Indore: This is further to the “Seventh National Peace convention and the first Global Peace Convention drawn with inter-religious prayer for peace led by Dr. Paul Poovathingal.

While speaking on the topic, “Empowerment of women for peacebuilding”, Lavina D’Souza from New York, USA said that empowerment of women has to start from home by giving equal treatment to boys and girls. Women don’t want empathy, but equal rights and equal treatment. “Women are the solution and not the problem”, she asserted. Referring to her own experience she said that women are stronger than men physically and mentally. She concluded her speech by appealing to women to liberate themselves by uplifting each other. Empowerment of women will definitely contribute to peacebuilding, she said.

Professor Dr. Obiora Ike spoke from Geneva, Switzerland on the topic, “Ethics, Gandhi and Global peace”. Peace is sought by everyone in the world and an era of peace has been a yearning of mankind throughout history. According to him, peace and justice are intimately related and without justice there cannot be peace. He defined justice as respect, integrity, inclusion and fairness. There is unrest in the world because the resources of” the world are cornered by a few and many do not have access to resources to meet their basic needs. The world has enough resources to meet the needs of all, he said. He also said that spending huge amounts of money on weapons by countries while large numbers of people do not have the minimum resources is a great injustice.

Fr. Varghese Alengaden, the President of the National Peace Movement, while welcoming the speakers and the participants, expressed his gratitude to more than 800 people who have registered for the convention. While explaining the dynamics of the convention he told the participants, “We shall not wait for God, government, or a crowd to bring peace. Each one has to adopt a way of life to forgive and forget and go forward in order to experience peace and become agents of peace. When we recognize God in every human being and respect him/her we experience peace. Let us light a candle instead of cursing darkness”.

Rtn. Dr. Gajendra Singh Narang, Governor of Rotary District 3040, appreciated the efforts taken by the National Peace Movement under the leadership of Varghese Alengaden for organizing such a relevant convention when peace is facing huge challenges all over the world.

The presentation of peace related songs and dances by four different schools between the speeches made the inaugural session interesting. Dr. Sangeeta Jain, National Secretary of National Peace Movement thanked profusely all the speakers and the participants. Esha George’s excellent anchoring added beauty to the inaugural session.

- Jacob Peenikaparambil prepared the report