UN official keen on Kashi hosting meet
With an aim to ensure peace and harmony, the United Nations will hold three regional meetings with religious leaders from the Americas, Africa and the Asia-Pacific in 2016. An official of the world body said he wished the meeting with religious leaders from the Asia Pacific should take place in Varanasi. Two such meetings have already taken place in Italy and Jordan.
This information was disclosed by Adama Dieng, special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on the prevention of genocide, at an international summit on peace and harmony at Swatantrata Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), on Sunday. The international summit was organised by the UNESCO chair for peace and intercultural understanding, Malviya Centre for peace Research, BHU, in collaboration with the National Foundation for Communal Harmony and Manav Ekta Mission.
Later, interacting with HT, Dieng said, “The meetings with religious leaders from the Americas, Africa and the AsiaPacific will take place in 2016. One of the scheduled meetings will take place in Washington in February 2016.
“Given the rich diversity of religions practised in India, it would be wonderful if the meeting with religious leaders from the Asia-Pacific region could take place in this country – and perhaps even here in Benares, a place that represents the Indian model of promoting freedom of religion and interfaith collaboration to strengthen social cohesion and resilience to violence,” Dieng said.