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Historic meeting
From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Monday 13th Dec 2004.
An historic meeting between the city's Muslim and Christian communities took place at Manchester Town Hall in a bid to build closer relations between these two faith groups.
The timing of the event coincided with Eid celebrations and the beginning of the Christmas season. And a special Eid message from Prime Minister Tony Blair was read out.
The evening's main speakers were Manchester City Council's lead member for race equality, Councillor Afzal Khan, the Rev Graham Kent of Greater Manchester Churches and Muslim community leader Allama Nisar Ahmed Baig Qadri. All stressed the importance of continuing the dialogue between Muslims and Christians in order to strengthen the spirit of community cohesion in British society.
As a result of the meeting there are plans to set up a steering group to develop the initiative further.
Councillor Afzal Khan said: "Manchester City Council is always striving to create and maintain excellent relations among all our communities and we are honoured and very proud that this event was held here at the Town Hall.
"I am delighted at the success of this introductory meeting and would like even more people to get involved in this initiative. The aim is to bring together the faith communities in Manchester by giving them this opportunity to come together, network and continue a dialogue that will lead to a better understanding."
A cheque presentation for £50,000 was presented to Rayhaneh Tehrani of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Manchester on behalf of Bam earthquake victims. The earthquake destroyed most of the city of Bam in Iran on 26 December 2003, killing 60,000 people. The contributions came from all sections of the community in Manchester and will be used towards the reconstruction of the city.
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