Speakers at workshop decry policies aimed at damaging pluralistic society Karachi June 7, 2021 For a socially cohesive and religiously tolerant society to take shape in Pakistan, the young generation must learn the skills to think critically and structure their thoughts on the basis of logic and reasoning. Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, former head of the Pakistan Study Centre at the University of Karachi, said this as he addressed a workshop on interfaith harmony in Karachi organised by the Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based research and advocacy think tank. He added that scientific thinking had revolutionised societies and taken human progress to unprecedented heights. Journalist Wusatullah Khan said that just because the fundamental rights and freedoms were mentioned in the constitution did not mean that the state would readily offer them in a plate. In the absence of accountability and vigilance by the citizens, states tended to encroach upon people’s rights and freedoms, he remarked.