Agenzia Fides

New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - The spread of a "diabolical plan", called "Love Jihad " is the alarm among the Christian communities in India: according to a carefully orchestrated plan and financed from abroad, young Muslim radicals, especially in the west Indies, seduce and deceive innocent girls, Hindus and Christians, and then marry and use them in criminal plans and terrorist activities in the country. The phenomenon, according to the Indian Church, has involved in recent years over 2,800 girls and has caught the attention of civil and religious authorities.
The last case, as reported to Fides by the "Global Council of Indian Christians" is about a woman in Kochi, Kerala, Deepa Cheriyan, 31, who married a Muslim man and then became an accomplice in terrorist activities. The girl was arrested by the Indian police on charges of supplying SIM cards to the militant Thadiyantavide Nazir, of the terrorist group "Lashkar-e-Taiba."
The practice of "Love Jihad", when it came into the limelight, generated the concern of the Catholic Church: the Commission for social harmony of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, reported there had been 2,868 female victims of the "Love Jihad" in Kerala from 2006 to 2009. The Church recommended families to monitor adolescents and young people’s cell phones and computers, in order to combat this phenomenon. The Christians launch an appeal to "the saner sections of our society in India, irrespective of their religious backgrounds, including our Muslim friends, in order to fight these evil forces that undermine peace and harmony between different religious groups in India."
The Prime Minister of Kerala, the Christian Oomen Chandy, however, has urged the population not to generalize, recalling the legitimacy of many interfaith marriages celebrated with consent, and warning against the risk of exploiting these criminal cases to hit the entire Muslim community . (PA) (Agenzia Fides 21/7/2012)