attacks in the name of religion, killing innocent people and leaving many aggrieved behind, especially women and children, just by the acts of religious extremists here or elsewhere in the world. We reject the lopsided and dogmatic interpretation of religious scripts imposed on us (and trying to assume a monopoly) leaving no room for critical engagement with religious scripts. We demand that the freedom of ‘thought’ and ‘expression’ may it concerns religion or any other intellectual arena be guaranteed as a fundamental right of human person and the citizens of Pakistan .
We appeal to the Government of Pakistan to completely repeal the existing Blasphemy Law (295B & 295C & 298ABC) that has victimized scores of people not only non Muslims but also Muslims too, in certain cases more serious for the Muslims as being instrumentalized to settle personal vendetta or used for political/ material gains. Instead a law/bill ensuring respect for religion, religious beliefs and variant faiths be promulgated. We believe that religion has got nothing to do with the business of the state. Institutionalizing secularism to ensure equality of all citizens before the law - may they be Muslims, Non Muslims or Women - whatever sex, class, creed they belong to – is a must.
We appreciate whatever measures have been taken regarding modernizing and secularizing the curricula by the Government of Pakistan. But substantial measures still need to be taken in this regard promoting peace, plurality, diversity and democratic values among children and youth leading to a tolerant and progressive Pakistani society; We condemn the abuse of the places of worship (mandir, masjids, kaleesa and gurdavara etc) and using them for hate propaganda and violent initiatives and urge the government of Pakistan to ensure the implementation of madarasa reforms – as desired by the citizens of Pakistan.