Srinagar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living, today expressed his desire to talk to everybody in Kashmir for peace. He called for moving forward with strength and resilience to heal the wounds of the past.

He was addressing a gathering from different areas of Kashmir valley at the sprawling lawns of the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) under the programme ‘Paigham-e-Mohabbat’. He started his address by greeting the gathering people in Kashmiri “Tohy chhuw saeri warai, mea chhu tohund lole yewaan, waliw kath baath karaw (Are you all fine? I love you all. Let us talk…)”.

Sri Sri stressed the need for peace in Kashmir, which has suffered immensely due to violence. “Kashmir’s ‘gaurav’ is like these high mountains and its heart is like this (Dal) lake,” he said, while addressing the gathering comprising Gujjar, Bakarwals, farmers and youth. “We shall have to move forward with strength and resilience for the future of society,” said Sri Sri.

He, however, had to cut short his address following noisy scenes at the centre, where some people, irked by the organisers, raised slogans in support of ‘azadi’ and militants. They alleged that the organisers had cheated daily wagers by not fulfilling their promise of regularisation of services, waiving off loans of farmers and other benefits.

Later, addressing a press conference, Sri Sri said he had come to meet 20 delegations which had been affected by violence. He said it was on their invitation that he was visiting Kashmir to “know their pain and sufferings”. He said The Art of Living had started skill development centres at many places for the benefit of Kashmiri youth affected by violence. “We have to move forward by learning from the past,” he said.