Sri Sri Ravi Shankar convinces guerrilla movement FARC to adopt Gandhian principles

HOUSTON: Leaders of Colombia's guerrilla movement FARC have agreed to follow Gandhian principle of non-violence to attain its political objectives, Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said.
On his three-day-visit to Cuba, Sri Sri had several rounds of discussions with leaders of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in an exercise of confidence-building for the peace process in Colombia, which faced many hurdles in the past three years.

FARC leaders were holding peace talks with the Columbian government in Cuba and Sri Sri was invited by FARC to mediate in the peace talks.

Sri Sri said, "In this conflict everyone should be considered as victims. And inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help."

Karthik Krishna, a spokesperson for Art of Living told PTI that after a lot of discussions, the FARC has finally agreed to embrace the Gandhian principle of non-violence.

At a press conference, FARC Commander Ivan Marquez said they would adopt non-violent means for attaining their political goals.

Marquez said, "We will work for peace and justice for all the people of Colombia."

Earlier on June 24, Sri Sri had an hour long meeting with the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos in Bogota.

FARC is a left-wing guerrilla movement involved in the Colombian armed conflict since 1964 and has been designated a terrorist organistaion by the UN and USA.

It has been hammering out peace terms with government negotiators since November 2012 to bring an end to five decades of war and conflict, which has killed more than 2,00,000 people and uprooted more than six million people.