Partnership Among All to Overcome Terrorism : Religions for Peace 

Deeply troubled by and strongly condemning the terrorist suicide bombing that killed over 40 Indians in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, concerned over escalating tensions between the Governments of Pakistan and India, heartened by goodwill gestures that tamp down escalating tensions, and noting that all countries and communities are vulnerable to terrorism, we hereby call upon all Governments, religious communities and men and women of goodwill to unite to reject all forms of violent extremism, especially violence undertaken in the name of God.

Respectfully, we urge the Governments of Pakistan, India and all other States to firmly reject terrorism as an enemy of all States and Peoples. All Governments must take common action against terrorism for the common security and well-being of all. All States must commit to cooperate as needed on the elimination of terrorist camps. Terrorism is designed to sow fear, division and political polarization that plays into the hands of the terrorists. We must not allow ourselves to be divided by terrorism, rather we must unite in our rejection of it.

Violent extremism causes the murder of innocents, immense suffering, the erosion of trust between different groups and fuels social hostility. In addition, violent extremist religious ideologies perversely twist and distort the Sacred heritages they purport to represent. Violent religious extremism is not limited to one group, region, culture, religion or historical period. Today, it is a plague to the entire world.

Respectfully, we urge that all religious groups unite in a common rejection of every form of violent religious extremism. These are false religious ideologies of hatred, not Peace. These twisted violent religious ideologies foster the acceptance of barbarism and butchery, justifying them, saying that they are “right.” At bottom, they share in common the fatal flaw of failing to acknowledge and honor universal human dignity which every religion grounds in its own experience of the Sacred.

Today, every person’s security depends upon the security of everyone else. We are no more secure than the least secure among us. Every person needs to unite with everyone else for the protection of all. This is also true of States. Therefore, even as we deeply respect the legal right of each State to defend its security, we are also convinced that States must work together to advance their shared security.

Through the cooperation of all, it will be possible to not only counter violent extremism but also to build the common good that honors the rights of States as well as the dignity of every person. In the case of India and Pakistan, we urge the United Nations to extend it Good Offices in assisting both States to overcome the differences and difficulties between them that have so painfully burdened the Peoples of both countries.