Our Journey towards Peace… If you are afraid to fail, then you should go and become a banker... (Yossi Vardi). There were a number of popular sayings I used to hear since my early childhood. I really had no courage to become a doctor, as I was too afraid to see human-blood and was quite scared of surgical operations. I had no interest to become an engineer, as the things associated with machineries and manufacturing procedures were too difficult for me to understand. I never felt comfortable to become a lawyer, though I was good enough to speak and to bargain but being a lawyer is even more terrible than it used to be. So, the only choice I had was to study commerce and business administration to become a Banker and yes, I finally got a job opportunity in one of the leading commercial banks of Pakistan... It is certainly true that 'Banking' is a fulfilling career choice for individuals who want to help the public. Bankers play an important role in society by investing and lending money. They usually get attractive benefits packages from their employer including retirement plan, health insurance, disability insurance and flexible spending accounts for health care. Even the banks also tend to offer educational development and tuition assistance programs to their employees. BUT... even after spending years of my life with the said banking job with full sincerity and honesty, as well as, after enjoying all relevant personal benefits during my career, I still had a feeling deep inside my heart that I am not performing many of my responsibilities, not being a banker but being a good and responsible human. I fully understood the importance to maintain a balance between my personal and professional lives; as usually the bankers forget to have fun in the things they do. So, one day I decided to find out, how will I ever know which is my thing? What is the one thing I will be really good at and so endlessly enthused by that I won’t continue this constant dabbling? I looked around myself... I was residing in one of the blessed Asian countries, i.e. Pakistan. Here we had an ancient history, a variety of culture, most colorful traditions, a number of festivals. This country is one of those lands which attracts the people around the world due to its landscape. We have icy mountains and burning deserts at a time. But there were few things lacking... Though according to the confirmed rankings arranged by independent and most reliable surveyors, Pakistan was ranked as one of the least racist countries in the world. The said report was published in the Washington Post in year 2013. Data tabulated from the World Values Survey, compiled by two Swedish economists, implied that Pakistan was among the more racially tolerant countries. The study said that although Pakistan has a number of factors that coincide with racial intolerance and sectarian violence, its location in the least-tolerant region of the world, low economic and human development indices, only 6.5% of Pakistanis objected to a neighbour of a different race. This appeared to suggest Pakistanis are more racially tolerant than even the Germans or the Dutch and this report was so much reliable, as the World Values Survey has been measuring global attitudes and opinions for decades. So, I finally decided to become a 'Peace Activist' in order to show the actual face and real beauty of my beloved Pakistan to the whole world, as well as, to reduce and minimize the temporary factors (including religious intolerance) created by some external powers. For this purpose, I formed a group under title of "Pakistan Peacekeeping Mission" to create peace, unity and brotherhood among all Pakistani people regardless of cultural, religious, sectorial and ethnic differences among them. We started working on a new agenda to create peace and harmony among all the people associated with different castes, colours, cultures and regional languages and luckily, a number of volunteers gathered with us in a very short span of time. Now, the next step was to finalize what to do? I was so much involved in many other activities (including traveling, photography, story writing, research articles writing etc.) without disturbing my professional life. I used to attend various social programs on weekends including different seminars, workshops and festivals etc. that made me get many links in different sectors and departments; so, I decided to utilize all such activities in order to create and to spread peace! We realized that today, many non-Muslims regard Islam as a religion that promotes peace, tolerance and harmony; as they do not rely on most of the western media reports, which are mostly spreading inaccurate and inappropriate news about Islam. Many media outlets, such as TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, are influenced by their investors or owners who have certain agendas and who want to promote certain values and points of view. However, some media