Tolerance: ‘Provincial committee on interfaith harmony soon’

Minister says committee will help promote peace.

LAHORE: Human Rights and Minority Affairs Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu said on Saturday the government had decided to establish a provincial committee on interfaith harmony.

He was addressing a seminar organised by the REAT Network and the Peace, Education and Development (PEAD) Foundation.

The minister said the committee would consist of 20 members, including religious scholars.

He said the government would also set up district committees on human rights and minority affairs, to be headed by DCOs. He said these would help check incidents like November 4 lynching of a Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan.

Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Tahir Ashrafi urged clerics to help overcome religious intolerance in society. He stressed the need for developing a culture of respect and interfaith harmony.

He said the government must initiate a programme for capacity building among religious scholars.

Bishop Manowar Ramal Shah said minorities should be treated equally and afforded constitutional protections. “We can avoid tragedies like the Kot Radha Kishan incident If minorities are treated as equal citizens.” Human Rights Commission of Pakistan director IA Rehman said the government should do more than mere lip service.

“Use of loudspeakers to incite violence in the name of religion must be stopped.”

Peace, Education and Development (PEAD) Foundation Executive Director Sameena Imtiaz said the Pakistani society had become extremely intolerant towards minorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2014.