World Peace Day (September 21, 2006)

The program started with a welcome note by Mr. Kamran Sadiq, MC of the program. Then the recitation of the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran were made by Major Saleem Masih of Salvation Army and Mr. Shafiq-ur-Rehman, President, Motor Mechanic Work, Sheikhupura Union.

Miss Maria Patras presented the introduction of Mutual Advancement and Reconciliation in Society (MARS)

Mr. Kamran Sadiq presented the reports on all the previous activities regarding peace building and their impact on the communities, which are as follows: -

1. 1. Inter-religious relations improved among the communities

 

2. 2. Respect towards others’ creeds improved

 

3. 3. Relations among the communities were strengthened

 

4. 4. People were convinced towards joint development activities without any social and religious discrimination


Mr. Rockas Adeel shared his view point regarding peace building and inter-religious dialogues. He emphasized to promote peace education and inter-religious dialogues for the sustainable development and solidarity of the human beings. He also talked about the political, social and religious structures, he further added that if we want our communities to live in peace, we will have to break the political, social and religious structures.

Mr. Mushtaq Jamal Pasha (Advocate High Court & Chief Organizer, Human Rights Movement of Pakistan) said that peace is not possible unless the current political, social and religious barriers are not broken and the peace education is not promoted. He also added that the violation of human rights is the major cause, which hinders the process; therefore we need to put our joint efforts to stop the violation of human rights for the purpose of building peace among the societies.

Mrs. Tahira Azam (General Secretary of Sanghat NGO) said that all religions teach us to love human beings and to respect all the creeds. She also said that the sacrilegious of the worship places should be stopped because such incidents promote violation and discriminatory attitudes among the nations therefore peace cannot take place. If we want the world to be a peaceful place we have to give respect to the creeds of others to make secure all the worship places so that people can live in peace and love.

Mr. Safdar Sindhu (Advocate High Court) said that the peace is not monopolized by any religion it a collective effort of all human beings regardless of color, race and religion. If we want real peace in our society and in the world as well, we have to cross the borders of the religions and we will have to entered into the human beings society then people can live in peace.

Pastor Qamar, President of the program, said, in the perspective of Christianity, that Christianity is religion of love and peace, it always teaches us tolerance, love and respect of human beings. He also added that since our religion teaches us peace, we should join our hands with other religions and peace promoters so that the peace is built in the society.

At the end of the program, the Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Bilal Virk appreciated the efforts of MARS Organization which is working for the promotion of peace. He also said that we are always with you in your collective efforts of promoting peace. 

A peace candle was lit by the honorable guests from the different religions.

We, the MARS Organization, take this opportunity to pay our heartiest gratitude to the donors (Nestle, Sheikhupura, Dr. Naeem Baig and Ihsan Ullah General Store) for providing us with the refreshment, which was distributed among the 200 participants.

Mutual Advancement and Reconcilation in Society MARS