ISLAMABAD: Around 300 people belonging to different religions on Sunday gathered outside the Our Lady of Fatima Church in Sector F-8/4 and made a human shield to give a message to radical elements that majority of Pakistanis are against attacks on the Christian community.

The administration of the church opened the gates and allowed the participants inside where they chanted slogans in favour of interfaith harmony and against extremism.

It may be noted that on September 22 terrorists attacked the All Saints Church in Peshawar leaving 80 worshippers dead and about 150 others injured.

A few days back, a group of citizens under the banner of ‘Pakistan for All (PFA)’ announced their decision to make a ‘human chain’ outside the Fatima Church.

In response, a large number of people, including parliamentarians, civil society activists, religious scholars and students, reached the spot on Sunday.

They chanted slogans against those who have been trying to divide the Pakistani nation into religious and ethnic groups.

Arif Hussain Wahidi, the secretary general of Shia Ulema Council, said those who supported terrorism should not be called Muslims because Islam is a religion of peace.

“I want to assure you that people of Pakistan will not tolerate terrorist attacks on churches because these acts are creating embarrassment for the nation at the international level,” he said.

Human rights activist Tahira Abdullah said the gathering showed that Muslims in the country wanted peace. Women of Pakistan have also become fed up with the killings of people in the country,” she added.

“As long as Pakistan does not stop interfering in the affairs of other countries, we will not get peace in our homeland.” Vice-Chairman Hindu Rights Movement Ashok Chand said the Hindu community also showed solidarity with the Christians. Terrorism has become a problem for every Pakistani and we should adopt a joint strategy against it, he added.

“We are also facing so many problems because of a particular mindset of some elements but Pakistan is our homeland and we will never leave it,” he said.

Fatima Lodhi, the president of Rotaract Club Islamabad, while talking to Dawn said she and the members of the club had come to the church because they believed that Pakistan can only progress if there was peace in the country.

“The youth of Pakistan know that some elements have been trying to impose their ideology on the people. We can resist this only through unity. Attacks on churches and different communities are condemnable,” she said.

“Students who want to go abroad for higher studies are facing difficulties to get visas because the foreign embassies think that Pakistanis are involved in terrorism. We have to change this impression,” Ms Lodhi said.

Mohammad Hassan Ilyas, a teacher at the International Islamic University told, Dawn that he had come to the church to give a message that Muslims did not believe in extremism.

“I am a student of Prof Javed Ahmed Ghamdi and we believe that we should practice our religion and should not interfere in the religions of others,” he said.

The organiser of the event, Dr Taimur Rahman, who is a professor at Lums, said under the banner of PFA the civil society was working to spread the message of peace.

Jibran Nasir, another member of the PFA, said a similar event was recently held in Karachi and now they were considering going to Peshawar.

“We want to give a message to Hakeemullah Mehsud that people of Pakistan are united against Taliban. I suggest that the government should start action against the Taliban rather than holding dialogue with them,” he said.

Father Rehmat Hakim of Our Lady of Fatima Church while talking to Dawn said the solidarity shown by the people had boosted the morale of the Christian community.

“The Christian community believes in peace. I am also thankful to the media because it has always supported the Christian community and gave us the feeling that majority of Pakistanis do not believe in terrorism,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association has deputed 144 retired armymen in 26 churches in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Mardan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Karachi to provide security to the Christian worshippers every Sunday.