The Daily Times: by Rehman Anwer: Owing to the contemporary climate of extremism in Pakistan, the key is to bring various faith communities together and make collective efforts to foster peace and stability

Faith Matters, a conflict resolution and interfaith organisation, has developed a unique programme to promote harmonious relationships between the Muslim and Christian communities based in Pakistan through the training and development of young people from both faith communities.

Based in London, with operations in the Middle East and Pakistan, Faith Matters is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to tackle extremism in its many forms, from far-right groups like the English Defence League to groups within the Muslim community involved in violence and hate crime. In November 2012, it launched a new programme called ‘Musawaat’ (Equality), aimed at promoting interfaith harmony and the fundamental right of the freedom of religion and belief in Pakistan. As part of this, the organisation is carrying out a series of awareness raising workshops to train young people on basic ideas of conflict resolution, interfaith dialogue, identity and fundamental human rights. The organisation’s strategy is to work with grass roots civil society organisations to arrange training workshops in areas with sizeable Christian communities, and areas where tensions and violent conflict have been observed in the past. These areas include Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and their surrounding regions. The project also involves sending mass SMS messages — written by young people in the workshops — promoting unity, peace and interfaith harmony to popularise the ideas of pluralism and peaceful coexistence in Pakistan. Their target is to send 30 million SMS messages. The project’s end goal is to promote peace and to counter extremist narratives that promote sectarianism and religious strife.

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