Dalai Lama to open meet

Kochi: The 33 {+r} {+d} World Congress of International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) will be held here from September 4 to 7.

At a press conference, Thomas Mathew, president of the IARF said that the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama would inaugurate the event on September 4. As many as 600 peace-makers from different parts of the world would take part in the congress and discuss vital issues such as ethnicity, religion and human rights. He said that IARF interventions were very effective in conflict resolution and peace-making,

Dr. Karan Singh, Swami Agnivesh, Asma Jahaghir, human rights activist from Pakistan and other world spiritual leaders would participate in the event.

The IARF, an inter-faith organisation, was formed in 1900.The spirit of Chicago World Parliament of Religions held in 1893 had paved the way for formation of the organisation, he said. The IARF has the general consultative status of the United Nations, he said