Church leaders offer peace building measures in Assam

August 11, 2012: The Inter Church Peace Mission (ICPM) has proposed an action plan for peace and suggested relief and rehabilitation measures in the strife-torn districts in the North-Eastern Indian state of Assam.
The ICPM executive body suggested the plan in its report submitted to the district commissioner of the affected Chirang and Kokrajhar districts on Friday.
ICPM had in its Goodwill Mission covered over 20 relief camps in the two districts on August 3 and 4. The delegation comprised Lutheran and Catholic Bishops and members of the Inter Church Peace Mission. They apprised the officials about the ground situation and stressed the need for confidence building measures for peace and amity in the affected areas.
Clashes between indigenous Bodo tribesmen and Muslim settlers from neighboring West Bengal and Bangladesh have killed some 65 people and rendered more than 400,000 people homeless, who are in 235 relief camps.
Kokrajhar District Commissioner Jayanta Narlekar requested the Christian leaders to take initiatives for counselling the victims to overcome the shock and prepare the communities to live together. The Chirang District Commissioner Puru Gupta suggested the ICPM to be an agent for Peace building.