PESHAWAR, Jan 17: Religious scholars have called upon the people not to hate the people suffering from HIV/Aids and treat them like other patients.

They were speaking at a one-day seminar on HIV/Aids that was organised by the provincial Aids Control Programme (PACP) in collaboration with the Unicef and WHO here on Thursday.

Secretary Health Abdus Samad Khan, who was chief guest on the occasion, said that raining awareness level of the people was the only way to control the menace of Aids.

“Collective efforts of the scholars would help prevent the deadly disease. We should learn from each other and adopt a strategy to combat the endemic which is likely to paralyse the entire country if measures weren’t taken,” he maintained. Dr Mohammad Younus, manager PACP, said that 95 per cent of Aids patients belonged to the developing countries. According to him, the deadly disease had killed more than 20 million people worldwide.

Former provincial minister and chief cleric Qari Rohullah Madani said that research had shown that 70 per cent of Aids virus was transmitted through illicit sexual contacts. It would be healthy if “we discouraged all sorts of obscenity and promote ethical practices to put brakes on the ailment”. Prof Qibla Ayaz spoke on the significance of religions and said that globalisation had failed to eclipse the importance of religion. “People’s inclinations towards their respective faiths and religions have increased and there is need to utilise this positive trend for the betterment of the humanity,” he asserted.

Prof Rasheed Ahmad asked for legal cover to ethical values to curb obscenity and sexual violation. Prof Sanaullah Bhutto said that Islam had underlined measures to avoid communicable diseases.