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`Sectarianism a major challenge to Pakistan`

By Farman Ali 2018-09-25
ISLAMABAD: The minister for religious affairs and interfaith harmony, Noorul Haq Qadri, on Monday called sectarianism a major challenge to Pakistan and urged ulema, the media and civil society to help promote inter-sectarian harmony at the grassroots level.

`Inter-sectarian disharmony is a major challenge, not inter or intrareligious differences, to the state and society,` Mr Qadri said while addressing a conference on Inter-Sectarian Reconciliation and Harmony at the Council of Islamic Ideology.

The event was organised by the Peace and Education Foundation and the Islamic Research Institute.

Religious scholars from six major Islamic schools of thought from all over the country attended the conference and expressed their resolve to work for sectarian harmony and tolerance.

Mr Qadri said the Ulema and Mashaikh Council was being mobi-lised to arrange ulema`s visits to seminaries so they can interact with students and allay misconceptions about each other and promote a message of tolerance and harmony.

He also blamed imperialism for sowing hatred and extremism among Muslims, and quoted Iranian scholar Ayatollah Taskheri`s remarks during his visit to Pakistan that `those preaching hate and insulting religious personalities are agents of imperialism`.

The minister`s views were echoed by CII Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz, who said: `Hate mongering, preaching of extremism and exploitation of religious sentiments have become an economy.

He urged the media to promote the narrative of tolerance and inter-sectarian harmony and make it the `talk of the town`, instead of airing frivolous and provocative programmes out of a race for ratings.

The speakers also criticised the state patronage of extremist groups, hate preachers and the promotion of distorted and misinterpreted views of Islamic teachings on private televi-sion channels.

They said differences of opinion should be celebrated and respected, and ulema should promote commonalities in their sermons rather than exploiting differences and creating conflicts among the people.

Members of a peace advocacy team from Punjab, the Ulema Jirga from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Ulema Reconciliatory Council from Sindh also spoke on the occasion and called for greater collective efforts by ulema, civil society and the government to counter hate preaching and extremism.

They also suggested greater interaction and communication among religious scholars and seminary students.

Speakers included Allama Arif Hussain Wahidi, Maulana Yasin Zafar, Allama Ageel Anjum, Allama Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Ali A. Naqvi, Allama Abid Hussain Shakir, Amin Shahidi, Maulana Dr Saqib Akbar, Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh, Maulana Tayyab Qureshi, Abdul Khalig Fareedi and Ziaul Haq Naqshbandi.