Voices of sanity needed to bring end to wars

Thursday, 2 April 2026 02:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Dalai Lama has endorsed the appeal for peace made by Pope Leo during his Palm Sunday Mass, urging the global community to renounce violence and pursue dialogue to resolve conflicts.

In a message issued on March 31, the Dalai Lama said he “wholeheartedly” supports the Pope’s call for the laying down of arms and the rejection of violence, noting that the appeal reflects the core teachings of the world’s major religions. He said that traditions including Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism all promote values such as love, compassion, tolerance and self-discipline, emphasizing that violence has no place within their teachings.

The Dalai Lama further stressed that history has repeatedly shown that violence only leads to more violence and cannot create lasting peace.

The few voices of sanity amidst the unending violence have come from the Dalai Lama and the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo. This comes at a time when there is a dire need for more voices to be raised to stop the ongoing conflicts in several parts of the world, including the Middle East, Russia-Ukraine and numerous other places.

Sri Lanka is facing a severe blow due to the ongoing conflict, which shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Sri Lanka is among the countries to be worst affected, with increased food prices and welfare losses under a short-run full closure scenario of the Strait of Hormuz, the Kiel Institute, Europe’s preeminent research institute for global economic affairs, said in a report released this week. The report said that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amplifies the impact on countries that rely on imported inputs, particularly in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of the Middle East. Under a short-run full closure scenario of the Strait of Hormuz, food prices in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India could rise by about 10–15%, with higher increases possible. Welfare losses in these three countries are estimated to be between −3.5% and −1.8%. More broadly, welfare losses in these regions are estimated to be 10–20 times larger than in advanced economies, except in the case of oil-exporting countries,” the report said.

This is depressing news for countries that are not a party to any conflict taking place but are being punished nonetheless. South Asians, going by the report, look to be pushed into harder times in the weeks and months ahead. Already, fuel and electricity hikes have led to a jump in the prices of essential goods, and it is not clear how much more of these price increases people can bear. The sense of helplessness and hopelessness is growing among many people.

Which is why religious leaders around the world have a crucial role to play in calling for an end to wars and for the warring sides to come to the table. History has shown that even the worst enemies can sit around a table and reach agreements, provided the rulers are wise and sensible enough to understand that war will not produce any permanent solutions. The longer wars last, the more misery people will be pushed into. Religious leaders can be the guiding hands that bring about a sense of sanity in a world that seems to have lost direction.

More voices like those of the Dalai Lama and Pope Leo need to be heard against the continuation of violence to achieve political objectives.