The president called upon the UN to give special attention to promoting religious and cultural harmony in the world. Warning that religious harmony was fast eroding the world over, he said that these tendencies also “crossed national boundaries and religious divides”.
Extremism is being manifested in various forms including violence and intolerance, President Zardari said, adding, “Not only is there disharmony between different cultures, but the disharmony is on the rise”.
It is disturbing that in the wake of the war on terror, people are generally receding from the universal values of tolerance and harmony advocated by the UN, he said. The president said that Pakistan came into existence in the shadow of the UN as both were created in the fading years of the 1940s and it supported the universal values of tolerance and harmony promoted by the UN.
President Zardari further said that the values of tolerance and harmony cannot be fragmented into different religions.
Stressing that promotion of tolerance and harmony had to be across the religious and geographical divides, the president also cautioned against making “exceptions and selectivity as it will shake faith in the universal norms of the UN charter”.
The president said that it was time to save the UN charter and in this context the secretary general had a central role to play. “As the secretary general of the UN we are confident that you will give priority to promoting social harmony which will lead to universal harmony,” he said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the UN would strive to promote cultural harmony, adding that no exceptions would be made in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2011.
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