Priests appeal for end to violence in Gujarat

(May 28, 2010) Catholic priests in western India’s Gujarat state have called for an end to ongoing Hindu-Muslim violence in a suburb of Ahmedabad city. The violence “is a hard reminder that tensions continue to simmer between the two communities and can erupt at any time and for any flimsy reason,” said Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash who directs a human rights centre in the city. A 55-year-old man, reportedly a Hindu, died on May 26 after being stabbed during group clashes. Mobs also set fire to several vehicles during the violence that began on May 24 in the Shahpur area of the state’s commercial capital. In a statement, Fr. Prakash called on people “not to fall prey to violence” and asked the warring groups to stop the violence immediately. He also called for the authorities to arrest those responsible for the violence and restore peace. According to another preist, Father Jolly Nadukudiyil in Vadodara, the latest violence “seems to have been engineered” to divert people’s attention away from a probe ordered by the Supreme Court into the murder of a Muslim, allegedly by police officials and politicians. Father Joseph Appavoo, who visited riot-hit area on May 26, suspects a “political hand” in the violence. He criticized the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress Party of accusing each other of engineering riots without making efforts to bring peace. The riot-prone western Indian state witnessed its worst sectarian violence in 2002, in which some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were reportedly killed.