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Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar visits Iraq to broker peace
among warring factions
by
KG Vasuki
Baghdad
(Iraq): Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
is on a visit to Iraq to bring together the Shia and Sunni
communities fighting against each other. Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar, who runs the Art of Living Foundation, has been
teaching yoga and meditation to the war-weary Iraqis and
his foundation is working for the rehabilitation of the
war victims in Iraq since 2003. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar met
many Iraqi tribal and other political leaders in Baghdad
in an effort to facilitate mending fences between the
two communities. He said the process was underway and
his foundation was working towards establishing harmony
among the warring factions. "We are already doing it.
If you see in our centres, they have brought both the
communities together. There are Sunni and Shia and then
there are Kurdish people in the north. So, that effort
has begun from the very first day," Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
added.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's foundation is involved in many
humanitarian activities in Iraq and is helping the war
ravaged Iraqis to re-build their lives. The Art of Living
Foundation volunteers are working with the women, many
of whom have lost their kin in the on-going conflict in
Iraq, and help them to become self reliant. "Some of them
are widows, some of them have experiences that they have
lost someone from their families. There is not a single
family which has not lost its people. They have suffered
form the war and now they have hope, because we have given
them hope. We are teaching them computers, tailoring and
we are also giving them trauma relief," said Mawahib,
Art of Living teacher. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has taken
his courses to millions of people in 151 countries. His
foundation raises hundreds of millions of dollars a year
and spends almost all on running schools, drug rehabilitation
centres and on charity. Sri Ravi Shankar's teachings are
based on ancient teachings of yoga, but he has added elements
of his own and aligned it with meditation techniques.
Meanwhile,
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also had a meeting with Iraqi Minister
of Justice and Education Safa Al deen Al Safi who has
denied the reports that Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi
who threw shoes at US President George Bush during a press
conference in Baghdad has been tortured. Talking to mediapersons
after his meeting with the Indian spiritual guru, the
minister said that the journalist was hale and healthy
and has not been tortured. He said he would be tried by
a judge under the civilian law of the country. "Zaidi
has not been formally charged, but he faces up to seven
years in prison if convicted of the crime of aggression
against a foreign leader during an official visit," he
added.
-Dec
23, 2008
