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‘We must remember tolerance is key to ensuring peace’
LAHORE: The Interfaith Advisory Commission (IAC) has called upon the government to address the extremism and root causes of intolerance and protect freedom of everyone at any cost, as the Constitution 1973 already declared all citizens equal.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, Hafiz Abdul Gaffar Roopri, Pastor Dr Majeed Able, Allama Shakeelur Rehman Nasir, Javaid William, Allama Syed Mufti Ashiq Hussain, Dr Masood Ahmed Mujahid, Allama Mahdi Hassan, Hafiz Samiullah and Allama Abdur Rab Amjad condemned the attack on Quetta’s Bethel Memorial Methodist Church on Sunday.
Along with Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu and MNA Asiya Nasir, the delegation visited the church and injured in Quetta’s hospitals and extended their condolences to the victim families. They prayed for the victims and their families. The delegation asked the authorities to protect everyone during the Christmas.
They said that the government will have to ensure intolerance and peaceful coexistence in Pakistan. “We must remember tolerance is the key to ensuring peace,” they said. The attackers carried out the brutal attack on the third Sunday of Advent at the Methodist Church in the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The church had organised different programmes all throughout December to mark Christmas, according to its Facebook page, and was holding a Sunday School Christmas Programme at the time of the attack. A witness said that several children attending Sunday school had taken shelter while firing continued around them.
The Interfaith Advisory Commission also said that the whole nation was united in the fight against terrorism and had the determination to confront it. “We are working on inter- and intra-faith peace and harmony amongst different religious communities to harmonise their living and coexistence,” said Javaid William. “Our approach is participative and national with a good effect to the grass root level,” he said.
