Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India distressed over Mumbai blasts, resilient city returns to normal

(12 July 2006) : The morning after Tuesday’s devastating bomb blasts in Mumbai trains which claimed 183 lives and injured more than 700 people, the resilient city of Mumbai slowly returned to normalcy on Wednesday. Deploring the serial blasts Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India –CBCI- Secretary General and Archbishop of Gandhinagar, Stanislaus Fernandes said, “CBCI is distressed that some people would take these extreme steps to voice their problems, concerns and opposition by destroying innocent lives and damaging national property. CBCI strongly condemns such actions.” Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Agra and President of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India –CCBI-, expressed shock saying, “Terror has no place in a civilized society and recourse to terror for redressing any grievance is never justifiable.” On Wednesday morning, train services ran normally, schools and colleges opened as usual and commuters are using public transport to move about. Mumbai city dwellers are asserting that the city will not be cowed down by terror.