KOHAT, Jan 12: Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday night said that 9/11 had resulted in clash of civilisations where only humans were suffering in the name of religion.

"Inter-religious dialogue is pre-requisite for peace building" was held under the auspices of National Commission for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Ecumenism (NCIDE).

The speakers suggested that like past there was a need to inculcate feelings of tolerance, peaceful living, humanity and freedom of expression. Father Nadeem Francis, executive secretary of the NCIDE termed the impression created by certain quarters that Christians of Pakistan were supporting West in the war against terror, was totally wrong.

He said that they were patriotic Pakistanis and wanted peace in the country. He, however, added that following 9/11 the Christians were not feeling secure. Javed Samar, secretary-general of Yohana Arts Society in his welcome address said that if on the one hand the world had seen enormous development, much division had been witnessed during last century on the basis of colour, race, religion and intra- religion differences.

He regretted that the mankind had gone so mad that worship places of various religions were being targeted throughout the world and nobody - Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others were safe. As nobody could destroy the gods of each other or religions the ultimate sufferers were the humans, which was barbarism and insult of humanity.

Baldev Kumar said that there was a need to educate the people about the philosophy about religions. Unfortunately, the clerics today spent most of the time degrading other religions. This has, he said, caused hatred to the extent that people were killing each other.

He said that the situation was so grave that when I sat down to write my speech I could not put on paper what my mind wanted to say because I knew that most of the people would not be able to tolerate it. So we had still to achieve much in this context and make this world worth living for all inhabitants. Today humanity demanded from us only peace, he remarked.

Sister Shagufta said that the followers of one religion should not indulge in branding others as lesser humans. Humans were the most dangerous weapons in the hands of extremists and in most of the cases the dishearted and disoriented people fell prey and go on rampage.

Father Inayat Bernard read out the message of Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan, chairman of National Commission for Inter- Religious Dialogue and Ecumenism (NCIDE) which had organised the Inter Religious Peace Conference in Kohat, in which he urged the people of Pakistan to promote tolerance and respect for all religions.

Quoting Pope John Paul II he said that there could not be justice unless there was peace which could not be achieved without forgiveness. He expressed the hope that such conferences would bring about positive changes in the society.

MNA Mufti Ibrar Sultan said that the big powers had destroyed world's peace by labelling Muslims as terrorists whereas Islam was a religion of peace and tolerance.

He warned that attempts to target Muslims in the so-called war against terror would further aggravate the situation and might result in a full-fledged clash between the civilisations.

He said that the dream of one super power to rule the whole world and subjugate Muslims was sheer nonsense and if we go by the holy books there was no such divine provision. Such needs had been created by the lust of the rulers during different times where end result had been hatred, bloodshed, destruction and chaos in the world.

MPA Syed Qalb-i-Hassan and District Nazim Malik Asad in their speeches stressed that we should try to make good human beings rather followers of various religions. This, they said, was possible through education.

They claimed that the minorities in Pakistan were completely secure and their interests would be safeguarded. The Muslim and Christian students of St Joseph's High School presented a drama in which they depicted the negative effects of weapons of war and stressed urgent need for peace in the world.

Hindu community was represented by Rajesh Sohni, chief of the Kohat Balmik Association, Sikhs by Darpan Singh and Christians by Father Sohail Patrick, parish priest, Catholic Church, Kohat who was also the organiser of the programme. Poems were read out by Shahid Zaman (Muslim) and Suraj Narayen (Hindu).