LAHORE             -         Creating atmosphere of peace, harmony was government’s priority to enable people to contribute to their collective growth and wellbeing with full dedication. Speaking at consultation session at Ministers’ Block, Punjab Civil Secretariat on Wednesday, Minister for Human Rights, Minorities Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Ejaz Alam Augustine said that there was need of taking public on board and give them a sense of ownership, regardless of class, creed, caste and religion, to make the province an ideal home for them. The session was organized jointly by the department and the Youth Development Foundation (YDF) to seek policy recommendations under the project titled “Harmonious, Tolerant, and Safe Punjab for Everyone”. The project aims at formulation of a comprehensive policy document for the ministry with input from different stakeholders on how to promote feelings of equality, harmony, peace and tolerance in the province. The consultation session was the last of the four organized to identify the problem areas, mull solutions and set direction of the project before its official launch this week. A launching ceremony of the project is planned on January 11, 2020.  Shahid Rehmat, Executive Director, YDF, gave a brief introduction of the project and explained its background. He shared that the federal government had devolved Ministry of Interfaith Harmony to provincial administrative units in April 2019 and till date Punjab government had not yet come up with any concrete policy/guidelines for the newly devolved ministry. To help the government in this respect, Shahid said, the draft recommendations based on consultations under the project will be presented to the members of the Multi Party Working Group (PWG) and Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Minorities Affairs and Interfaith Harmony. The objective, he said, will be to build a stronger case for the ministry to advocate for its adoption by the Punjab government.