Background

Written by Administrator Saturday, 30 January 2010 12:01

Pakistan is a Muslim dominated country with a massive illiteracy rate of over 60 percent in men
and over 70 percent in women. The majority of this illiterate population is poor and in most cases
their sole source of education comes from conservative community level clerics who have a
narrow view of Islam and society. Minorities, which represent less than ten percent of the country,
mostly live in the poorest communities and are subject to all kinds of social, cultural, political and
developmental discrimination. Widespread illiteracy and a majority that does not even know the
tolerant and pluralist view of Islam define the social and cultural context. In spite of the historical
Hindu-Muslim tensions, which took more lives on the planes of Punjab than the holocaust, the
dominant classes have not worked for the protection of oppressed classes after independence.
The notorious incidences in Khanewal and Shantinagar are a case in point. In Shantinagar,
Muslims brutally attacked the Christian population and as a result 14 Churches, five pastor
houses, 125 shops, two schools, two dispensaries and a number of vehicles and tube-wells were
looted, burnt and destroyed. In the same mayhem, “8574 people were rendered homeless, while
1889 rooms, including all belongings were burnt” according to a report by the National
Commission for Justice and Peace . A report by Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)
found that during May 2005 to February 2006 “at least 7 Churches, 7 houses belonging to the
religious minorities, 3 Pastors houses, 1 Convent, 1 girl's hostel and a dispensary run by nuns, 7
Church-run schools, a college of the Christian community, a place of worship of Ahmadis, a
Temple of Hindus and 3 hospitals of the Christian community were destroyed in various provinces
and cities; a Hindu couple, accused of blasphemy, lost their property; 10 persons belonging to
religious minorities were killed, 27 individuals were booked under blasphemy laws; and hundreds
were harassed and injured by the fanatics in different incidents.” A report by Asian Centre for
Human Rights (ACHR) says that in July 2006, Hindus were forced to flee from Panwal Das
Compound area in Lyari, Karachi while Muslim butchers with the support of the police made the
Shiv Mandir of the Hindus into a slaughter house. Similarly, in Peshawar, Christians were asked
to convert to Islam or face death. In May 2007, Christians in Charsadda, also in the North West
Frontier Province, were given ten days to convert to Islam and were warned of ‘dire
consequences and bomb explosions.’ The Taliban in NWFP has imposed a protection tax on
Sikhs and other non-Muslims living in Taliban controlled areas of NWFP. In one of the incidents ,
the Lashkar-e-Islam imposed a “Jazia” tax of Rs. 1000 per person per year on non-Muslims for
protection. Similarly, on April 21, 2009 the Taliban murdered 2 Christians after attacking a
Christian neighborhood in Swat valley in order to force them to convert to Islam. One woman
was shot dead and 28 people were injured in an attack on the Presbyterian Christian community
in a village in the province of Pakistan's Punjab. The website Religious Watch reported, “the
attack took place on March 2 (2009) when a group of Muslim inhabitants opened fire on the
Christians who had gathered in the church for prayer. The woman died on the spot, while other
members of the congregation suffered injuries of various kinds as they were fleeing from the
bullets or when trying to protect the pastor. The attackers broke the windows of the church,
destroyed the Bibles and the other prayer books, and removed the cross from the roof of the
building”.

With high sensitivity of the these tensions and the lack of utilizing of creative and popular
communication tools, like theater and puppets, the issue of interfaith tensions remains less
spoken about despite its severe impact on the social life of people in the country.
Goals & Objectives

Written by Administrator Saturday, 30 January 2010 12:03

Long term goal:

• Improve the social coexistence and interfaith harmony among Muslim majority and religious
minorities in Pakistan.

Short term goals:

• Develop a cadre of youth peace activists and train them in using puppetry theater to promote
social coexistence and interfaith harmony
• Initiate dialogue about the need for interfaith harmony and peaceful social coexistence through
Puppetry Theater performances and dialogues among key stakeholders at district and national
levels.
• Attempt to mainstream the efforts in promoting interfaith harmony and peace among religious
minorities and Muslims

Objectives:
• Develop 2 youth groups for Puppetry Theater performance within the project life
• Train 2 youth groups (about 20-30 youths) in Puppetry Theater to be used for improving social
coexistence and promoting interfaith harmony.
• Conduct 60 districts wide, 30 per district, Puppetry Theater performances on interfaith
harmony and peace.
• Form two district level peace committees and conduct 14 multi-stakeholder dialogues among
key stakeholders emphasizing the need for promotion of interfaith harmony among Muslim
majority and religious minorities.
• Conduct one national level conference on popularizing the issues of the interfaith harmony
and peace among religious minorities and Muslim majority.
• Develop and establish a project website to share and make public project activities

