The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) in collaboration with Association of NGOs for Sharing Resources and Activities (ANSRA) organised a seminar on the 10th Death Anniversary of Bishop John Joseph, which was attended by 80 participants from different spheres of life.
Bishop Joseph Coutts joined the seminar as chief guest, Father Khalid Rasheed Asi presided over the ceremony, while Amina Zaman (Director-ASDP), Riffat Qadri, Mrs Shamim Khatak (Advocate), Khushi Peter (Caritas), Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM) and Shahid Anwar (NCJP) were among the speakers.
Bishop Joseph Coutts said that people of Pakistan had not only remembered the sacrifice and contribution of Bishop John Joseph for peace, justice, human rights and harmony, but also had kept alive the mission of Bishop John.
Father Khalid Rasheed said that Bishop John Joseph was equally popular among religious, social, political, educational and literary circles; therefore, he would live in our hearts and minds forever for his services in different fields.
Amina Zaman said that Bishop John Joseph boldly raised voice for the rights of unprivileged people till the last breath, but now there exists no such organised movement for rights of downtrodden section of the society.
Riffat Qadri recalling the motto of Bishop John said that people of different persuasions unanimously need to vow for resolving the conflicts among different religions and civilisations by promoting the message of love, harmony and solidarity. Shamim Khatak said that Bishop John Joseph had contributed a lot for the promotion of Muslim-Christian brotherhood and fraternity; therefore, he is famous for building bridges among different faiths.
Khushi Peter said that government should abolish the discriminatory laws dividing citizens in the name of religion, because these laws had been used as a tool of personal grudge, which had equally affected Christians, Hindus and Muslims on the fabricated charges.