PESHAWAR, June 30: Speakers at a seminar here on Wednesday stressed the need for inter-faith dialogue and greater interaction among the followers of various religions with a view to promoting peace in society.

The day-long seminar on 'the role of journalists, lawyers and religious leadership in peace-building' was organized by the Rawalpindi-based Christian Study Centre here on Wednesday.

In his speech, the member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Kamran Arif, an advocate, criticized certain laws and described them as being discriminatory. He said the operation of blasphemy laws, anti-Ahmadi laws and Hudood laws over the years had shown that they were being misused and were thus creating injustice in society.

Dr Prof Islam Khaki, a religious scholar and jurist, said that Islamic teachings advocated peace which, he added, could be achieved by following the sirat-i-mustaqim. "There is a need of tolerance," he stressed.

He said there should be a dialogue between scholars of all religions and greater interaction among the followers of different faiths aimed at creating religious harmony.

A Christian priest and scholar, Irfan Jamil, said that like Islam, his religion too preached peace. "We all talk about peace but peace is in pieces and everyone wants his piece to establish peace," Mr Jamil pointed out.

He said religious leaders were opinion-makers and added that since their voice was heard by their followers, they had a great responsibility for promoting peace.

Sooraj Narain, a Hindu scholar, said his religion also preached shanti or peace and added that we should treat all human beings as our brothers. Fuwad Akhtari, a representative of the Bahai community, said that according to the Bahai faith peace in the world could not be established until all the nations became one.

Quraish Khattak, a journalist, said that media had to play a vital role in peace-building and added that media was being used more for propaganda than for objective journalism and peace-building.