THE people of Pakistan need to be inculcated with the ethos of liberalism and shun extremism; these are two opposite traits. People need to understand that there is no religion greater than humanity and kindness. This is the primary message of Islam and every other religion.

The best contribution a citizen can make is to counsel their offspring to be kind and accommodating of others. We must teach our children to be accepting of others’ ideology.

They should learn to respect others’ views. If someone’s ideology hurts your sentiments or someone commits acts to hurt your beliefs, you should adopt peaceful means to express your reservations, because violence does not resolve any issue in the world.

I sincerely believe these measures will bring a remarkable change in the attitude of our people and promote tolerance and peace in Pakistan.

Khadija Fatima

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017