REPORT OF UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD DAY 2010
He narrated the example of Adam Yahiye Gadahn, the US-born media advisor of Al Qaeda who said that the day he converted to Islam all his blood relatives became enemies as they were non-Muslims and hence kafirs. He may be right in having such a view but he questions the very existence and freedom of faith of others he opined.
"Weakness is the greatest provocation for violence and that is why the invaders attacked us so easily, even though we as a nation possessed some of the the greatest virtues including universal brotherhood" he explained.
Referring to the ceaseless overt and covert efforts of Pakistan to destroy and demolish India, he said that the best response from us in the true spirit of universal brotherhood is to increase our defence and nuclear capabilities to the fullest extent but restrain from using it first. However, the preaching and practice of the values of universal brotherhood should come from a position of strength and not from the fear of being defeated or destroyed he added.
He gave a detailed account of how in 2001, USA enlisted our support in their fight against terror and after our sincere efforts of building Afghanistan’s infrastructure like schools, bridges and roads and also sending our troops along with other countries, we have been left out from the group of countries that will decide the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of forces in July 2011 due to a secret deal with Pakistan.
According to him the deal ensures the West from being not targeted by jihadi groups and Pakistan being given a freehand to have their say in deciding who will rule Afghanistan. This will put us in a more vulnerable and difficult position he added with a worry.
He explained that Universalism and Nationalism do not go together and so, along with having a universal outlook, we should take utmost care to uphold our national interests too. Everything that will come in the way of national interest should be defeated by all means and this has been uttered by no less a person than Lord Krishna he said.
He felt that in our pursuit of preaching our noble values of universal brotherhood, we simply cannot and should not ignore to build our fighting capabilities as it is most essential for our very survival. It is only to establish righteousness and only to establish universal brotherhood that we need to be ever prepared to fight for it he concluded.
His speech was a perfect blend of logic, caution and motivation.
The inspiring, interesting and captivating Keynote Address was followed by an interesting Q/A session.
