For peace and harmony

The Palace of Peace and Harmony, also known as the Pyramid of Peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, was the venue for the IV Congress of Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions, held from May 30 to 31, 2012, where Dr Homi Dhalla was invited to represent the Zoroastrian community. As he was requested to bring a delegation with him to encourage members of the community to get involved with the interfaith movement, Hoshang Dehnugara, Rayomand Noble, Adil Rangoonwalla and Ruzbeh Hodiwala were invited to participate, as per a write-up received by Parsiana from Noble and Hodiwala. The Congress was attended by the King of Saudi Arabia, the Emir of Qatar, the director general of UNESCO as well as other prominent world leaders, the write-up mentions.
The theme of the Congress, inaugurated by Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev, was “Peace and Accord as a Choice of Humankind.” Nazarbayev exhorted religious leaders to work harder toward global peace, the obvious path to global progress. He termed terrorism under the garb of religion as blasphemy. Representatives of other religions also spoke, and Dhalla described some of the genuine efforts made by religious leaders across the globe to foster peace and protect human rights, the write-up notes. In the panel discussions on the second day of the conference Dhalla read out a paper on “Multiculturalism and Religion from a Global Perspective.” After each session, questions were put to the speakers.