PESHAWAR, June 25: Speakers at a day-long seminar entitled Peace and Tolerance on Tuesday underlined the need for immediate restoration of democracy in the country so that people could live in a peaceful atmosphere.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Liberal Forum Pakistan and the Peshawar Press Club here on Tuesday. They said that tolerance and peace had been two great values of mankind throughout the centuries and their protection was the prime duty of humanity everywhere in the world.

Zaheer Khattak, LFP Frontier chapter president, DR Qibla Ayaz of the Islamic Centre, University of Peshawar, Dr Mohammad Farooq, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief, Prof Mohammad Ibrahim and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairman Afrasiab Khattak spoke on the need for tolerance and peace.

Dr Qibla Ayaz said: “Islam teaches us to live in peace with the minorities and the weakest section of society. Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had singed a peace agreement under the title of Madina Treaty with the Jewish community to have peace in Madina.”

In the previous two centuries, he said, the western colonial powers had occupied the economic resources and political power in the smaller countries of Africa and Asia and disturbed the peace there.

The oppressed people, he said, fought a long battle for their freedom which also caused social disturbance and insecurity. “The peace cannot be achieve through guns and suppression as the US is doing in Afghanistan,” he added.

Prof Ibrahim said the war-affected Afghans could not be asked to demonstrate tolerance. It was the duty of powerful nation to show tolerance, he said, adding the murder of an innocent person was equal to the murder of humanity.

Speaking about the turbulent changes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, Mr Khattak said intrigues and violence in all these countries had some common traits.

When the US would de-classify its documents regarding the changes occurred after 70’s in these countries, many political and religious forces will be exposed, he added.

He said the dethronement of Zahir Shah in Afghanistan in 1973, formation of a National Alliance in Pakistan, execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, imposition of martial law and promotion of sectarian organisations, Islamisation of war in Afghanistan by Gen Ziaul Haq, infiltration of outsiders in Kashmir, adventurism in Kargil, BJP’s election success in India and dismissal of Nawaz Sharif were all events that were inter-linked.