LAHORE: The participants of a consultation meeting discussed on Friday measures to securing Punjab’s diversity.

It was a provincial-level consultation on countering violent extremism, organised by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.

“Punjab has much more acceptance and tolerance compared to other three provinces,” said PML-N leader Siddiqul Farooq.

“Despite this I think the more symposiums there are on diversity and exposure, the better it will eventually be.”

He said that he believed that religious beliefs were personal and humanity was the most important for all. “Muslims should look to the Charter of Madina to understand the importance that Islam has given to peace and tolerance with other faiths,” he said.

“First and foremost everyone, instead of harping on about their ‘rights’, should first do their duties. Ultimately in this way all rights will already be enforced,” he said.

Diep Syeda disagreed with the notion that Punjab was tolerant, reminding Mr Farooq of several lynching incidents, murders of Ahmedis, attacks on Christians and Hindus and their property being taken over. She urged Mr Farooq, who is also the Evacuee Trust Property Board chairman, to retrieve the property of non-Muslims from grabbers.

Tahir Mehdi said that more than faith, Punjab had a caste problem. There were still issues of even untouchables in parts of Punjab which should be campaigned against. Culture, he said, must be promoted more, because it was culture and language that finally united people beyond all other backgrounds.

“Traditions like village singers, whose art was a discourse on many subjects in rural areas, are fading fast and nothing is replacing them,” he said.

“At the same time, sports is also very important because it teaches competition in good spirit while playing by the rules. Other sports besides cricket should also be given importance.”

He said stadiums in small towns were being used as a helipad, a warehouse and for even a Daanish school.

Zahoor Ahmed Dharija, chief editor of Seraiki newspaper, Jhok, said that when it came to tolerance of language, Punjab had neglected Seraiki and also the people of south Punjab.

Prof Kalyan Singh said the lack of good family laws led to a situation where forced conversion became easier.

Robina Saigol with Anjum James Paul from the Faisalabad Minorities Teachers Association highlighted curriculum provoking hate speech among children. Paul said that the Muslims in Punjab’s textbooks were presented as war mongers, and bad people. These misconceptions, he said, should immediately be corrected.

Shahid Nadeem from Ajoka said sometimes rigid narratives were brought home by people who came from abroad; other times these narratives were funded.

“Media itself has given space to dangerous people as analysts. We have suffered serious setbacks and continue to slide down the black hole,” he said, adding that the rich culture of Punjab before Partition seemed like an imaginary world today.

Anthropologist Nadeem Umer Tarar said the State had always seen cultural diversity as a threat but today it had become a counter productive strategy as it divided people. The way forward included efficient and speedy justice systems, better allocation of resources, especially in south Punjab, measures to improve education, especially for women, more implementation of laws such as NAP and stricter monitoring by PEMRA of hate speech, constitutional amendments, more cultural events for the masses, and some kind of role of youth to preserve culture.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2017