Pakistan Chapter’s Peace Day Celebration
IARF Pakistan strives to promote peace and harmony among Islam and minority religions, including many Christians, Bahai, Sikh and others. Bahai and Sikh have proper relations and coexist well with Muslims, but there are tensions between the Muslim and Christian communities. We organize peace meetings with representatives of all faiths to discuss and promote tolerance and peace.
Please direct your inqueries to Dr. Jefferson Tasleem Ghauri at iarfpakistan[at]yahoo.com.
Celebrating the UN-established International Peace Day on 21 September, IARF’s Pakistan Chapter held a meeting with several speakers representing the countries diverse religious and spiritual traditions to share peace-building experiences and reflect together on how religions and denominations can contribute to creating and maintaining peaceful coexistence in a spirit of tolerance and dialogue, so much needed in that part of the world and many others.
The guests included:
- Fr. Amir Shehzad Lakshman (Orthodox Church)
- Rev. Victor Khayrat (Roman Catholic Church)
- Rana Muhammad Awais (Islam)
- Qari Mehtab Alam (Islam)
- Edwin Gul (Secular)
Independence Day Event in Pakistan
IARF Pakistan strives to promote peace and harmony among Islam and minority religions, including many Christians, Bahai, Sikh and others. Bahai and Sikh have proper relations and coexist well with Muslims, but there are tensions between the Muslim and Christian communities. We organize peace meetings with representatives of all faiths to discuss and promote tolerance and peace.
Please direct your inqueries to Dr. Jefferson Tasleem Ghauri at iarfpakistan[at]yahoo.com.
On August 14 2015, Pakistan Independence Day, the Pakistan Chapter of the IARF held an all-day programme for women and children. IARF Pakistan staff members, Robson Ayub and Hanook Yasir, delivered several presentations and moderated a discussion with the participants. The topics taken up included issues of vital importance for the people of Pakistan, such as religious coexistence, tolerance and mutual respect among various faith communities and groups in society, matters of key significance to the mission of IARF. The event met with much interest and was well attended. Below you can see several photographs taken at the meeting.
Side Events at UN HRC 2014
Two events organised by IARF at the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), March 2014
Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’
Monday, 10 March 2014 – 2:00 to 4:00 PM
Room XXV, Palais des Nations, Geneva
UN HRC Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’ – Flyer (PDF, 1 page)
Discussion on the rise of violence attributed to religious intolerance in various regions of the world where antipathy toward members of religious minorities is used to justify targeted hatred, assaults, restrictions and violent attacks on their religious institutions.
Held in conjunction with the Annual Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) – part of the Programme of Work of the 25th Session of the HRC; complements the Special Rapporteur’s presentation of his Annual Report, which this year is titled “Tackling manifestations of collective religious hatred“.
Report in Pakistan newspaper The News
Report in Pakistan magazine Business Standard
Video report
Thursday 13 March
Room XXI, Palais des Nations
In collaboration with the CoNGO Sub-committee on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs:
Open/Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs
NGO Joint Oral Statement
As a practitioner of Human Rights Education in South Asia, IARF at the UN is member of the NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education & Learning within the structure of CoNGO (the Committee of NGOs).
At this session of the HRC, IARF facilitated a workshop which delivered the following Joint Oral Statement regarding the Third Phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education (2015-2019):
2014 HRC25 – NGOJointOralStatement ITEM 3 – WPHRE P3
First Pakistan HRE trainings
Human Rights Education training
@Sargodha, Pakistan
27 – 28 September 2013
Participants: Muslim, Christian and Baha’i youth
Human Rights Education training
@Sādiqābād, Punjab, Pakistan
9 – 10 November 2013
Participants: Muslim and Christian
On both occasions, the message was “Respect the Human, and Religion”.
IARF’s India-produced training docu-dramas were screened, eliciting discussion and participants’ sharing of views and experiences. Lunch was provided, and attendance certificates issued.
Pakistan Chapter – Hiroshima & Nagasaki Peace Exhibition 2012
For Hiroshima Day 2012 (6 August)
Sargodha, Pakistan
As a contribution to awareness-raising on nuclear issues in the 2012 approach to the annual international remembrance day for the atomic holocaust, our Pakistan chapter launched an awareness-raising exhibition in its home city of Sargodha, titled ‘Never again Hiroshima, Nagasaki never again‘.
Guests at the opening, which took place during Ramadan, included Muslims as well as Christians & Bahais. For brief comments from guests (in Urdu), see these videos (YouTube link).
Exhibition opening photos (Facebook)
This event was made possible by support from our member group the Hiyoshi Shrine, Nagoya, Japan.
Pakistan Chapter: Interfaith in Youth IARF Cricket Gala 2012
Interfaith Cricket Match
Eid-Ghah grounds, Sargodha
8 June 2012
This was a floodlit night match with young Muslim, Baha’i and Christians participants, reported in the Daily Aftab and its Sunday magazine. As a boundary wall, banners were hung that carried texts about peace and harmony between religions.
Please see photos here (link to Picasa)
Interfaith in Youth is a program of IARF Pakistan that promotes peace and harmony between youth of different faith traditions.
International Day of Peace Vigil 2008 in Pakistan
21 September 2008
End Time Message Church, Sargodha
Report (PDF illustrated, 5 pages)
View slideshow (external link)