Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East and Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi Tuesday said the thee-day visit of Canterbury’s Archbishop Justin Welby had portrayed the soft image of Pakistan on the globe.
Addressing a presser, he said after holding one on one meeting with state machinery and religious scholars of various schools of thought, the archbishop reached the conclusion that Pakistan firmly believed in interfaith harmony and minorities’ rights were equally enshrined in the Constitution.
Ashrafi said, before his departure, the archbishop had expressed complete satisfaction on the adequate measures, taken by the government of Pakistan for promoting the interfaith harmony in the country.
He quoted Justin Welby as saying that the government and religious scholars were on the same page and heading towards the right direction on the matter of interfaith harmony.
He said he and his co-host Church of Pakistan President Bishop Azad Marshal had decided to invite Pope Francis to visit Pakistan to further stamp that Pakistan was a land of peace and religious harmony.
Taking hand in hand of Bishop Marshal, Ashrafi said Marshal was as custodian of the house as he was and both of them had to foil the nefarious designs of the enemy with collective efforts.
He said it was need of the hour to take interfaith harmony and dialogue at the grassroots level in a bid to sensitize the commoners about the significance of co-existence and its role in the development and prosperity of the country.
He further informed that under the auspices of PUC, the ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan Ulema and Mashaikh Conference’ was being organized here at the Convention Center on March 7.
Meanwhile, Church of Pakistan President Bishop Azad Marshal said the archbishop of Canterbury’s visit had raised the morale of Pakistan and it had helped counter negative propaganda against it across the world. Besides eulogizing the unwavering efforts of Tahir Ashrafi for the interfaith harmony, he also appreciated media for extensively covering the foreign religious dignitary.
