10 July 2013: Jubilee Dialogue - How will religion shape foreign policy in the next ten years? I was invited to the above dialogue event and took the decision to ask the community to give input. Thank you for taking the time to reply. I received 15 direct replies. In the spirit of the Wilton Park dialogues I am sharing the subject without naming names; the subjects indicated as raised were not necessarily raised by me but they were raised. There will be publication based on the dialogue where you will be able to read a fuller report. If and when I hear about the publication I will let you know, but please do keep an eye on Wilton Park yourselves. 1. The issue of free schools “but not a single Hindu Free school despite there being 6 excellent bids...” And the effect this may have on foreign policy in the context of India. Schools in the UK, do not come under foreign policy I suggest this be taken up with DES, DCLG and the Home Office. Though Cultural and religious competency in foreign affairs was raised. Secondly India may be a place of pilgrimage for Hindus and the nations may contain the largest number of Hindus but it is not a Hindu nation. Hindus need to accept that and tamper actions accordingly. 2. Correlation between charitable aid and conversion; “…transfer of huge amount of funds from rich countries to developing countries in the name of missionaries and Religious charities to convert , could this be controlled by FCO.” Was mentioned. 3. Viewing the world from a different perspective rather than a western/Christian one: “All input should be in harmony with our hindu values.” “West really has to invest in understanding different faiths and recognising that this is a challenging journey…” This was mentioned 4. Dialogues were Arab/Islam centric: – “Why is the focus of this meeting Arab or Islam centric? - Is the FCO foreign policy going to be determined by Religions of the world or only by Abrahamic faiths, as the invitation suggests?” Point of clarification- The first dialogue covered Arab Spring and North Africa, the 2nd looked at Europe and this, the 3rd looked at faith. 5. Persecution of minorities: “Despite their lack of respect for other faiths, we give billions of pounds in aid to Pakistan with our tax payers money. In order for them to get this the British government should pressurize the Pakistan government to give rights to religious minorities.” This was touched upon and discussion of further dialogue with FCO afterwards was had. 6. Caste: “… if appropriate bring up the caste issue and thank her for the position, stand Conservatives have taken on the issue and try to seek the support of the Muslim community,..” This was not appropriate and was not discussed 7. “Grooming of young girls…” Was mentioned 8. Trade and EU Membership “…trade with the ME and EU membership for Turkey which I personally feel would be a disaster.” This was more appropriate for the previous dialogue to which I was not invited. I made the point to the FCO staff that Hindu Forum of Europe should have been invited to the dialogue on Europe. 9. The concept of coexistence: "…foreign policy will have to consider the impact religious diversity has on national security and whether a new policy based on coexistence will not make a greater contribution to relieving the tensions and conflicts which result from the present principles based on domination. Nations should think about signing treaties of coexistence rather than peace. Without coexistence we can not have peace…the man who killed the police officer mentioned the presence of UK troops in Afghanistan.” Alluded to but not discussed. 10. Two people misunderstood the request and thought I was asking them to attend. 11. Short notice of meeting “I fail to understand how Baroness Warsi or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office expects us to attend such an important meeting giving less than 24 hours notice. Was mentioned to Wilton Park and FCO staff. 12. My appropriateness to attend because of non-reply to a journalist “Bharati, if you have not provided the requested information to Kapil, you should very seriously consider your position and should not attend the meeting tomorrow as a representative of Hindus or any future meetings” I was invited to the Jubilee Dialogue as President of the Hindu Forum of Europe. The journalist asked me for information pertaining to Hindu Forum of Britain. I have left the Hindu Forum of Britain and I am no longer a part of the committee. For any information relating to Hindu Forum of Britain, it would be best to approach them directly. I believe Hindu Forum of Britain will have all the information he requested.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 07:21:45 +0000
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