PIPS

Citizens’ faith not a business of the state

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PR –KARACHI: Speakers at a national workshop on interfaith harmony said it was not the business of the state to regulate the religious beliefs of the citizens. In Pakistan, attempts were made in the past to manufacture a religiously homogenous nation out of a huge diversity of faiths. Those policies only created social discord and … Read more

Decades of mental conditioning responsible for anti-minority hostility in Pakistan: Speakers

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QUETTA – PR: Speakers at a workshop said policies in the past decades were responsible for the progressive radicalization of the society. Decades of mental conditioning through education, ideological indoctrination, and other means has led to faith-based polarization and anti-minority hostility in Pakistan. In the contemporary environment, members of minority religious groups find it hard … Read more

Persecution of minorities in Balochistan not a priority for media

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QUETTA PR – Speakers at a workshop said religious minorities have faced persecution in Balochistan for long but their plight has never been a priority for the mainstream media. Commercial interests, external pressures, as well as restrictions determine the media’s behavior towards the issues of minorities. Senior journalist and PFUJ president, Shahzada Zulfiqar, said journalists … Read more

Pakistani youth need reconstruction of social identities

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PR – Swat: Individual thinking processes impact not only individual behaviors but also dictate the broader societal outlook and behavior. And unfortunately, thinking patterns are often fed, among other things, by long-held social biases that tend to paint a generalized picture of a religious or ethnic group. These views were expressed by noted columnist, Muhammad … Read more

Third Workshop on ‘Youth for Interfaith Harmony’ in Peshawar

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Introduction PIPS held its third workshop on ‘Youth and Interfaith Harmony’ in Peshawar from the 21st to the 22nd of January. The workshop was attended by more than 30 university students from the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as several renowned speakers from a variety of fields and backgrounds such as journalists, activists … Read more

Workshop on Youth for Interfaith Harmony

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Introduction Religious extremism is a continuing problem in Pakistan despite the immense diversity of religions, faiths, cultures, and languages etc. in the country. Extremism has manifested in acts of violence against members of other faiths as observed during the destruction of a Hindu shrine in Karak on December 30th 2020; as well as against members … Read more