Pakistan’s Interfaith Council for Peace and Harmony called the April 11 conference in response to the religiously-motivated March 9 attack by an enraged mob in Joseph Colony, a Christian neighborhood in Lahore. Two churches and 178 houses were burned in the rampage, sparked by rumors that a Christian sanitation worker had blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad.
Participants at the conference, including Interfaith Council Chair Badshahi Nasjid Khateeb Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad – a former trustee of URI’s Global Council -- stressed that Islam prohibits punishing a community for the crime of any one individual. In addition, according to The News International of Pakistan, the speakers also noted that those who would harm members of a minority group violated the basic teachings of Islam, which stresses a respect for the security and honor of all human beings.
The participants “highly advocated the need for interfaith harmony and strongly condemned the religiously-motivated violence, in which 178 houses of Christian families were burnt in Joseph Colony,” said the Rev. James Channan, URI’s regional coordinator for Pakistan, who spoke at the conference.
Father James praised the efforts of several Muslim organizations and individuals who have provided relief to the victims of the attacks and condemned the perpetrators.
“A very prominent religious scholar and leader, Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, highlighted the noble work done by a Muslim teacher who left her school, went to Joseph Colony and opened a school there for the Christian children,” Father James said. “This Muslim woman has also provided books and food to the Christian children, and has put a tent there for their free education.”
Other URI representatives at the event included Dr. Munawar Chand and Dr. Marcus Fida.
