Respect Ayodhya Verdict, Says Human Rights Activist

(October 02, 2010) A Church-run human rights organisation has described the September 30, 2010, verdict of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on the disputed Ayodhya land title suit as historic. Father Cedric Prakash, director of PRASHANT, a Jesuit centre for human rights, justice and peace, said on September 30: “For sixty years, the country has held its breath waiting for this day. In the meantime, divisiveness, hatred and violence have ruled the roost. Some are bound to feel unsatisfied with the judgment. They will obviously appeal to the Supreme Court. However, we all need to respect the judgment and ensure that peace and harmony reign in every corner of our beloved country. This is not the time for recriminations or for revenge. In fact, if we truly believe that the land in Ayodhya is sacred, we must also believe that the God we believe in will not want anything to happen that will be a disgrace to his name; rather, a spirit of healing, reconciliation and tolerance should now be the order of the day. There should be a new determination to go on ahead where we can all truly accept each other as God’s children and as brothers and sisters, of this great land.” The time has now come to close the chapter of a sad and violent history of India and to begin a new chapter where communal harmony, peace and fraternity triumph, he said.