Ahmedabad (Fides Service) - Different denominations of Christians in Gujarat are united in working for peace. Tension is still high in this Indian state recently the scene of bloody clashes between Hindu and Muslim communities. Local Fides Service sources in Gujarat say that the Hindu and Muslim communities live now completely separated. "Families, once friends, now regard each other with suspicion. Hindus accuse Muslims of being connected with fundamentalist Islam groups in other countries, and Muslims, refugees in their own land, feel they are treated like second-class citizens. Christians, in the middle of all this try to remain neutral. This is the situation of today, but in the past Hindus, Muslims and Christians lived peacefully side by side. There were certainly sporadic episodes of violence, but nothing like the recent bloody clashes. When the dispute was over normality returned and people shared daily life, work and festivities. This time hatred built up and culminated in a systematic attempt at reciprocal elimination. However the disorder was obviously orchestrated by provocateurs".
In a bid to heal the situation the Christian Unity Committee of Ahmedabad organised an inter-denominational prayer meeting for peace and unity at Mount Carmel Cathedral, on January 30, known as Martyrs' Day in India in memory of assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. Catholic and Protestant church leaders led the prayer for unity and peace of all believers and all the people in Gujarat and all India. Speaking on the occasion, Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, co-ordinator for human rights, justice and peace, mentioned the four pillars of peace - truth, justice, love and freedom - listed by Pope John XXIII in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, (Peace on Earth) and recently evoked by Pope John Paul II in his New Year address to diplomats in the Vatican on 13 January. Father Prakash called on Christians to make an effort to bring peace and unity to the lives of people, even as the Gujarat government was discussing a Bill against conversions in the form of an ordinance.
The same day Bishop Thomas Macwan of Ahmedabad took part in an inter-religious meeting held at the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram in commemoration of Gandhi on the 55th anniversary of the assassination the national hero. Bishop Macwan read a passage from the Bible and said a prayer for peace and inter-religious and harmony. PA (Fides Service 12/2/2003 EM lines 28 Words: 407)