Having survived a violent religious attack in his youth, Rizwan made a vow to dedicate his life to peacebuilding. After earning a master\u2019s degree in peace and conflict studies, and teaching peace education in Pakistan, he was selected for the KAICIID International Fellows Programme, a globally recognized initiative training leaders in interreligious dialogue. \u201cKAICIID gave me the tools and confidence to turn my vision into reality,\u201d Rizwan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local Forums Spark a Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In late 2024, Rizwan launched the Khanewal District Peace Forum<\/strong>, uniting Muslim, Christian, and Hindu leaders alongside youth, women and political representatives. Within six months, the idea spread rapidly, with seven other districts in Punjab replicating the model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of these forums is Inter Religious Dialogue (IRD)<\/strong>, the practice of bringing together people of different faith traditions to build trust, reduce prejudice, and find peaceful solutions to shared challenges. \u201cIRD is not just about discussion,\u201d Rizwan explained. \u201cIt\u2019s about transforming relationships and working together for the good of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n These forums are already showing results: two major religious conflicts in Southern Punjab were resolved peacefully through dialogue and cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Local to National<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With growing demand and strong local partnerships, Rizwan and his colleagues took a bold step: founding the National Ecumenical Council of Pakistan (NECP)<\/strong>in May 2025, the country\u2019s first national-level platform bringing together leaders from Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The council aims to provide a united voice for peace, promote interreligious dialogue, and equip communities to resolve conflicts before they escalate. \u201cThis is about building a Pakistan where differences are not threats but strengths,\u201d Rizwan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Story of Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rizwan\u2019s journey from a village in Khanewal to the launch of a national interfaith council is a story of resilience, vision, and leadership. By combining international training with grassroots action, he has shown how one individual\u2019s commitment can inspire a broader movement of peace across Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *******<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Javaid Daniel Khanewal, Pakistan \u2013 What began as the dream of a young peace activist from a small village in Southern Punjab has now grown into a nationwide movement for interfaith harmony. Rizwan, a peace educator and activist, has spent over a decade working for peace, dialogue, education and tolerance across Pakistan. Having survived a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[188,12],"tags":[73,192,66,186,187,90,190,20,19,185,184,189,18,191],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-javaid-daniel","category-point-of-view","tag-christian-news","tag-christian-youth","tag-christians-in-pakistan","tag-interview","tag-interview-with-rizwan","tag-javaid-daniel","tag-khanewal","tag-nia-tadeeb","tag-niatadeeb","tag-rizwan","tag-rizwan-shaukat","tag-shantinagar","tag-tadeeb","tag-youth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Javaid-Daniel.png?fit=150%2C171&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":541,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions\/541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tadeeb.org\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Rizwan-Shaukat.jpg?resize=640%2C305&ssl=1\")
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