Spiritual leader and founder of the Art of Living Foundation, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, was allegedly sent a photo of a beheaded man when he tried to broker peace with the Islamic State.
"I tried to initiate peace talks with the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) recently but they sent me a photograph of a beheaded body of a man. Thus, my effort for a peace dialogue with the ISIS ended," Sri Sri was quoted by IANS as saying in Agartala, during a three-day visit to Tripura.
I tried to initiate peace talks with the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) recently but they sent me a photograph of a beheaded body of a man.
British online newspaper Independent had reported last month that the guru had reached out to the dreaded terrorist group in an effort to help stop the violence and killing it propagated.
In the interview to the Independent, Sri Sri had said dialogue alone was the key to peace with the Islamic terror group but conceded that talks would not succeed if the fighters believed "no-one else has a right to exist".
"Isis is very peculiar. I stretched my hand out to have a dialogue, but when these people think no-one else has a right to exist, talks alone will not work," the 59-year-old spiritual leader said.
But now that the caliphate has rebuffed his peace overture, Sri Sri is of the opinion that perhaps the best way to deal with them is militarily.
"I think the ISIS does not want any peace talks. Hence, they should be dealt with militarily," IANS quoted him as saying.
Among Shankar's many accomplishments, is staging a gathering in Delhi to mark the 35th anniversary of his Art of Living Foundation that brought together dignitaries from around the world to one stage.
The AOL's function in the national capital, hailed as the "Olympics of culture", was attended by an estimated 3.5 million people but came under severe criticism from environmental groups who claimed that the foundation destroyed the fragile Yamuna flood plains used to host the global event.
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