Several Kashmiri leaders of the Hurriyat Conference attended the conference.
During the Art of Living programme, while the spiritual leader urged the gathering to make life happy through love, Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rose to say, "I admire your talk on the essence of universal human values, but this is not what is needed in Kashmir. You please tell India to remove its 10 lakh security forces and peace in real sense will return to the lives of the people in Kashmir."
Shankar responded to separatist voices by saying: "Now the people and nations need more of interdependence rather than independence to live peacefully."