Nuns pray for peace as Assam continues to boil

(August 27, 2012) The Daughters of St. Paul in Guwahati, in north-east India’s Assam state, invited their neighbours on Saturday to pray for peace as the violence in the state saw no let up even after a month. In a fresh outbreak of violence on Saturday, five people were killed. The death toll in the clashes between indigenous Bodo tribesman and Muslim settlers since July 20 has gone up to 86. Some 500,000 people are now living in relief camps. “It is in this desperate and hopeless situation that we called our neighbours for an inter-religious prayer service,” said Sr. Philo Joseph, superior of the local convent of the Daughters of St. Paul. Some 50 people from various religions attended the program at Guwahati, commercial capital of Assam. Sr. Joseph reminded the gathering that they have the responsibility to foster peace in their neighborhood. “We have everything: money, intelligence, enthusiasm: but it is only to be used for the building up of our society, maintaining the existing peace in our society,” she added. Speaking on the occasion, Retired Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati said even the perpetrators of violence might be yearning for peace. “If we talk to them personally they will confess that they want peace,” said the Salesian prelate, who has spent decades trying to reconcile warring groups in northeastern India. “When the wish for peace is combined with prayer, it becomes very powerful,” he added.