ISLAMABAD: People belonging to different faiths once lived together peacefully in Pakistan but now extremism and intolerance have driven a wedge between various segments of the society. The distance between those belonging to different faiths keeps growing each day.

A competition was organised by a non-government grganisation ‘The Silk Road Centre’ to bring people of different faiths closer and to document religious customs for future generations.

The winner of the first prize, Muhammad Iqbal Khatri, put in a year’s worth of effort into his photograph.

Khatri submitted a photograph of Hindu pilgrims returning from Chandrakup, (mud volcano called ‘Chandrakup’, literally ‘Moon Well’) after performing the Hinglaj Yatrian (important Hindu pilgrimage) at Hingol in Balochistan.

“Being a Muslim, I could not go with the pilgrims without explicit permission. I contacted the heads of Hindu community and then went along with them to take pictures,” he said.

Head of ‘The Silk Road Centre’ Dr Ijlal Hussain, who had organised the competition, said Mr Khatri was not the only photographer who faced difficulty in capturing images of their choice.

“I received a number of complaints from photographers that management at some places of worship did not allow them to photograph the mosque, church or temple from even outside. In some places they were not allowed to enter,” he said.

He said that last year a contest was held of photographs of endangered buildings and this year it was decided that the photographs should be of holy places of various sects and religions. “We felt that people who belong to one religion have little idea about the holy places of other faiths,” he said.

“We also wanted to give a message to the world that Pakistan, which is a Muslim country, has millions of devotees of the world’s major religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism,” he said.

Muhammad Iqbal Khatri’s photograph of the Hindu pilgrims returning from Chandrakup after performing the Hinglaj Yatrain won first prize. Syed Najamul Hassan received the second prize for his ‘Holding Fast to Hopes’, an image of a Pakistani Christian girl praying outside a church in Southern Punjab.

Moiz Iqbal Ismaili was awarded third prize for his image of a Muslim devotee absorbed in prayer in the courtyard of the Badshahi mosque and Fazal Rahim Awan received consolation prize for his photograph of a believer offering prayers on a stone in Kohala Bala in District Haripur.

Photographer and filmmaker Sajid Munir distributed prizes among the winners. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the audiovisual heritage is very important and plays a key role in documenting and promoting Pakistan’s culture and heritage.

Once people belong to different religions used to live peacefully in Pakistan but because of intolerance, hatred and extremism distance between different segments of society especially religions has been increased.

A photographer Muhammad Iqbal Khatri, who submitted picture of Hindu pilgrims returning from Chandrakup after performing the Hinglaj Yatrain Hingol Balochistan and won first prize, had to wait for a year to capture an image.

“As I am Muslim so it was not possible for me to go along with the Hindus without permission. I sought permission from the heads of Hindu community and then went along with them to have a picture of my choice,” Mr Khatri said while speaking to participants of contest.

Head of non government organisation The Silk Road Centre Dr Ijlal Hussain, who organized the exhibition contest, while talking to Dawn said that Mr Khatri was not the only person who faced difficulties to capture images.

“I received a number of complaints from photographers that managements of the worship places did not allow them to have picture from outside or inside the Mosques, Churches or Temples. Some of them were even not allowed to enter in the worship places,” he said.

The aim of the exhibition was to promote tolerance between followers of different religions and document the religions and customs for future.

“We have to understand that there is lots of difference of life style between a Hindu who lives in India and a Hindu who lives in Pakistan,” he said.

“Last year we held a contest of photographs of endangered buildings. This year we had an idea that by holding the exhibition people belong to different sects can be brought close to each other,” he said.

“Moreover people belong to one religion have no idea about the holy places of people belong to other religion,” he said.

“We also wanted to give a message to world that Pakistan, which is a Muslim country, has millions of devotees of world’s major religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism,” he said.

Muhammad Iqbal Khatri’s photograph of the Hindu pilgrims returning from Chandrakup after performing the Hinglaj Yatrain won first prize. Syed Najam-ul-Hassan received the second prize for his ‘Holding Fast to Hopes’, an image of a Pakistani Christian girl praying outside a church in Southern Punjab.

Moiz Iqbal Ismaili was awarded with third prize for his image of a Muslim devotee absorbed in praying to God in the courtyard of the Badshahi mosque and Fazal Rahim Awan received a consolation prize for his photo of a believer offering prayers on a stone in Kohala Bala in District Haripur.

Photographer and filmmaker Sajid Munir distributed prizes among the winners.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Munir said that the audiovisual heritage is very important and it plays the key role in documenting and promoting Pakistan’s culture and heritage.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2014