Project Activities

Written by Administrator Saturday, 30 January 2010 12:04

Trainings of youth groups

Cavish would conduct three- day residential training of the youth groups. The training would
mainly focus on how to make puppets and how to write scripts for the puppet shows. A special
session would be dedicated to peace and conflict transformation among religious groups
sensitizing the youth about the need for inter-faith harmony in Pakistan and some basic concepts
related to peace and conflict transformation. The training would be documented in the form of a
small “10 minute video” of training process and participant’s views (please see annex 1 for a
tentative outline of the training program.)

Puppetry Theater performances across districts

The theater groups would organize 60 performances on inter-faith harmony, peace and conflict
transformation at the village and neighborhood level. Thirty performances would be conducted in
each of the two districts. The performances will not only help raise awareness but would also be
used to trigger discussions on inter-faith harmony and initiate a process of behavioral change for
the promotion of peace and tolerance among the different faiths.

Formation of the District Peace Committee

Cavish would form district peace committees. One committee would be formed in each district.
There would be 15 members in each district committee. The district committee would have
membership from each possible stakeholder i.e. civil society organizations, media, lawyers,
religious leaders (both Muslims and non-Muslims), academics, political leaders (both from
Muslims and non-Muslims), elected representatives of district local government (both Muslims
and non-Muslims).

The district peace committee would work with project staff to organize the district dialogues and
performances by the puppetry theater groups. We expect linking the theater groups to the peace
committees would help in longer term sustainability of the theater group. The district peace
committee would meet at least once in every quarter. Cavish would facilitate the meetings.

District level multi-stakeholder policy dialogues

Organizing the Puppetry Theater performances at the grassroots level would only facilitate inter-
faith harmony at the grassroots level and within communities. However, other stakeholders such
as government agencies, religious, social and political leaders of minorities and Muslims, and
media activists play a vital role in ensuring to sustain inter-faith harmony and peace at the district
level in the long run. Nonetheless, this requires an effort to bring the stakeholders together on a
single platform, sensitize them about inter-faith harmony and increase their awareness of their
due roles in promoting inter-faith harmony and peace in their respective communities. Cavish
would conduct 14 district level policy dialogues, 7 in each district, bringing together leaders of
religious minorities, Muslim religious leaders, government officials, civil society organizations,
academics and media to discuss ways and means of maintaining peace and preventing conflict in
their districts. One such dialogue would be held among the religious leaders of Muslims and
religious minorities on working together to promote inter-faith harmony. The district peace
committees in close coordination with Cavish’s field officers would organize these dialogues.

National conference on inter-religion harmony, peace, conflict transformation and Puppetry

Theater festival

Cavish would undertake a national conference on inter-religion harmony, and peace

supplemented by a puppetry festival. The conference would bring together leaders of religious
minority groups, Muslim religious leaders, elected legislators, human rights activists,
representatives of Ministry of Religious affairs and Ministry of Human rights and other relevant
stakeholder to explore the issues and challenges related to inter-religion harmony, peacebuilding
and conflict transformation. The conference would not only help bring the issue of interfaith
harmony into the national discourse but will also help to explore the issue and its interactions with
the ongoing socio-economic and political processes in the country. The conference would be
used to set important benchmarks for taking further steps in promoting interfaith harmony and
improving social coexistence .

Project Website and documentation

Cavish would develop a project website to communicate the project’s website for larger
dissemination and improvement of the project’s visibility. Updates about project, in form of
word/PDF reports and videos would be posted to this website.

Video Documentary for Impact Sharing

In order to share the impacts of the puppetry performances with target communities, Cavish
would develop a short video of about 25 to 30 minutes duration. This documentary would have
clips from training of the theater groups, the performances and responses from communities
where the puppetry theater performances were organized. Feedback of the puppetry theater
group members would also be included to highlight the impact of the training, performances and
project on their respective lives. Copies of the documentary would be widely shared through out
the two districts and other parts of the country and would also be made available to the
participants of the national conference on interfaith harmony and on the project website. The
documentary would add to the project visibility and documentation of its achievements.