Better communication: 'Peace cannot be achieved through dialogue alone'

The event was organised by I AM KARACHI and Spelt as part of the Teach for Peace campaign

KARACHI:

Peace, according to speakers at a panel discussion on how it could and should be nurtured in society, cannot be achieved just through dialogue - effective measures need to be in place to figure out what is causing unrest in the state in the first place.

The event was organised by I AM KARACHI and the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (Spelt) as part of the Teach for Peace campaign. Panelists unanimously agreed that peace needed something more than just a 'good' talk.



According to singer, Tina Sani, it was important to find out or learn how some seminary teachers could take young students towards a path of destruction.

While talking about critical thinking, SPELT's founder and moderator of the talk, Zakia Sarwar, said that teachers had to understand that it was good for students to ask questions.

On the other hand, Sabrina Dawood of the Dawood Public School said that peace could not be achieved unless the anger and aggression was erased from within. "No matter what we do, unless the mind and the heart don't change, attaining peace will be difficult," she said.

Journalist, Amir Zia emphasised on the need to take practical measures as opposed to mere dialogues and discussions. "Unless the state doesn't resolve its own contradictions, it is not possible to attain peace," he said, adding that the media had a responsibility to raise issues that may help in resolving these questions.

Reiterating Zia's point of view, actor and teacher, Khalid Ahmed pointed out that Karachi was not a separate entity from the rest of the country. "A common man has little understanding of what is going on and in this case neither the state nor the media simplifies the prevailing confusion." Sharing his own experience, Ahmed said that he never found any extremism among his students.

As the discussion moved towards the curriculum taught in school, psychiatrist Dr Haroon Ahmed stressed on bringing massive changes in curriculum and emphasised on teachers and parents to look for stress and trauma related symptoms in their children.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2015.