LAHORE, Sep 01 (APP): Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Dr Pir Noorul Haq Qadri said on Wednesday that all the religious scholars and minorities of the country were united and committed to maintain peace in the country by advocating interfaith harmony.
He was addressing the ‘National Solidarity Peace Conference’ at a local hotel where Provincial Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Syed Saeed ul Hassan Shah, Chairman Rueit Hilal Committee and Khateeb Badshahi Masjid Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad, Maulana Zubair Ahmed Zaheer, Allama Jawad Naqvi, Mufti Raghib Naeemi and other religious scholars were present.
Federal Minister said that religious scholars always sit together for promoting peace, inter-faith harmony, tolerance and brotherhood in the society, which ultimately led to betterment of people and the country. He said that religious scholars must continue to play their effective role in elimination of racism, ethnic divide and sectarianism in the society. Constitution of Pakistan also protects minority communities’ rights including religious freedom as they are free to go to their temples, churches and other worship places, he maintained.
Ulema and religious seminaries had since long been facing numerous problems, he said that for the first time in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, the PTI government had allocated a hefty grant of Rs 3 billion in the current fiscal year for monthly stipend of Rs 15,000 each to Ulema and Khateeb. Such initiative would also be launched at federal level and in Punjab in their next annual budgets.
Noor ul Haq Qadri said that government was very much focused to curb religious extremism and taking strict action against all those spreading hatred in the society by misusing the religion. He added that it was the responsibility of religious scholars to educate the society and help the state in its efforts for elimination of social evils including sexual abuses.
He said that it was need of the hour to spread the message of Pakistan through sermons of Jumma and other religious congregations as well as through seminaries and educational institutions.
About the current situation in Afghanistan, he said that Pakistan always wished and strived for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan and it was ready to play its role in this regard.