LAHORE: Christophe DE Contenson, mayor of Couzon, France, chairman and co-founder of the International Development Alliance (IDAF), finds some similarities between France and Pakistan, at least regarding spirituality, despite the differences.
He was speaking exclusively to Dawn after the launch of his book, Building Bridges Beyond Borders: The Brilliance of Pakistan, that was launched at Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest at the Alhamra Art Centre on Saturday. He co-authored the book Abdul Karim, a youth peace advocate from Gilgit-Baltistan, who is also theco-founder of the IDAF, a foundation dedicated to youth empowerment, interfaith harmony, and international peacebuilding.
The book documents the lives of Pakistani peace advocates, youth leaders, educators, spiritual thinkers, and unsung heroes whose stories challenge global stereotypes and highlight Pakistan’s positive side of humanity and resilience.
To the question about similarities and differences between societies in Pakistan and France, Christophe DE Contenson said that France had a secular society. “We are not supposed to comment on religion, It’s extremely personal but in some way we have to talk about spirituality, not religion and those people who are denying that we can’t talk about religion, I think,are negative because every human being has a form of spirituality. We need to believe in something, otherwise, what are we here for on the earth?”
All the people included in the book talk about spirituality and their involvement in society comes from this spirituality, he added.
“Secularism is good because you don’t judge, preach or whatever but in other ways, you can’t deny that we need faith to live, to do things with others. You have to have a drive and religion, for me, is a drive, as a catholic. In France, it’s very tricky to talk about religion.”
Mr Contenson said that the book was a part of the project and the main thing was to support Palestinians as well as Ukrainians.
“The traumatic shock of war is everywhere beyond the question of religion, we want to support everyone.” A part of the project is to have a mind-changing culture centre built here in Lahore and to have one in my village in France to have a new generation for a better understanding of international culture and other religions, he added.
He said Pakistan is a beautiful country and he learnt a lot from it.
“I was amazed by the landscape and kindness of people and how your Islam can be very tolerant and open-minded. Here, they have a true reflection of peaceful and true Islam.”
MrContenson went on to say that the main objective of the book is to open people to the other, a country to other countries and the people with one faith to other people who have another faith and to understand what we have common, more than what divides us.
“But it’s a strong message that people were not ready to listen. In France, in know this book is going to be a political statement because I have been elected from a rural area. They are not expecting this,” he said.
Co-author Abdul Karim said the younger generation was too much dependent on older generation and was not independent. “They should be independent and set themselves free and think of humanity and for country.”
He suggested the youth to read this book and re-imagine Pakistan. “The youth should read this book and think over for a better future of Pakistan. The civil society should take the lead and not be just dependent on government,” he suggested.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2026