Instead of a tit-for-tat with terrorists, there was need to communicate with them in making them shun violence, Martin Luther King III, son of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, said in Kolkata on Sunday.
"We have to find ways to communicate with terrorists. Even they have children and I believe they do not want their
children to grow up in a world where there are no rights or privileges. So I think we have to engage in dialogue even with those whom we do not understand," King told a press conference.
Referring to the post-9/11 attack on Iraq by the US, he said, "far from showing a different paradigm, we chose to
engage in war. I am not here to be critical of the government, but what I am saying is from a philosohical standpoint. I want to go on record that I am against war like my father was."
Society will have to learn how to resolve differences without hurting personal property, he said, adding that although it may take some time, non-violence was a message that could be used if people were willing to embrace it.
"Most of our society, however, is still engaged in attempting to defend ourselves. We feel we must spend large sum of our budget preparing for military defence as opposed to spending at least an equal amount for life or the
preservation
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