KASUR: Charity giving is a common practice in all societies and religions. Similarly, peaceful co-existence is a shared belief among people of all faiths. While recognising the role and responsibilities of religious leaders, academia, media representatives, legislators and relevant government officials as opinion makers in the society, the Pakistan Peace Collective in collaboration with the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and the University of Lahore organised a seminar on safer charity practices and promotion of messages of Paigham-e-Pakistan at the Islamia Degree College, Kasur. Members of civil society organisations, media representatives, local government representatives and religious scholars from different faiths participated in the seminar. Deputy Commissioner Kasur was the chief guest of the seminar.While welcoming the participants of the seminar, Adviser to the Chairman University of Lahore, Nazir Hussain, said, “This seminar is a useful platform for the stakeholders and policymakers to deliberate upon the future course to educate the people on possible repercussions of misuse of charity, interfaith harmony, tolerance for peace and resilience building. All religious leaders including Muslim religious scholars of various sects, representatives of other religions like Christianity, Hinduism, and Sikh can play a vital role to promote interfaith harmony for peaceful coexistence in the wake of the current social circumstances,” he added.While highlighting the importance of the seminar, he further said that the seminar would help to develop a unified, integrated, participatory approach to promote interfaith and intersect harmony.Highlighting charity practices and patterns in Pakistan, Manager Community Engagement, and Pakistan Peace Collective Khurram Shahzad said, “Pakistan is one of the leading countries in the region in terms of charity giving. The annual quantum of donation is around Rs554 billion in the form of Sadqat, Zakat, Khairat and Fitrana, etc. Animal skins/ hides are also a major component of charity giving practices.While talking about importance of charity, he expressed his view that due to lack of awareness regarding existing laws and policies both on charity giving and charity-collection, there is possibility of misuse of charity money. A substantial portion of this charity money could contribute towards criminal activities in the country, including violent extremism. He informed the participants that Pakistan Peace Collectives was tasked to develop a media campaign to raise awareness among the public on safer charity giving practices and to inculcate a sense of vigilance while giving charity. Hafiz Muhammad Numan Hamid, Executive Director of World Council of Religion, highlighted the importance of message of Paigham-e-Pakistan and said that this is a unanimous declaration of scholars from all schools of thought against the menace of terrorism and extremism.
from The News International - National https://ift.tt/31rjHoJ
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