PESHAWAR: Speakers at a monthly study circle here on Sunday called for promoting tolerance, fostering mutual respect and positive attitude towards building a tolerant society.

They said that youth were required to display positive attitude for respecting faiths, practices, cultural and traditions of others. They added that it would help them to cement better ties with parents, friends and relatives towards strong social cohesion.

The monthly study circle was arranged under the aegis of Peshawarians Literary Society (PLS) at a local college to mark the world tolerance day with an objective to foster spirit of respect for linguistic and cultural diversity.

Prof Shamsuddin Khan, who chaired the event, said that unfortunately youth were overpowered by their emotions, which led them to get involved in illegal and immoral activities.

He said that intolerance and negativity led to several anti-societal activities plaguing society by extremism and militancy. He added that most youth lost their patience and resorted to taking extreme steps including violent behaviour and drug abuse.

“Youth of today are violent, unruly and stubborn. The gap between parents and children is widening with every passing day. It is imperative for parents, civil society members, teachers and religious scholars to bridge this gap and raise awareness among youth to engage in positive activities,” he said.

Tausif Ahmad Khan, president of PLS, said that students should turn to reading of books, especially the life history of Holy Prophet (BUP), and should learn lessons from his behaviour towards children, elders and others. “Our Holy Prophet always stressed on adopting a tolerant behaviour even with non-believers to make up a just society,” he added.

Mohammad Asif, senior vice-president of PLS, pointed out that parents and teachers should create platforms for youth so that they could bring out their views and observations. He said that literary and sports activities should be enhanced at all levels.

“Youth seemed to have lost their patience and their level of tolerance has been reduced over the years owing to over use of social media and gap between parents and elders. There is an uptick in incidents of social evils in which youth at the most are found to be the main culprits,” he noted.

Ihtisham Khan while moderating the event said that youth should learn how to respect perspective of others in a friendly and polite manner and should avoid being violent and stubborn. “Bulling and taunting others breed hatred and mistrust,” he added.

The debate was followed by question-answer session in which queries by the participants were responded by the panellists.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024