World Peace Day: ‘We should talk more about humanity’

Bishop Daniel says we need to own our country to make it prosper

KARACHI: In order to help the country prosper, we need to keep our religious differences to ourselves and talk more about humanity.

Peace Council International for Interfaith Harmony (PCIIH) patron-in-chief Bishop Sadiq Daniel said this while addressing the celebration of Eid Reunion on World Peace Day - celebrated on September 21 - at Holy Trinity Cathedral on Monday evening.

"We should exchange the positive messages of our religions with people," said Bishop Daniel. He urged that we must not say things that hurt the followers of other religions.

Representing the Sikh community, Sardar Hira Singh said that people have been misguided and have forgotten the teachings of their own religions as no religion preaches intolerance. "I'm delighted to see different communities sitting like flowers from different gardens in one basket," he said. He questioned that when God created the world through His light, why we are turning it into a dark one.

He stressed that it is God alone who has the right to decide what is right and wrong. He added that the Creator of all the human beings is the same and, hence, we are all related to each other.

PCIIH chairperson Mir Nawaz Khan Marwat stressed the need to confront and struggle against the menace of fanaticism, extremism and terrorism.

According to him, Pakistan has given immense sacrifices in combating terrorism and has lost thousands of people. "Killing one person without a justification is like killing the entire humanity," he said while criticising those who kill in the name of religion.

He stressed that serving mankind is the best service one can perform, adding that we should work together to bring tranquillity and peace to the world for the coming generations by spreading interfaith harmony.

Parsi community representative Homi Ghadially emphasised the need to teach religion and civics as a subject at school level to lessen differences based on religions.

Prof Dr Muhammad Imran was of the view that that such programmes should be organised in temples, gurdwaras and mosques as well.

Ravi Dhawani, a member of the Hindu community, said that with the help of interfaith harmony, we will crush the desires of those who don't want to see Pakistan united. He pointed out that the Hindu community is as Pakistani as any other community living in the country.

Another Hindu representative, Mangla Sharma, stressed that we should focus on what our great religions teach their followers. "We all are Pakistani and Pakistan belongs to everyone," she said.

Sindh interfaith adviser Anthony Naveed said we need to increase interaction among youth belonging to different religions for the betterment of the country. The government is looking forward to eliminate hateful material and thoughts from the syllabus, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2016.