Peace linked to mutual acceptance, respect to minority rights

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Participants of a roundtable discussion, organized by Pajhwok Afghan News and aired by Radio Meraj in western Herat province, stressed the need for eliminating root causes of local disputes, promoting mutual acceptance and respecting the rights of minorities.

The 41-minut roundtable titled ‘Local Peace through Promoting Mutual Acceptance and Respecting Minority Rights ‘was transmitted from Meraj Radio and it will be repeatedly aired tomorrow at 10:00am.

University teacher Abdul Khaliq Haqqani said: “The Islamic Emirate should take another step forward after the announcement of general amnesty. They should promote mutual acceptance, ease social restrictions and accept public choices in the society.”

He believed ‘when people see themselves in a government and this culture is encouraged from the top leadership of government, the Afghans will then see their dreams come true.’

They will witness mutual acceptance and mutual respect in every field of life and the roots of biasness and differences will dry up, he added.

According to Haqqani, most problems the people of Afghanistan faced in the past few decades originated from imbalanced government, violation of the rights of minorities and the lack of proper strategy from the government to resolve disputes.

Arifa Olumi, a women rights activist, acknowledged Haqqani’s views and said all minorities, groups, tribes and ethnic communities should play active role in government which should represent the people of Afghanistan.

She also stressed on familiarizing school students with peace and the culture of non-violence and said the Ministry of Education through a proper mechanism should promote peace, mutual acceptance and patriotism among school students.

She believed by launching such schemes. the future generation of the country will be brought up completely different from the existing generation.

Samiullah Darwaish, one of the participants, termed peace in societies and eradication of problems vital and stressed over the role of ulema in this regard.

Roundtables promoting peace, mutual acceptance, co-existence, cultural and non-violence and protection of minority rights are organized by Pajhwok Afghan News with the financial support of UNDP and Danish Embassy in the Western Zone of the country.

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