International conference on peace and non-violence gets underway at USTM

KHANAPARA: Mahatma Gandhi envisaged and proposed freedom for India through non-violent means, and the power of non-violence was firmly established by Gandhi. "The idea of empire dissolves. And the word state takes its place in which all the states of the world are free and equal. No state has its military. There may be a world police to keep order in the absence of universal belief in non-violence. India can be a leading unit in World Federation only through non-violence," stated Prof Christian Bartolf, president of Gandhi Information Centre, Berlin, Germany while addressing the inaugural session of the three-day International Conference on 'Redefining Peace towards a Just, Non-Violent and Sustainable Future of the World' at the University of Science & Technology Meghalaya (USTM).

The conference has been organized by Asia Pacific Peace Research Association (APPRA) in collaboration with Indian Political Science Association (IPSA) and USTM and attended by delegates and participants from across India and several countries, including Germany, South Africa, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Turkey.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof Christian Bartolf said that the concept of sovereignty is linked to right to warfare. He referred to the role of United Nation's Security Council and deliberated upon the security aspects of countries that are under threat of warfare. The inaugural session of the conference was also addressed by Prof Prasad Golanapalli, president of Gandhi King Foundation, Hyderabad; Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM; Dr Aslam Khan, Dr Manish Sharma, Dr Sri Nuryanti, co-secretary general of APPRA, Jakarta, Indonesia and Dr Leban Serto, director of Centre for Peace Education, Manipur.

Speaking as the chief guest, renowned Gandhian scholar Prof Prasad Golanapallisaid that peace will never be meaningful without the basic three ingredients: Justice, Non-Violence and Sustainable Future. Gandhian peace study is most relevant today because Gandhi's approach to understanding violence is to remove not only the direct forms of violence, but the indirect forms such as poverty, pollution, corruption must be eliminated. Peace is possible when all human beings are equal, and education is indispensable for promotion of peace, he added.

Dr Leban Serto, on the other hand, emphasized that global peace is dependent on local peace, and vice versa. Mahbubul Hoque expressed his gratitude to all the guests and participants of the conference for coming to USTM and sharing their knowledge in the relevant topic of the conference, thereby enriching the learning of the student community.

The various sessions of the conference would discuss on how peace researchers from Asia-Pacific can contribute to understanding and transforming the new conflicts and challenges. The conference aims to explore ways to enhance mutual understanding, dialogue, and collaboration among policy makers, scholars, activists, academia and others with vested interests on the development of bilateral relations, multilateral relations and international relations affected by the current pandemic and several challenging situations.

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