Every society faces different types of social issues. The social scientists try to come up with a better solution to these problems. One of the most important challenges faced by sociologist and psychologist is intolerance. It can have serious consequences on our society and generations. With every passing day the problem is becoming intense and yet there is no well-planned program on mass level to eradicate this disease. Both individual and collective intolerance has reached to a dangerous level.

In Pakistan due to ethno-linguistic, cultural and religious diversity the chances of conflict between various groups of society are more in comparison with any other society. We have seen many cases where due to religious and political differences of one school of thought with other has resulted in deaths of many peoples. To protect their interests many groups also try to use the intolerance of mobs as a weapon to weaken the opponents. In Pakistan religion cards is mostly used for weakening the opponents specially in politics. Social media campaign against Malala Yosufuzai is example which reveals a person is not acceptable to our society who thinks different than the rest.

The problem is not the problem; the problem is how to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, in Pakistan the issue of intolerance has not been given any serious attention both by government and media. Government alone cannot solve this issue, instead involvement of civil society is even more important. Mass awareness campaign on large scale is a viable solution to counter the problem. Government with the help of NGOs and social scientists as well leaders of various political and religious groups, can minimize the intolerance by efficiently utilizing the print, electronic and social media.

ALA-UD-DIN,

Lahore, November 5.