LAHORE, Feb 12: Observing that democracy is the hallmark of all political dispensations, the Muslim-Christian Federation International has pleaded for expanding the process of dialogue beyond the confines of faith and ethnic identity to ensure the participation of people from all walks of life in building a dynamic civil society.

In a declaration issued by the federation on Tuesday after a seminar presided over by Qari Abdul Qadeer Khamosh here on Monday. Federation’s coordinators from the United States, Holland, Japan and Jordan were prominent among the speakers.

The federation decided to step up its activities by holding a seminar in Quetta in the second week of March. An international seminar on communal harmony in London in April was also planned.

The declaration welcomed the government decision of reintroducing the joint electorate. It said the step would go a long way in inculcating among religious minorities a sense of participation in the nation-building process.

The minorities, according to the declaration, had been isolated from the mainstream of political life by subjecting them to “the injustice like separate electorates”.

All religions, the declaration said, have abounded love, peace and harmony and opposed vehemently all manifestations of violence which was always a reaction to repressions and injustices.

The federation was opposed to all forms of such discriminations and political, economic and social disparities to ensure a sustained development of peace, fraternity among various communities and non-violence in the country, the declaration added.

It also supported decentralization of power saying it was an essential requirement of a democratic order.

The declaration supported the peoples of Palestine and Kashmir in their just national cause and said that Muslims and Christians needed to jointly struggle for the right of self-determination in Kashmir and justice in Palestine.

Expressing concern over embargo over the people of Iraq, the federation said that it was adding to their miseries.