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Indian church leaders plead for dialogue to resolve tension with Pakistan
2002-006-2
1/11/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
As tension grow between India and Pakistan, Indian church leaders have warned that 'war hysteria' is gripping their country. They have issued urgent calls for dialogue to resolve differences. 'War is not a solution for the existing situation between India and Pakistan,' said Geevarghese mar Coorilos, president of the National Council of Churches in India, an ecumenical organization that includes 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches.
'India and Pakistan cannot afford another war,' said Ipe Joseph, general secretary of the NCCI, referring to the three wars between the two countries since independence in 1947. At the heart of the conflict is the unresolved status of the state of Kashmir in the Himalayan region. Both countries claim Kashmir. India charges that Kashmiri separatists, supported by Pakistan, were responsible for the December attack on the Indian Parliament.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India has also urged the government 'to consider all other options before taking the last step of going to war.' While pledging support for India's attempt to counter terrorism, the bishops expressed serious concern about the 'fallout of war,' arguing that 'violence breeds more violence.'
'Suspicion and distrust among neighbors, hatred and prejudice between friends belonging to different faiths and ideologies, hatred of communities--all these could blow up the democratic and secular fabric of India,' cautioned Sajan George, convenor of the Global Council of Indian Christians based in the southern city of Bangalore.
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