KARACHI: A seminar on ‘Non-Violent and Tolerant Society: Transforming Youth into Heroes of Tomorrow’ was held on Thursday at the department of psychology of the University of Karachi (KU).

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Iqbal Afridi, head of Pakistan Psychiatric Society, said that to build a peaceful society, one needed to curb the elements which promoted violence and intolerance among general public. “The socio-economic injustice within the system, poverty, lack of education ... corruption and unemployment are some major reasons due to which violence and intolerance can be seen in societies,” he said.

“Political and religious extremism are two well known types of extremism found in every society of the world regardless of their faith, race and colour. Due to extremist activities, 3,329 people lost their lives in 2000 while 32,658 people died due to same reasons in 2014. In 2015, about 29,376 people were killed of which 577 persons were victims of terrorism. The highest numbers of casualties were reported from Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the same year,” he said.

Dr Imran Yousuf, founder of Transformation International Society, asked the audience to implement the teachings of Islam in letter and spirit. He said: “We all know Islam is the religion of peace and harmony, but unfortunately we don’t practice tolerance in our daily lives. When we learn to forgive others and start living by accepting each other, we will be able to create a tolerant society,” he said.

KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi informed that the university had zero tolerance when it came to sexual harassment. He said that they had a central anti-harassment committee whereas every department had its own anti-harassment committees due to which decisions were made without any delay whenever the university received any complaint.

He urged that people must have basic information and knowledge about the laws and whenever they witnessed any wrongdoing, they should raise their voice against injustice, but refrain from taking the law into their own hands. “The media is supposed to work for the accountability of society, but it should not issue judgment and remarks when there is an investigation under process as this can mislead the masses and it might be used to put pressure on the institutions or individuals or group of people,” he added.

Prof Dr Abuzar Wajidi, former dean of the Faculty of Management and Admini­strative Sciences at KU, said there was a dire need to change the mindset of the public and that teaching children at home was necessary so that they should understand their role in society.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2019