MADEJI: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said that making Pakistan a model of the State of Medina is the final goal as envisioned by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.
The president was addressing the opening ceremony of a series of webinars entitled, “Nurturing Peaceful, Respectful and Inclusive Societies in Pakistan: Seerat counters hate speech through decisive action”, being jointly organised by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect (OSAPG) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan.
He underlined that lack of communication generates phobias among individuals, states, and nations, yet cooperative and peaceful discussions, as enshrined in the UN Charter, are the key to address these phobias.
Alvi stated that hate speech should have no standing in Pakistan. “We need to make sure that the laws isolating communities must be condemned,” he said. Highlighting the role of media, he stressed the need for judiciously handling the ‘weapons of misinformation’ and communicating to the world that Pakistan is a peaceful country, and the Muslims around the world are peaceful.
According to the HEC statement issued on Thursday, the introductory webinars will continue for three days to cover six sessions, including topics like Seerat of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), minorities, and the role of youth in combating hate speech.
The series of webinars are aimed at encouraging peaceful, inclusive, and empathetic communities in Pakistan through tools like active and continuous intersectional participation, dialogue, and collaboration. It also aims to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG16 on building peaceful, inclusive and just societies.
Alvi said that it is imperative that all of us hold ourselves to the true principles of Islam which can counter all kinds of religious, ethnic and gender hatred, marginalisation, discrimination, and inequality. He underlined that Islam establishes the fact that all human beings are equal, and there is no point of discrimination among them except piety.
He said that Arabs had a patriarchal society wherein slavery was common, yet the Holy Prophet (PBUH) encouraged people to break the chains of slavery.
He maintained that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) taught and emphasised forgiveness, putting compensation as a secondary and vengeance as a last resort in case of any confrontation. He added that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) laid emphasis on adopting a just approach in financial affairs to set up an economically just society.
He added that the father of the Pakistani nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was also a staunch advocate of unity and peaceful coexistence.
On this occasion, UN Special Adviser Alice Wairimu Nderitu emphasised that the United Nations was committed to using education as a tool to counter hate speech.
“Education highlights the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, and true and false,” she said, adding that the promotion of quality education and the establishment of peace, justice and strong institutions were among the UNDP’s SDGs.
None of the SDGs to establish inclusive and resilient societies by 2030 can be achieved without the promotion of education, she affirmed. She also acknowledged the world’s accumulative response to Covid-19. Nderitu said that the past decade witnessed an increase in access to education, however, there was still a lot to be done in this direction.
She appreciated Pakistan for its commitment to achieving the goal of ensuring free and compulsory education for all, as per the Constitution. She observed that the governments around the world had a strong role in combating the increased exclusion and stigmatisation of communities and groups, especially on social media platforms.
Nderitu emphasised that the majority and the minority need to join hands to wipe out hate speech and fulfil the responsibility to protect the marginalised segments of societies. She also highlighted the role of Pakistani youth in the elimination of discrimination by capitalising on education.
HEC Chairman Tariq Banuri, HEC Executive Director, HEC Dr Shaista Sohail, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics former vice chancellor Dr Asad Zaman, a faculty member of Fatima Jinnah Women University, Dr Ayesha Rafique, and Dr Aayesha Leghari also spoke on the occasion, while former project director for Seerat Chairs, Dr Amineh Hoti, and Political Affairs Officer at the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect Dr Simona Cruciani moderated the first-day webinars.
The UN and the HEC aim to follow these webinars in a few months with another set of sessions giving more time to speakers in order to allow supportive in-depth impact.
It is fine to establish Pakistan as a state like Madina, but President Arif Alvi should also explain what will happen to Christians, Hindus and other minorities in this state of Madina? Shia Hazaras and Ahmadis will be considered citizens or not? Will the atrocities with these people continue as today or will it stop? The President should also tell whether the Pakistan Army will stop the massacre of Baloch people in Balochistan after the formation of state of Madina? The President of Pakistan should clear all this.