ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said Pakistan and the world needs to learn from Gautama Buddha’s message of peace and compassion as it will promote tolerance in the current era of conflicts and chaos.

“In today’s world where hatred is on the rise and increasing polarisation fuelling conflicts, it is time to rediscover the role of cultural diplomacy to promote dialogue among civilisations,” the president said while addressing a three-day Gandhara symposium here.

He added that all religions preach peace, coherence and protection of environment that was the responsibility of the humans towards earth.

The objective of the symposium was to explore Pakistan’s rich Buddhist legacy and create an enabling environment for Gandhara tourism.

“Gandhara tourism will have a positive impact in Pakistani society too as people change after meeting each other and the message of peace and seeking light from within as preached in Buddhism will influence the people of Pakistan too,” Dr Alvi added.

The symposium ‘Cultural diplomacy: reviving Gandhara civilisation and Buddhist heritage in Pakistan’ has been organised by Prime Minister’s Task Force on Gandhara Tourism, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

While the organisers wanted to play the religious recitation of the Buddhists at the start of the event, only Quran was recited due to the official protocol.

Monks, scholars and historians from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam attended the opening day of the symposium.

Pakistani speakers lauded the message of peace and tolerance as given in Buddhism and highlighted the key role played by Gandhra civilisation in the spread of Buddhism from Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia and up to Korea.

Buddhist monks called for relaying the message of peace and cross-cultural harmony across the world. Some of them suggested that Pakistan should establish a Buddhist temple at any Gandhara civilisation site.

Venerable Mideung of Korea said Buddhism reached Korea from Gandhara and all Buddhist art and sculptures had the influence of Gandhara civilisation.

The Korean teams have played a key role in excavations and restorations of Gandhara sites since the mid-1980s.

Most Venerable Anil Sakya, honorary rector World Buddhist University Thailand, lauded Pakistan for holding the Buddhist symposium.

“There is no senior monk in Pakistan but the shadow of the monk is here, and Pakistan should be proud to have the seat of basic knowledge including advanced medical knowledge,” Most Venerable Anil Sakya said.

“The concept of cultural diplomacy was started by Ashoka the Great and the soft power has proven to be more powerful than the power of weapons,” he said.

The religious heads of Buddhism from several countries suggested that to develop religious tourism Pakistan needed to improve its image issue and one way would be to develop and preserve Gandhara as Pakistani heritage - that gives a message of tolerance and respect for others.

ISSI Director General Sohail Mahmood said Gandhara civilisation served as a melting pot of diverse cultures and civilisations at its time.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023