This posting describes the effort of a courageous and dedicated group of Pakistani Muslims who, inspired by the legacy of Daniel Pearl, have established a Muslim-Jewish interfaith Forum in Faisalabad, Pakistan, aimed at exploring the commonalities of the two faiths so as to educate a modern, tolerant, moderate and open-minded next generation of Pakistani youngsters.

In the past five years, the Forum has consistently commemorated the anniversary of Danny's death in candle-lighting ceremonies, lectures about Muslim-Jewish commonalities, and discussions about pluralistic societies. They have also participated in the Daniel Pearl World Music Days, through music, song and magic.

Click here for photos taken at these occasions.

As part of this effort, the Forum has compiled an Urdu/English magazine supplement, entitled "A miraculous story of dynamic person, fond of talking to strangers," and distributed it to 20,000 schools and libraries in Pakistan. The magazine contains articles by prominent Pakistani personalities, former colleagues of Danny, and past recipients of the "Daniel Pearl Fellowship in Journalism." Click here to view the magazine.

This effort has been pursued under extremely difficult conditions of suspicion and animosity from some of the town extremists. The group had difficulties renting a meeting place and were subjected to repeated telephone threats and intimidation. Last month, their office was raided and ransacked while office workers were tied and threatened by "two bearded men" demanding to know the whereabouts of the head organizers.

We take our hats to our brave Pakistani friends -- comrades in decency, and a ray of hope awaiting amplification.