President for national counter-terror narrative under Prophet’s teachings

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain Saturday called upon the intelligentsia of the country to join their heads to build a national counter-terrorism narrative as extremism was a cancer to imperil the national development and stability.

Addressing the annual International Seerat Conference held by Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony in connection with Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH), the president said the national narrative against terrorism was inevitable to fight the terrorism with unanimity of thought.

The event was attended by the cabinet members, parliamentarians, diplomats, religious scholars, students and people from different walks of life.

The president was accompanied by Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf, State Minister Pir Aminul Hasnaat and Grand Mufti of Kyrgyzstan Maksatbek Azhy Toktomushev.

Started by the spell-binding recitation of Quranic verses by renowned Qari Sadaqat Ali and Naat by Noor Ahmed Jarral, the theme of the conference was the ‘Guiding Principles or the national leadership in the light of the teachings of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him)’.

He said as the whole nation was celebrating Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) on Friday, the terrorists killed the innocent people in Pashawar and questioned as how a person threatening others’ lives and properties could claim to the follower of the Holy Prophet Muahmmad (PBUH). The president strongly condemned the incident and sympathized with the bereaved families.

He said the whole nation was determined to eliminate the terrorism from the country and called for national unity to achieve the success.

The president, who earlier distributed prizes among the winning authors of the books on Holy Prophet (PBUH)’s life and teachings and anthology of Naats in both local and foreign languages, congratulated the ministry for holding the event which brought together the religious scholars from various countries to deliberate and present papers on the important subject.

President Mamnoon said it was a day to re-think and reiterate the resolve to act upon the eternal teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) wholeheartedly.

He welcome the religious scholars from Pakistan and abroad participating in the conference and congratulated the prize winning authors and poets.

He said the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was the only personality whose every aspect of life was fully preserved for our guidance in all walks of life.

Therefore, he said it was necessary that every Muslim, particularly those responsible for looking after the affairs of the people, should constantly study the Holy Quran and Sunnah for guidance to face the challenges of the time.

He said as the books encompassing the Seerat-un-Nabi (PBUH) provided the standards for a leadership which also comprised the acute observation of the situation, impartial analysis and perceiving the matters correctly.

President Mamnoon said the world today was entangled in complex problems of various nature, the reasons of which could be found in the approach to life, psychology and historical background of different societies.

He said these were the factors due to which various regions of this world had conflicts and harbor hostility at one or the other level. Our region could not remain uninfluenced from this restlessness, the effects of which can be seen beyond our boundaries as well as within our frontiers, he added.

In such a situation, the president viewed that the mature nations and their leadership determine their way forward by sincerely evaluating the challenges from educational, cultural, societal, political and economic aspects.

He said with the Holy Prophet (PBUH) uprooted many meaningless rituals from society and people were brought together under a system which was according to the true spirit of the religion which strengthened the tradition of goodwill. Acquiring education was made compulsory for every man and woman, collective justice was promoted and discouragement of concentration of wealth resulted in such a wave of prosperity in the tribal society which could still be envied.

The president said these were the revolutionary measures through which the old oppressive system was replaced with a new fair and equitable system. This should be the standard of leadership by adopting which the world can enjoy peace, progress and prosperity even in this age, he advised.

He said it was our foremost responsibility to follow the footsteps of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and harbor the virtues of love and goodwill for the people by setting aside personal gains, objectives and interests.

Such an approach would lead to improvement and society to ultimately reach the destination of prosperity by rising out of the abyss of ignorance, poverty and destitution.

He said it was imperative for the leader to comprehend the world and society with open heart and mind and leave no stone unturned for development and prosperity of society keeping in view the contemporary situation.

President Mamnoon said it was his leadership’s responsibility to promote healthy trends in the light of highest principles of morality by uprooting the negative tendencies from society.

Earlier, the religious affairs minister presented a souvenir to the president.

In his address, Minister Sardar Yousuf highlighted the achievements of his ministry for promotion of Islamic teachings and interfaith harmony in the society including the establishment of recycling plant for soiled Quranic pages, countrywide conferences on interfaith harmony, cell to prohibit the spread of blasphemous content on internet, and setting up of Ulema council on religious harmony.

He said the ministry also gave the legal cover to the moon sighting committee, introduced uniformed timings for prayers in Islamabad, ensured transparent and efficient Hajj operation besides regularly updating the ministry’s web and social media pages to inform the public on the issues of their interests.