Inter-religious and inter-cultural cooperation for peace

Pakistan's statement at the General Assembly High Level Dialogue on Inter-religious and inter-cultural cooperation for peace 4 October 2007

Mr. President

The Secretary General

Distinguished Ministers

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen

This is a moment of immense pleasure for me to participate in the High level Dialogue on inter-religious and intercultural cooperation for peace. This event is being organized in follow up to the General Assembly Resolution 61/221 which was jointly sponsored by Pakistan and Philippines. It is also the first High level Dialogue on the important issue of interfaith cooperation that has emerged as one of the greatest challenges of our times.

Excellencies,

The history of the last two Millennium proves that all the major monotheistic religions of the world - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - share a common heritage and converge on a multiplicity of universal values.

The basic tenets of all religions and cultures are fundamentally similar: prescribing indivisible peace, dignity, honesty, equality, harmony, tolerance, cooperation, commitment, patience, fortitude.

Throughout history, confrontation between faiths and civilizations, when they occurred, were motivated by competing political or economic interests rather than incompatibility between fundamental precepts of religions.

Today also, the manifestations of misunderstanding and friction between cultures and civilizations are not the result of religious differences. They arise from divergent political perspectives on some important issues such as the crises in the Middle East.

The post 9/11 world has accentuated this polarization amongst communities belonging to different faiths and religions.

There are perceptions in the West about Islam, which is portrayed by some as a faith propagating terrorism and extremism and bent upon striking at Western values. The image of Islam is further distorted by the role of some religious and political extremists on both sides.

In the Muslim world, there is a general belief that the West is deliberately suppressing or allowing the suppression of Muslim peoples in Palestine, Iraq, Kashmir and elsewhere. And it is often felt that freedom of expression is exploited as a weapon for the propagation and projection of insults and hate against Islam and its sacred symbols and personalities.

Excellencies

Islam is not a threat to the Western Civilization. It is a religion of peace and submission. There have been numerous instances throughout the history that Muslims, Christians and Jews have lived together peacefully as citizens in one State. Today Muslims should also be able to live in fraternity and freedom in Western countries. As the British historian and author Karen Armstrong has stated, "If we are to avoid catastrophe, the Muslim and Western worlds must learn not merely to tolerate but to appreciate one another".

Excellencies

It is Pakistan's hope that the Alliance of Civilizations, under the UN auspices, can provide the organizational framework for the adoption of a comprehensive strategy for action at the international and national levels to promote understanding and cooperation between religions and cultures. Such a strategy should be inclusive involving governments, civil society, religious leaders, private sector, media, and international organizations.

At the national level, each country should promote conscious action to counter extremism within its society. We must prohibit extremist organizations and hate literature, prevent the misuse of places of worship for the promotion of extremist views. We must also prohibit the defamation and denigration of religions and religious personalities under the pretext of freedom of expression. We should adopt appropriate reforms in educational curricula to promote the correct interpretation of various faiths and cultures, initiate dialogue among our own people to build further understanding of the true spirit and values of their own and other major religions and adopt conscious policies for the protection of religious minorities.

• At the international level, a series of actions are required:
• Sincere efforts to resolve major international disputes, especially where these involve friction between different religions and faiths, such as in Palestine and Kashmir;
• The promotion of equitable socio economic development and an end to the exploitation of the natural resources of developing countries;
• Promotion of universal and multicultural education, inculcating greater understanding of other religions and cultures. To this end, one specific step we could take is the establishment of a common school for training of officials and diplomats from nations representing different faiths, e.g. in Middle East and South Asia;
• Greater intra-civilizational and intra-religious exchanges and communications among the Member States, including through the proper use of the internet and other modern information technologies.
• In certain societies where migration has created a sudden mixture of faiths and cultures, conscious processes for gradual and peaceful integration, co-existence and cooperation are necessary. A start could be made with the adoption of confidence-building measures that can overcome the hate and negative stereotypes that have been allowed to occur.

Excellencies

It is not surprising that there are differences within and between societies, cultures, civilizations and religions. These differences and diversity should not be the cause for confrontation. On the contrary, as the Holy Quran says "this ethnic diversity is only for sake of identity". Each one of us is a member of the same human family, with the same hopes and aspirations for a happy and prosperous life. Each human being must have the right and must have the opportunity to realize these hopes and aspirations in accordance with his or her values- without coercion or intervention. As we believe in Islam, a man's Faith is only between him and God Almighty.

I thank you.