iraq_peace_initiative

SERVING SOCIETY BY STRENGTHENING THE INDIVIDUAL

IRAQI PRIME MINISTER INVITES ART OF LIVING
FOUNDER SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR TO DISCUSS
PEACE INITIATIVES

By IANS NEWS SERVICE
Wednesday May 23, 01:32 PM

In the heart of violence-hit Baghdad for a three-day visit,
Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been urged
by Iraqi leaders to reform prisoners in the city's jails
through yoga and meditation.

The request came from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki at a meeting with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shortly
after he flew into Iraq from Jordan late Tuesday and drove into Baghdad protected by US and Iraqi
troops, a spokesperson said.

It took Sri Sri, whose Art of Living Foundation enjoys a large following in India and abroad, two and a
half hours to cover the short distance from the main airport in Baghdad to his hotel in the US-protected
Green Zone area. Since the flight from Amman got delayed, Ravi Shankar's meeting with al Malaki, who
has invited the guru to Iraq to be an ambassador of peace, was cut short, an Art of Living Foundation
official told IANS.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told al Malaki that Iraqis desperately deserved peace and an end to the unending
cycle of violence that has left several thousands dead since the US occupied the Arab country in 2003.
'Non-violence should be given a chance,' the guru pleaded.

In response, Prime Minister al Malaki urged Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to start in Baghdad's prisons meditation
and yoga techniques that seek to kill negativity, anxiety and depression among prisoners.

The Art of Living Foundation, which has been active in Iraq for the last four years and has many Iraqi
volunteers, runs prisoner reform programmes in several cities including New Delhi. Ravi Shankar is the
first Indian spiritual leader to visit Iraq. He is to meet government and religious leaders in Iraq and a
cross section of the society in Jordan during the May 21-25 visit.

Earlier Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit met Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Amman, where the he
presided over a meeting of 1,000 people eager to learn yoga, meditation and breathing techniques, his
spokesperson said. Ravi Shankar is to visit the Art of Living trauma relief centre in Baghdad and then
return to Amman where he will talk at the University of Jordan and attend a VIP reception thrown in his
honour.

Since 2003, the Art of Living and its sister concern, The International Association for Human Values,
have been working under difficult circumstances in Iraq to help people overcome their deep pain and
suffering. The volunteers have also conducted trauma relief courses in various parts of Iraq, especially
in Baghdad. Medicines, food and clothes have also been offered.

At a time when most NGOs were compelled to evacuate their volunteers from Iraq following violence
and kidnappings, Art of Living has stayed put. Last year, 43 Iraqis, mostly women, graduated to be Art
of Living teachers. So far, 5,000 Iraqis have undergone the Art of Living trauma relief workshops apart
from attending ayurvedic training camps.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's followers have also initiated a women empowerment project under which Iraqi
women get vocational training such as tailoring and computer skills. Over 500 women have benefited
from the programme.

Also, some 20,000 Iraqis have benefited from the assistance offered by medical personnel providing
free consultations and medicines while 420 community leaders have been trained in providing trauma
relief skills. The plan is to set up three more Women's Leadership Centers in Iraq to train 10,000 Iraqi
women to become community leaders.

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