PESHAWAR: Speakers at a conference here on Sunday said that the religious leaders should jointly work for interfaith harmony irrespective of their association in order to maintain durable peace and effectively foil attempts of anti-social and anti-state elements.

The event titled ‘Ittehad-i-Ummat Conference’ was arranged in the Peshawar Press Club by Muttahida Shariat Mahaz Pakistan with federal minister for religious affairs Noorul Haq Qadri in the chair. Religious leaders belonging to different schools of thought, including former provincial Khateeb Auqaf Qari Roohullah Madni, Prof Dr Abdul Ghafoor, Abid Hussain Shakiri, Maulana Sahibzada Junaid Manki Sharif, Maulana Yousuf Shah, Maqsood Ahmad Salfi and others, shared views about the significance of interfaith harmony.

Appreciating the prayer leaders and representatives of different religious groups for their cooperation against Covid-19 pandemic, the federal minister said that the joint efforts proved fruitful and contained the disease to a great extent.

He said that religious leaders should play their due role for maintenance of peace and promotion of sectarian harmony to ensure development and progress of the country. He said that it was duty of the ulema to help implement the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for containing coronavirus on Eidul Azha.

The minister suggested that there should be regular liaison between the government and the ulema/prayer leaders to resolve different issues. He said that conflicts on the basis of language and faith caused a great loss to the country during the past many decades, but the patriotic ulema had always played their role effectively to maintain peace and create harmony among the citizens.

Other speakers urged the religious people to avoid internal differences and join hands to discourage anti-state elements. They said it was time that the entire nation should follow the SOPs to stop spread of coronavirus.

The ulema said that an irresponsible act of any individual should not be attributed to a religious group to avoid conflicts on the basis of faith. They hoped that those trying to create hatred would not succeed in their nefarious designs.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2020