KASUR: Pakistan Peace Collective in collaboration with National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and University of Lahore recognizing the role and responsibilities of religious leaders, academia, media representatives, legislators and relevant government officials as opinion makers in the society in charity giving, a common practice in all societies and religions and peaceful coexistence, a shared belief among people of all faiths organized a seminar on safer charity practices and promotion of messages of Paigham e Pakistan here on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner Kasur was chief guest of the seminar held at Islamia Degree College Kasur and attended by member of civil society organizations, media representatives, local government representatives and religious scholars from different faiths.
While welcoming the participants of the seminar Advisor to the Chairman University of Lahore Nazir Hussain said, “This seminar is a useful platform for the stakeholders and policy makers to deliberate upon the future course to educate the people on possible repercussions of misuse of charity, interfaith harmony, tolerance for peace and resilience building. All religious leaders including Muslim religious scholars of various sects, representatives of other religions like Christianity, Hinduism, and Sikh can play a vital role to promote inter faith harmony for peaceful coexistence in wake of the current social circumstances, he added.
While highlighting the importance of the seminar, Nazir Hussain further said that the seminar would help to develop a unified, integrated, participatory approach to promote interfaith and intersect harmony.
Highlighting charity practices and patterns in Pakistan, Manager Community Engagement, and Pakistan Peace Collective Mr. Khurram Shahzad said, “Pakistan is one of the leading countries in the region in terms of charity giving. The annual quantum of donation is around Rs.554 Billion in the form of Sadqat, Zakat, Khairat and Fitrana etc. Animal skins/ Hides are also a major component of charity giving practices”.
While talking about importance of charity, Khurram Shahzad expressed his view that due to lack of awareness regarding existing laws and policies both on charity giving and charity-collection, there is possibility of misuse of charity money. A substantial portion of this charity money could contribute towards criminal activities in the country, including violent extremism. He informed the participants that Pakistan Peace Collectives was tasked to develop a media campaign to raise awareness among public on safer charity giving practices and to inculcate a sense of vigilance while giving charity. In this regards a media campaign ’Haq Haqdar tak’ was developed in 2014 which was disseminated through TV and Radio channels. Since 2015 ‘Haq- Haqdar-Tak’, campaign was supplemented by District Level Engagement Programme (DLEP) to reach out to the communities at grassroots level in major districts of Pakistan, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan.
Executive Director of World Council of Religion, Hafiz Muhammad Numan Hamid highlighted the importance of message of Paigham e Pakistan and said that this is a unanimous declaration of scholars from all schools of thought against the menace of terrorism and extremism. He also said that Paigam e Pakistan is the message of prosperity and peace for Pakistan ant it is a narrative that Pakistan believes on peace, tolerance, justice and love.
Hafiz Numan Hamid also stressed on the propagation of Paigham e Pakistan’s message by the key influential of the society especially teachers, students, ulma and media representatives. He also said that Paigham e Pakistan is a narrative to promote tolerance, peace and love in the society.
Chairman Islamic Studies Department of Punjab University, Dr. Hmmad Lakhvi said that there is need to promote inclusive citizenship in society as all citizen, whether they are Muslim or non-Muslims they have equal rights in Pakistan. He said, “Islam teaches about humanity, tolerance, peace and brotherhood and In Islam there is no place for intolerance, terrorism and extremism and this is the need of the time that all religious leaders should promote peace harmony and tolerance for a peaceful society. He also appreciated the message of Paigham e Pakistan and emphasized to promote Paigham e Pakistan’s messages across the board.
Addressing the concluding session of the seminar, Deputy Commissioner Kasur applauded the role of Pakistan peace collective, NACTA and University of Punjab to organize such a useful seminar to orientate different segments of society on safe giving practices and promotion of interfaith harmony. While taking about safe charity practices, he said, “We should be vigilant and careful while giving the animal hides/ skins as charity on the occasion of Eid-ul Adhza, so that the organizations banned by the government of Pakistan should not be benefitted by the charity money”. (INP/SB)
