VARIETY OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS HOSTING ANTI-DRUG SEMINAR

On Sunday, April 8, religious leaders from Christianity, Hinduism,
Islam and Sikhism will hold a public seminar to discuss the topic of
How to Save Our Children, Our Next Generation in regards to drug and
alcohol abuse.

"Drug and alcohol abuse is obviously one of the major issues that
society faces today," said Khalid Mahmood, organizer of the event.
"We try to focus in on the main issues, and obviously drugs and
alcohol are major challenges to deal with."

The event is being organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at of
Brampton Peel Village Canada, an organization based on the Ahmadi
denomination of the Islam faith.

The symposium itself parallels many of the Ahmadi values, such as
encouraging interfaith dialogue and advocating peace, tolerance and
understanding among different faiths.

"We have a history of hosting events like this (worldwide) for more
than 100 years and the last 15 years in Canada," said Mahmood. "We
have gained a lot of respect in the community for our model of peace."

The symposium aims to combine several points of view in order to
create a balanced platform to find solutions to some of society's
biggest problems.

"We like to sit down with people from different points of view to try
to find solutions for major issues. We invite people of all faiths to
present their ideas for every issue. We don't skip anyone, even if
they have the absolute opposite view to our beliefs - they will still
have valuable input," Mahmood said.

The interfaith symposium will be held at South Fletcher's Sportsplex,
500 Ray Lawson Blvd., from 6 to 9 p.m., with registration at 5:30 and
refreshments afterwards.

Guest speakers will be Bishop Canute B. Blake (Christianity), Pandit
Roopnauth Sharma (Hinduism), Vern Lahey (Islam) and Tejpal Singh
Sahni (Sikhism). For more information, please contact Anis-ur-Rehman
at 416-301-8530 or Dr. Asim Bashir Shaikh at 416-238-9921.