Bengal bishops condemn train derailment in West Bengal

(May 28, 2010) The Catholic Church in eastern India’s West Bengal state has condemned the derailment of a passenger train by suspected Maoists early Friday morning, causing death and injury to many. Maoist rebels are said to have derailed the overnight Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express near Sardiha, West Bengal, triggering a crash with an oncoming cargo train that killed at least 65 people and injured an additional 200. In a statement to AsiaNews, Bishop Thomas D'Souza of Bagdogra, secretary of the Bishops' Conference of Bengal, said that "the Church condemns all violence and offers prayers and condolences to the families of victims who were killed in the incident." Bishop D’Souza observed that the Maoist problem was a long-standing issue, but certainly, blowing up railway tracks was not the way out. “Violence can never ever be condoned- and in this entire process, it is always the poor who are the worst affected and suffer the most," he said. “Our desire is that all parties come to the dialogue, although there is still a long way to go," he added. The area is an isolated, rural stronghold of India's Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites, who claim their armed struggle is in defence of landless peasants and local ethnic minorities. They have stepped up attacks in recent months and had called for a four-day general strike starting Friday. Earlier this month, the rebels ambushed a bus in central India, killing 31 police officers and civilians.