Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Let peace prevail

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By Dr Priti Swarup


“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”, Mother Teresa had said.


Peace is the ultimate desire of every heart and the goal of every prayer. The peace of many people together is bigger than that of one individual. However, conflicts and discord arise when we start seeing ourselves as separate from the community or society as a whole.


Only when each one of us understands our role in the overall unity and peace, then we can collectively achieve peace. Peace is a state of celebrating life. By making a choice to live in peace, we can choose to live with gratitude and love. Since all life is interconnected, living with peace within ourselves can lead to a peaceful world.


In 1981, the United Nations resolved to adopt 21 September as the Peace Day every year, the day all humanity commits to peace above all differences and to contribute to a culture of peace and global harmony. The theme for International Day of Peace for this year is “Shaping Peace Together” with an aim to spread compassion, kindness, and hope in the face of the ongoing pandemic.


In the Middle East, Oman has been the torchbearer of world peace for many years. “We shall trace the course of the late Sultan, reaffirming the fundamentals of our country’s foreign policy based on peaceful co-existence with nations, good neighbourliness, non-interference in the internal affairs of others, respect for countries’ sovereignty and international cooperation in various spheres”, His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik had said in his first address to the nation.


Oman’s foreign policy is certainly based on firm principles of supporting justice and working together with other countries through peaceful dialogue and negotiation. Over the past decades, Oman has continuously worked towards achieving world peace and establish cordial international relations with all.


United Nations has appreciated that Oman’s visions and stances towards global conflicts have been based on careful study of such issues and maintained that it is the best way to address them.


On the same platform, India too considers Oman as its closest, key West-Asian partner, the voice of peace and moderation for centuries. In the testing times like COVID, when our fellow human brethren are stuck in foreign lands owing to lockdowns and strictness across international borders, it is imperative for nations to come together and tackle this crisis with united hands.


Peacekeeping and peacebuilding are even more important in today’s world. Maintaining peace and harmony now assumes the basic place in Maslow’s Need Hierarchy pyramid.


Also, its absence can create turmoil everywhere, yet its presence brings tolerance and tranquility in lives. And as the great Dalai Lama said, “Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways.”


Let peace prevail, always.


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