RAWALPINDI, Nov 6: Speakers at a seminar on Thursday said extremism had no religion and that the war on terror was first imposed on Pakistan but it had now become its own war and solution lied in fighting the terrorism in all its manifestations.

The seminar on “religious extremism and fundamental steps to combat it” was held at Christian Study Center. The speakers included university vice chancellors, principals of different schools, social workers and Christian religious scholars.

Dr Mohammad Farooq Khan Vice-Chancellor Islamic University, Swat said the extremism was averse to the dialogue and democracy and it was not related to any religion but there were ethnic and geographic kinds of extremism that provoked your feelings. He said dialogues promoted tolerance and love for each other and could help mitigate prevalent wave of terrorism.

The VC said Islam had laid four principles for waging jihad, first, to stop oppression, second, only the state had the authority to wage jihad and even the prophet could not start himself without the permission of the rulers of a country, thirdly, no war could be fought with the country with whom you had entered an agreement and lastly war should be started against the opponent if you think that would really bring change otherwise the war would create more mess.

He further said had the ulema (religious scholars) issued decrees against the suicide bombing eight years ago the menace would not have spread to such an extent.

Coordinator Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child (SPARC) Islamabad Humaira Butt said the backward villages and the rural areas were the breeding ground for the extremists. She said that according to her information tens and thousands of children getting education in madrasas as they had no other way out and expressed surprise over funding the religious schools received.

Young people were vulnerable to extreme ideas. But there was different approach towards religious fanaticism among the children who had ‘hifz’ (memorization) the Holy Quran at home and those who have in madrasa, she added.

A principal of government school said the teachers should be role model for their students, and added education was not imparting knowledge but bringing behavioral changes among the young students. Students besides getting education needed exposure to different ideas and beliefs that could come form attending different seminars and workshops.

A principal of renowned Christian school said the word extremism was being misinterpreted. He said that no religion should be taught in schools as the teachers might promote their own creed or sect. He rather recommended that human rights should be included in the syllabus.