Paving the road to peace through tolerance

To redeem our society from the mess of terrorism, progressive writers stress for promotion of “enlightened thinking”.

ISLAMABAD:

To redeem our society from the mess of terrorism and extremism and pave way for a war-free society, progressive writers in a meeting on Saturday stressed for the promotion of “enlightened thinking”.

Enlightenment is the respect of man-made laws and the subsequent amendments made to these laws with the passage of time, said Imdad Akash, a progressive writer, while speaking at the meeting at the National Press Club.

Akash maintained that every religion should be respected, and individuals’ point of views should not be rejected on the basis of their religious affiliation or ideology.

“Rigidity and stagnation and the discouragement of progressive mindsets on the basis of religious affiliations and ideologies can never allow a society to progress,” he added.

Arshad Mehmood, Another writer, said, “Our society is indulged in the complications of the religious fanatics.” He said that violence in the name of religion needs to be discouraged, whereas courtesy and tolerance should be promoted.

One member of the forum said that the term enlightenment is also exploited in our society by people with vested interests and has hence acquired a bad name in the society. He said that no religion should be criticised as virtually every religion aims for the civilisation of humanity.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2012.