CRSS Executive Director and Dutch Ambassador Mrs. Jeannette Seppen at the PACE launch event
March 5, 2016, Islamabad: Participation of opinion multipliers in the potential exercise of tolerance and dialogue was the need of the hour, Mrs. Jeannette Seppen, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Islamabad, Pakistan. She was speaking at the inaugural session – held at COMSATS Islamabad – of Pakistan Center of Excellence (PACE), a major CVE initiative launched by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), anchored in the universally acknowledged democratic values promoting globally practiced fundamental concepts.
Project Director Salahuddin greeting Mrs. Jeannette Seppen, Dutch Amb. Pakistan
“For the Netherlands, all issues of radicalization, extremism and fundamentalism have been a priority agendas across all those countries where we are involved through our international cooperation”, said Jeannette while adding that with the Dutch Military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, they duly followed these issues from close by; maintaining its reputation of tolerance.
Mr. Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director, CRSS, after showing a brief video to the audiences that encapsulated some of the ideals that prompted the creation of the Pakistan Center of Excellence for peace, said that these ideals also resonated those core values that are acknowledged, practiced and respected as fundamental to social harmony, political peace and national cohesion.
“PACE is anchored in the central theme of equal citizenry and the rule of law because these are the critical values that can and may minimize conflict and help promote peace and generate respect for diversity of thought, faith and ethnicity.
Mr. Gul said that that by sticking to the constitution, by promoting respect for the universal declaration of human rights, and by creating awareness on the UN indicators for rule of law and equal citizenry, we could help rationalize the conversation on governance, national unity, peace and harmony. For this critical thinking is the first tool and this is what we are starting together today, with the hope of planting the seeds for a critical human mass that could potentially serve as the harbinger of critical thinking and thus contribute to the goal of peace and social harmony.
Inaugural session beneficiaries and other Islamabad notables at the PACE launch ceremony
His thoughts were mirrored by Project Director PACE Zeeshan Salahuddin, who said that in the simplest terms, the core idea behind PACE was to create tolerance, promote equality and foster and celebrate diversity. “It is time for us to push back”, he said, referring to PACE’s alternative narrative on building a better, tolerant, cohesive, sustainable and peaceful society in Pakistan.