outlets are simply after the "big story", in order to make more money and more profits. Others are simply "followers", who only gather news from other sources, re-package it and try to sell it again purely as a business. In all these cases, the news reporting is not accurate, but is driven by ulterior motives or simply by profits. Only very few media organizations are committed to providing accurate and true information, regardless of financial gain. Therefore, people today should be very careful in what they take from the media. Shared by : Farhan Wilayat Butt Pakistan Peacekeeping Mission We started our mission to prove that Islam is in fact a religion that promotes peace and understanding among people of all faiths, and it strongly prohibits all forms of violence and aggression against all people regardless of their faith or race. I feel lucky because my beloved Pakistan has a huge number of religious communities, including Catholic and Protestant Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Parsis... and even Jews too. And another fact was so much fascinating to us that being an Islamic country; Pakistan has a number of most sacred places and pilgrimage areas which were associated to other religions. We realized that we have Katasraj (Chakwal, Pakistan) and Hinglaj (Balochistan, Pakistan) which were listed amongst the holiest Hindu places. We have the glorious areas of Nankana Sahib, Panja Sahib and Kartarpur which were listed amongst the sacred Sikh places. We have the monasteries of Taxila (including Dharmarajika, Pipplan and Jaulian) which attract Buddhist people due to the sacred history of Gautam Budh with all those areas. We have Maryamabad (Punjab, Pakistan) which is one of Pakistan's oldest Catholic settlements and a holy site of an annual pilgrimage of Catholics. We initially decided to arrange peace-tours to the different religious monuments and pilgrimage areas (associated with other religions). Our journey took us to the sacred gurdwaras of Nankana Sahib district (which is the birthplace of first Sikh Guru, Baba Guru Nanak Dev ji). We visited Hassan Abdal in order to visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib and we visited Kartarpur to see Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, further Sikh pilgrimage areas. We found a number of things which were amazingly similar in both religions (i.e. Islam and Sikhism) and we realized that the said things can bring both nations closer to each others. Like... Both people (Muslims & Sikhs) are strictly monotheistic. Both believe that God is one. Both religions reject idol worship. Both religions believe in War for righteousness. Both religions follow their Holy Books strictly. Charity receives equal treatment in both religions. Islam and Sikhism are both against caste system. So, all these similarities helped us a lot have detailed discussions with Sikh nation and to develop more understanding with them. We met Sikh youth and I felt honour to interview some of the very prominent figures amongst Pakistani Sikh nation. I interviewed Dr. Mimpal Singh (the first ever Sikh MBBS doctor in the history of Pakistan), who is one of the brightest examples of religious diversity in Pakistan with perfect harmony. His ideas and opinions were absolutely remarkable. I also interviewed Jassi Lailpuria (the first singer and musician from Pakistani Sikh community) and I got a wonderful response from the readers. Besides these interviews, I got the opportunity to participate in the most colourful festivals arranged by Sikh nation in Pakistan. These kind of festivals (especially Besakhi) were too important to us to join, as we got a wonderful opportunity to meet a number of Sikh members around the globe, especially from India, Canada and Malaysia. Prasad (in shape of Halwa with main ingredients of wheat flour, sugar and I still remember the taste of that delicious tea that I took during the festival of ghee) is offered to all visitors in gurdwara without any distinction of status or "Besakhi" in Lahore. It was a great spending time with hundreds of Indian caste. It has a very important religious significance because it is considered a and Canadian Sikh yatrees at Gurdwara Dera Sahib and I am really proud of blessed food by the Guru and it should not be refused to accept (if not my most colourful land of Punjab who welcomes and hosts thousands of accepted may be interpreted by Sikhs as an insult). As a sign of humility and yatrees every year. respect, the visitors accept the Prasad sitting with hands raised and cupped. The offering and receiving of Prasad is a vital part of hospitality protocols. Shared by : Farhan Wilayat Butt Pakistan Peacekeeping Mission A memorable moment... sharing 'Guru Ka Langar' with one of the prestigious "THE INDIAN MOTHERS" :: That was one of those most memorable Indian guests at Gurdwara Dera Sahib (Lahore, Pakistan) during the festival moments which I shall definitely always remember.