Skopje, October 7, 2013: The Government of the Republic of Macedonia and Sahara India
Pariwar, had organised the first ever ‘Sahara
Balkan Peace Festival’ in Skopje, Macedonia, the land of Mother Teresa. The
two day festival was organised on 2nd October the International Day
of Non Violence celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The
event aimed at bringing Balkan countries
on one platform to pledge for World peace and will be organized every year in
one of the Balkan countries on rotation basis.
The first ‘Sahara Balkan Peace Festival’ witnessed the gracious
presence of Former Prime Minister of the U.K., Mr. Tony Blair along with His
Excellency the President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, President of
Assembly and the entire cabinet of Republic of Macedonia, Lords and Baroness of
England, along with diplomatic representation of World Bank, IFC as well as 8
countries including USA, UK, European Union, France, Qatar and Balkan countries
like Croatia, Turkey Serbia.
The first ‘Sahara Balkan Peace Festival’ began on 1st October,
2013 with a celebration at the Main City Square of Skopje, the scenic capital
of the Republic of Macedonia, Europe. The event graced by the Prime Minister and
Deputy Prime Minister and the members of the Cabinet of Macedonia had
glittering display of children’s performance by government promoted SOS orphan
village, and India’s leading Shaimak Dawar and his Dance Company and fireworks which
special performances designed for the event and was marked by lighting all the
building of the square in blue, the color of Peace.
On 2nd
October the festival proceeded with the Peace Conclave organized to initiate a
dialogue for global peace. The conclave is attended by Mrs. Chandni Roy of
Sahara India Pariwar, Mohini Lady Noon, Chairperson of LILY Foundation; Lord Patel of Bradford OBE, Osmo Vatres,
President of the Balkan Club of Peace, Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC PC, Former attorney general
of the United Kingdom and a highly respectable Politician of the Labour Party
in United Kingdom, Lord Noon of St. Johns wood MBE, Mr. Patrick McGhee
and Mr. Arun Harnal with hundreds of delegates.
The festival was concluded with a
summit at the newly build National Opera House of Macedonia. The event was
marked by the lectures of Mr. Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom; Mr. Nikola Gruevski Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr.
Subrata Roy Sahara and EDV
& Peace - Baroness Scotland of Asthal, PC, QC on the topic of World Peace.
The august summit was attended by eminent dignitaries from across the world.
Former British Premier and Chief Guest of the Peace Summit Mr.
Tony Blair, in his address said, “The true difference today is between the open minded
ones and the closed mind ones, between those who see the world led by the
opportunities for connecting and globalization and those who want to close
themselves and isolate from such globalization and see the things that connect
us as a threat. I am not a pessimist for the world that we live in. I am always
an optimist and I believe that we can always find the strength in ourselves and
overcome the challenges”.
In the summit His Excellency Mr. Nikola Gruevski, Prime
Minister of Republic of Macedonia, said, “We live
in times when peace is interrupted in many parts of the world. Even today many
societies are facing times of crises, crises of ethics, cultural descents and
contorted values that produce violence that every normal person is horrified.
But, that shouldn’t hesitate us. That doesn’t mean that we should give up or
hold up. The people that are in the middle of these conflicts need help. Where
weapons rule, reasons can’t reach. Let us recall the words of our greatest
humanitarian Mother Teresa, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in
noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. We need silence to be
able to touch souls”.
While speaking in Summit ‘Saharasri’, Subrata Roy Sahara, Managing
Worker & Chairman, Sahara India Pariwar, said, “For our external
personality, that is, our body, food and water keeps it energetic, active and
healthy, but for our internal personality that is the spiritual personality,
that is for our mental body, the food is peace and happiness for giving us best
quality mental health with lots of strong will power and positive energy always
seen as active optimism.
Every human wants
always to have a happy and satisfied life.
But no life
can be happy and satisfied without a peaceful state of mind. Happiness chases peace, but peace does not
chase happiness. Peace has to be in a
person’s life and all around him. Peace
in his immediate family, peace in his neighbourhood, peace in his work place,
peace in his city, peace in his country…. and so on.
Here in this
peace festival if we only talk about peace between two countries, that is if we
talk and discuss about war between the countries, I fear we shall reach
nowhere, we won’t be able to achieve peace in the life of individual human
beings for a long term or most desirably life long. This is not about only stopping war, its
about choosing PEACE. WE CHOSE PEACE OVER WAR.
Any country is
not a human being in itself. Country’s
body and face is the combined and collective faces of people of the country,
however, few human beings sit at the helm of affairs and take all decisions for
the country.
It is human
beings everywhere who are instrumental in bringing about peace or
violence. In any country is Government
or Government machinery, religious groups, sects or different kind of
organisations, the human beings who are given leadership at various levels are
responsible for Peace or Violence. All
such people out of ignorance about fundamentals of life, indulge, initiate or
become instrumental foolishly in violence and in turn invite irritation,
tensions, dejections, disappointments, dissatisfactions etc. in future in their
own lives, too. May be at any moment of
time some individual in a leadership position plans, thinks and initiates
within a narrow limited vision; may be he does it out of greed, but he cannot
visualise or does not have clarity about knowledge of life or about the future
when he shall have to reap poison for his today’s wrong action or reaction
seeds which he has sown. Poison of future is not only for him but for the
people of the country.
Well, at the
end, I shall tell few things that God has given us, Brain, Mind, Heart &
Soul with a very strong thinking power. We can achieve anything and everything
with the aid of these faculties.
Balkan region
countries can become front runners for world peace. It will be greatest
contribution to the world.”
Under the auspices of the Festival,
the Champions of Peace Award has
also been conferred to Mr. Jeremy Gilley Hollywood
actor and founder of Peace One Day Foundation for his efforts for Global Peace,
especially his initiatives through Foundation and his astounding awareness
campaign held in Hague on the 21st of September, 2013. The award was given by ‘Saharasri’ Subrata
Roy Sahara to Mr. Jeremy Gilley.
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