Faith Matters, a
conflict resolution and interfaith organization, has developed a unique programme
to promote harmonious relationships between the Muslim and Christian
communities based in Pakistan through the training and development of young
people from both faith communities.
Based in London, with
operations in the Middle East and Pakistan, Faith Matters is a not-for-profit
organisation that aims to tackle extremism in its many forms, from far-right
groups like the English Defence League to groups within the Muslim community
involved in violence and hate crime. In November 2012, it launched a new programme
called “Musawaat" ("Equality”), aimed at promoting interfaith harmony
and the fundamental right of the freedom of religion and belief in Pakistan. As
part of this, the organization is carrying out a series of awareness raising
workshops to train young people on basic ideas of conflict resolution,
interfaith dialogue, identity and fundamental human rights. The organization’s
strategy is to work with grass roots civil society organizations to arrange
training workshops in areas with sizeable Christian communities, and areas
where tensions and violent conflict have been observed in the past. These areas
include Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and their surrounding regions. The
project also involves sending mass SMS messages - written by young people on
the workshops - promoting unity, peace and interfaith harmony to popularize the
ideas of pluralism and peaceful coexistence in Pakistan. Their target is to
send 30 million SMS messages. The project's end goal is to promote peace and to
counter extremist narratives that promote sectarianism and religious strife.
Issues of freedom of
religion, tolerance, and mutual understanding have a long history, not only in
religious traditions but also in international treaties and declarations of
rights. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - both of which Pakistan
has signed and ratified - uphold freedom of belief, and protect both freedom of
thought on all matters, and the freedom to manifest religion and belief
individually or with others, in public or in private.
In a country like
Pakistan, where religious convictions are deeply and intensely held and belief
have a significant impact on the lives of communities, it is important to
create awareness about freedom of religion and the underlying philosophy of
tolerance, interfaith harmony, and equality.
Owing to the
contemporary climate of extremism in Pakistan, the key is to bring various
faith communities together and make collective efforts to foster peace and
stability. Numerous efforts are being made by civil society organizations in
Pakistan to achieve this objective, but there also needs to be a consistent
campaign across the country to promote a change in perceptions toward other
religious groups. This change is necessary in order to remove societal barriers
for religious diversity and national harmony, and to work against the sources
of violence and strife in society.
Interfaith workshop in Faisalabad
The multi-faceted
approach of the Musawaat project - working with youth groups, community radio
stations, and schools situated in far-off underdeveloped areas of Punjab
including Gojra and Sangla Hill - is actually trying to deal with these
challenges at a grass-roots level. Some of the these areas have unfortunately
faced violent extremism in the recent past, purely based on inter-religious
conflicts In Faisalabad, pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajjad were
murdered while leaving a court hearing in 2010, shot dead by an unidentified young
gunman. They had been charged and arrested for distributing 'blasphemous
anti-Islamic material, charges their supporters had suggested were 'trumped up'
and faked. In 2009 in the village of Gojra, a violent mob torched nearly fifty
houses in the predominantly Christian neighbourhood, leading to the deaths of
eight Christians. In 2005, some 500 Christian families were forced to leave
Sangla Hill (a small town near Faisalabad), noticing violent vitriolic rhetoric
from the local mosque's loudspeakers after a young Christian man had been
accused of burning copies of the Holy Quran. They were right to do so - the
angry mob burnt down three churches, a convent, a missionary school, a girl's
hostel, and a pastor's house. These conflicts represent a small fraction of the
violence, sectarianism, and religious strife suffered by many members of
religious communities throughout Pakistan, driven by suspicion, hostility, and
misunderstanding.
Interfaith Workshop in
Gujranwala
Faith Matters believes
that this conflict is avoidable, and that, in order to avoid interreligious
tensions and to reduce the communication and societal barriers between the
members of Muslim and Christian communities in Pakistan, it is extremely
important that concepts of human rights, conflict resolution and interfaith
harmony should be promoted. By working with young people from Muslim and
Christian communities, and alongside other civil society organizations in
Pakistan, the Musawaat initiative is trying to promote fundamental human rights
like freedom of religion and belief in Pakistan, for every citizen in the
country, and to encourage peace. In doing so, it is helping Pakistani civil
society organisations, and Pakistani young people, to build for themselves a
stable, prosperous, tolerant, and peaceful Pakistan.
Rehman Anwer
