'Promotion of tolerance culture to help establish peace in society'

Complete harmony among followers of different religions in Pakistan and promotion of tolerance culture will help establish peace in the society and ensure socio-economic development. This was the consensus of the speakers at a ceremony arranged by "Interfaith League Against Poverty (I-LAP)" for promoting, peace, love and tolerance.
People from different schools of thought, walks of life and different shades of opinion participated in the function chaired by Federal Minister for Minority Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti.
Besides Federal Minister for Minority Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Kaleem Imam, Chairman, I-LAP Sajid Ishaq, Provincial Minister for Social Welfare Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Sitara Imran, Provincial Minister KPK for Auqaf, Nimroz Khan, Saddique-ul-Farooq PML-N, Hindu representative Shayam Babu, Bahai representative Mono Kamine, Sikh representative Garveed Singh, Buddhist representative Hania, Muslim representative Professor Tajuddin Al Azhari and senior members of media and dignitaries addressed the gathering.
Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhati on the occasion said that it is a basic right to express his or her point of view and it should be respected. He said that peace is extremely important for national development and establish goodwill. "Best wishes to those who have taken steps to inculcate unity, peace, harmony and working for the solidarity of Pakistan," he maintained.
He acknowledged the efforts of I-LAP team during flood disaster, especially in extending financial and moral support to flood Affected victims. He congratulated Chairman I-LAP for launching PEACUNK magazine and said that it is another success story along with the welfare achievements.
Kaleem Imam, IGP Islamabad said that culture of tolerance is very much necessary for establishing peace in the society. He said Islamabad police have always made efforts to ensure interfaith harmony and it was acknowledged by scholars and people from various schools of thought.
Islamabad police have established peace committees at the level of police stations and notables of every area along with religious leaders have been invited to join these committees for establishing inter-faith harmony, the IGP maintained. IGP Islamabad said that I-LAP is working hard and it is really a great honour for Islamabad police to get award in this ceremony in recognition of its efforts for establishing interfaith harmony. He said that Islamabad police and its various sub-units like Rescue 15 are ready to help those working for promoting the culture of tolerance to ensure peace in the society.
Chairman I-LAP Sajid Ishaq said, "I-LAP is working for interfaith harmony and peace in Pakistan and beyond. It is social and moral duty of everyone to propagate the harmony and tolerance in the society".