Friendship Cup highlight interfaith harmony between maddaris-minority youth.

PESHAWAR -- The week long Friendship Football Cup that just concluded at Qayyum Stadium, Peshawar, has highlighted strong bond of interfaith harmony in Pakistan by bringing players of religious seminaries and minority youth on single play ground to compete for championship.

For spectators, it was also a unique moment to see youngsters of different faiths embracing each others as mark of sportsmen spirit and friendship after completion of the matches.

The tournament was jointly organized by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Khyber Pakhtubkhwa with the objective of portraying real face of Pakistan where people of different religions are living in mutual co-existence and in an environment of friendship and fraternity.

A total of six teams participated in the Friendship Football Cup, three from religious seminaries and three from minority youth.

The final was won by Daral Uloom Taleem ul Quran which defeated Krishna Club Nowshera by 3-0.

The spectators of the final match were also a mix of people from different faiths, reflecting true spirit of harmony and honor by congratulating each other over results.

'It was a unique experience, Friendship Football tournament not only provided us the opportunity to play with students of religious maddaris, but also bring us close to each others, making us friends,' observed Bacha Gul, Captain of Krishna Nowshera representing Hindu community.

Talking to reporter, Bacha Gul said majority of the youth from minorities are in the influence of reports portraying students of religious seminaries as extremists, but the opportunity of interaction with them removed misconceptions.

Bacha insisted on holding of such tournaments for other games, providing opportunities to more people from both sides to come closer and get the opportunity of understanding each other.

Expressing his comments after winning the tournament, Qari Sohail, captain of Darul Uloom Quran team said minority youth are like our brothers and this can be...