Interreligious group hoping to bring peace in India’s riot-hit city
(March 31,2010) Interreligious groups in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh State are
trying to bring peace in the riot-hit city of Hyderabad. Two days of Hindu-Muslim
clashes forced police to impose a curfew on Monday in some areas of the city. One
person was killed and several wounded, when groups of Hindus and Muslims clashed in
the old area of the city The violence followed disputes over hoisting religious flags
in public places. Interreligious groups are trying to bring leaders of the clashing
communities together in order to work out a solution, said Mazher Hussain, executive
director of the Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA), an inter-faith forum.
Mazher said people in the affected areas are very poor and hardly have food, if they
do not go to work. COVA is trying to collect resources to give them relief as the
curfew is expected to last for well over a week, he said. Fr. Anthoniraj Thumma, executive
secretary of Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches, an ecumenical forum and COVA member,
told UCA News that the federation members plan to visit the troubled areas and counsel
people for peace.