LOC09:43
06:43 GMT
KUWAIT, Oct 1 (KUNA) -- Solely armed with faithfulness to the homeland and the leadership, Kuwaiti civilians had taken to the streets protesting with their bare hands the occupation and manifesting their resolve to remain aloof from the occupiers, armed with dreaded artillery and rumbling tanks.
That was 1990, when forces of the former and executed Iraqi ruler, Saddam Hussein, invaded peace-loving Kuwait, in the early hours of August 2nd, without considering that the Kuwaitis, stunned at first with the long rows of tanks thundering on their streets, would resist the occupation and abstain from any form of cooperation with the occupiers who enforced their presence in the country by the power of arms and terror.
Tomorrow (Sunday, October 2nd), nations of the globe celebrate the International Day of Non-Violence.
This day had been chosen because it marked birthday of the great Indian liberation leader, Mahatma Gandhi, architect of the idea of facing occupation, violence and repression with peaceful and civil means.
The Kuwaitis are not aloof from this approach, having embraced, since birth of their homeland as a State, banners of advocating peace, dialogue, peaceful settlements to conflicts, particularly in the Gulf and Arab regions.
The good-will and peaceful diplomacy of the State of Kuwait, earning it the title "dove of peace," has been seen on various arenas, namely Yemen, Lebanon and Palestine.
"I've come to you bearing message of people who have loved peace and worked for its sake," these were the historic words uttered by the late Amir, His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, in his address to the United Nations on September 27, 1990.
Portraying his peoples' hardships, but resilience in the face of the occupiers, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad added, "I've come to you with the message of a people who have boasted of their country as a minaret for peaceful co-existence and brotherhood among nations, when Kuwait was a hub for peoples' safety.
"But today, many of my people have either lost their homes, have been imprisoned or turned into strugglers rejecting with their blood and soul the occupiers no matter how oppressive they may be."
Although he was overwhelmed with the occupation crisis and his people's pain, the late Amir announced writing off interests on loans given by Kuwait to other nations, underlining Kuwait's deep-rooted humanitarian approach with the other peoples of the globe.
His successor, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad has endorsed the non-violence policy at the internal and external levels, preaching a culture of peace and humanitarian diplomacy, crowned with the UN designation of His Highness as the humanitarian leader, on September 4, 2014.
"We won't accept the culture of violence and chias among our peaceful people," His Highness said in a speech on October 19th, 2012, affirming the State commitment to non-violence at the internal level.
It was Gandhi that had inspired the world to specify a special day for advocating peace and non-violence.
In January 2004, Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi had taken a proposal for an International Day of Non-Violence from a Hindi teacher in Paris teaching international students to the World Social Forum in Bombay.
The idea gradually attracted the interest of some leaders of India's Congress Party ("Ahimsa Finds Teen Voice", The Telegraph, Calcutta) until a Satyagraha Conference resolution in New Delhi in January 2007, initiated by Indian National Congress President and Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called upon the United Nations to adopt the idea. (end)
gh.rk