March 25, 2019: CODE PAKISTAN held a consultation on countering violent extremism at Jamia Shaheed Arif al-Hussaini in Peshawar today. Team CODE PAKISTAN gave a comprehensive presentation on the importance of peace, tolerance, and inclusivity at the madrassah, which was followed by a general discussion among the around 50 participants of the discussion, including students and faculty members of the Jamia Shaheed Arif al-Hussaini.
The students of Jamia Shaheed Arif al-Hussaini actively participated in the discussion and highlighted the need for such events at other madrassahs and mainstream educational institutions like schools and colleges, alongside the universities. They said that such events could be jointly held with the students of mainstream educational institutions and students of madrassahs of various Wafaqs. One of the participating students shared that Shia students at times faced untoward attitude of Sunni students on the campuses of mainstream educational institutions as well. Therefore, there was a need to create awareness about inter-sectarian harmony among the students of all educational institutions, including school, colleges, and universities. The students of Jamia Shaheed Arif al-Hussaini also emphasized the need for greater inter-madrassah and university-madrassah and college-madrassah interactions through a range of activities, such as dialogues, sports competitions, etc.
The consultation was attended by the Mohtamim of Jamia Shaheed Arif al-Hussaini Allama Jawad Hadi. Another notable Shia scholar from KP Allama Abid Hussain Shakiri, who is the Mohtamim of a madrassah in the town of Kalaya in Orakzai tribal district also attended the event. Leading Deobandi scholar Maulana Luqman Ahmed also attended the consultation. Allama Abid Hussain Shakiri also shared his views on the importance of inter-sectarian harmony in Pakistan and countering violent extremism in the society. It needs to be remembered that Jamia Shaheed Arif al-Hussaini was the target of a suicide bombing in June 2013, in which 15 people were killed.