Speakers at a workshop said on Friday that the exercise of right of franchise was a vital and integral part of democratic process and if it was exercised sensibly then it has the potential to bring about a revolutionary and drastic change.
They were addressing a workshop on importance of vote here at a local hotel, which was organised by Pakistan Institute of National Affairs (PINA). The first session of the workshop was attended by teachers of seminaries, which was presided over by Maulana Yaseen Zafar and attended by Maulana Abdur Rasheed Jami as special guest, while the second session was attended by Khateebs of mosques and eminent religious scholars, which was presided over by Sahibzada Zahid Mehmood Qasmi and attended by Sahibzada Attaul Mustafa Noori as a special guest.
General Secretary PINA and renowned journalist and columnist, Altaf Hassan Qureshi while elaborating the importance of vote, said that Pakistan came into being through the strength of vote and this immense might of vote was witnessed in Iran and Turkey, where religious leadership emerged through electoral process.
Qureshi said that Ulemas were respectable segment of society, who had direct contact with the local population of their areas. They played an important role in betterment of society and served as an important source of guidance for the people, he noted.
Altaf Qureshi said that religious institutions had a broad-based network in the country which had about 2 million students and teachers associated with them. He urged the religious teachers and scholars to create awareness in their areas of influence regarding the importance and significance of vote because this awareness had a strong potential for changing the fate of the nation and the country.
Qureshi informed the participants that since its inception in 1985 PINA had held a number of seminars and workshops spread over a wide canvas of subjects spanning from communal harmony, national solidarity, inter-provincial harmony to Islamic values, culture & civilisation and broad range of other subjects of national importance.
He said that since May 2007, PINA had held four Workshops for highlighting the importance of voter enlistment and exercising the right to vote in Lahore, Multan and Bahawalpur during which awareness was given to 20 thousand students of religious institutions regarding the importance of this process. Former election commissioner of Punjab and Balochistan, Rehmat Ali Mujahid, shed light over the importance of vote and electoral process.
He also deliberated upon the balloting procedures and underlined the fact that everyone should take this exercise very seriously, because country's future leadership emerged through this process.
Mualana Yousaf Anwar said that Prophet Muhammad PBUH preferred consultation and upheld the majority opinion in disposing of state matters, which in itself was a proof of democratic practices in Islam. Sahibzada Zahid Mehmud Qasmi stressing the need for exercise of vote said that there was dire need top create awareness among masses about rights to vote for electing their representatives. Maulana Ataul Mustafa Noori, Maulana Abdur Rasheed Jami, Mualana Yaseen Zafar and a number of other religious scholars also addressed the workshop.
Comments
Comments are closed.