Youth Symposium for Peace & Tolerance | Balkh
The 5th round of the Youth Symposium for Peace and Tolerance, initiated by the Afghanistan Economic & Legal Studies Organization (AELSO), entitled “The Role of Religious Scholars in Promoting the Values of Pluralism and fighting extremism” has been successfully organized in Balkh province on March 04, 2021.
Youths, religious scholars, university students & lecturers, civil and human rights activists actively participated in this symposium. The symposium was moderated by Lotfur Rahman Rahmani, AELSO’s volunteer member in Balkh province. At the beginning of the program, Sayed Ghani Maqsoudiar, Provincial fellow of the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO), briefed the participants about AELSO’s main achievements.
Continuing the program, Maulavi Abdul Samad Moahid talked about role of religious scholars in promoting the values of pluralism and opposing extremism among Afghan youths and said:
“There is no problem with the true teachings of the holy religion of Islam. Islam and an inclusive & just religion. Everyone can live under the territory of Islam and there is no place for extremism, violence and division in Islam.”
Following Moahid, Hujjatul Islam Sayyed Sajjad Alemi, Deputy of Balkh Shiite Ulema Council talked about the role of religious scholars in promoting the values of pluralism and mutual acceptance among Afghan youths from Shiite perspective, and said:
“Islam is the religion of unity and mutual acceptance. The multiplicity of sects in Islamic religion accepted by the Islamic world shows the dynamism of religion and the principle of pluralism in Islam. Therefor we need to work for more awareness in the society about the values of pluralism and fighting against extremism, and follow the path of tolerance & pluralism in our daily social and political relations.”
Another speaker of the program, Sultan Shah Tokhi; Youth cohesion manager of the information & culture directorate of Balkh province, talked about promotion of the culture of pluralism, mutual acceptance and fight against extremism among the youths and emphasized by saying:
“The youth should act cautiously with empathy and solidarity and promote the culture of pluralism and fighting against extremism with the direct support from the religious scholars.”
In the Q&A section, the experts of the Symposium answered participants’ questions about the role of religious scholars in promoting the values of pluralism and fighting extremism in the country.
After the panel, participants of the program discussed and exchanged views in the group work, and then one representative from each group presented their views about the causes of extremism in the universities of Afghanistan.
The 5th round of Youth Symposium for Peace and tolerance in Balkh province ended with the distribution of certificates of participation for the participants, & group photo.
The 5th round of Youth Symposium for Peace and tolerance in Balkh province ended with the distribution of certificates of participation for the participants, & group photo.
@aelso Communication & Public Relations Department