In a statement after meeting Justice P.K. Shamsuddin and Justice K.A. Abdul Gafoor, officials of the International Interfaith Dialogue India (IIDI), Al-Turki expressed hope the conference would promote harmony between followers of different faiths.
The IIDI office-bearers were in the Kingdom to invite Saudi officials to take part in the conference, which will be held in Kochi. Al-Turki has insisted that the conference should get the approval of the Indian government and backing of other organizations.
Justice Shamsuddin, a well-known human rights activist in Kerala and a patron of IIDI, said delegates from different countries including Europe, the US, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries would take part in the three-day event.
“We briefed Al-Turki and Dr. Rahmatullah Enayatullah, director of international conferences at MWL, on the conference in Kerala. Al-Turki and Enayatullah have pledged their support to the event,” said Abdul Gafoor, vice president of IIDI.
V.K. Abdul Aziz, director of Al-Hayat International School in Jeddah, said IIDI planned the Kochi conference inspired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s interfaith initiative, adding that it would contribute to strengthening world peace and stability.
Based in Kochi, IIDI held its first executive meeting in Kerala recently. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, chief patron of the organization, inaugurated the function. “A true religious person cannot hate another person just because of religious difference,” Iyer said. Pluralism is India’s great contribution to world civilization, he added.
