MESSAGE BOARD
NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Stop violence against Christians: Pope

Pope John Paul II on Wednesday called upon India and Indonesia to put an end to violence against Christians.

The pope said reports from India were "alarming after many attacks were reported lately against Christian communities and other minorities."

These were "the most serious, according to the country's bishops, since Indian independence."

"I make another urgent appeal for this atrocious violence to stop," he said.

"I hope that the perpetrators or masterminds realise that death and destruction in the name of religion, or the manipulation of religion to satisfy one's own interests are not possible," the pope said in his traditional Wednesday speech before tens of thousands of people in Saint Peter's square in the Vatican.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church called on local authorities to "act decisively," adding that hatred must be rejected and religious harmony be restored.

His fresh appeal came two days after the Pope asked visiting Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to work for "religious freedom" in his country.

Christian leaders have said acts of violence against the Christian minority, which makes up less than 2.5 per cent of India's population of one billion, have been rising after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance assumed power in Delhi.

The Pope said religious unrest, which has troubled the Indonesian Maluku islands since January 1999, does not seem to subside. Repeated attacks by Muslim extremists against Christian villages were claiming many victims and massive damage, he added.

Some 4,000 people have been killed in 18 months in clashes between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's eastern Maluku islands.

Indonesian Human Rights Minister Hasballah Saad said Wednesday that a state of civil emergency there could be upgraded to martial law if the security situation continued to deteriorate.

After Jakarta imposed the state of civil emergency on Monday, authorities introduced a night curfew, ordered surrender of weapons by civilians and banned unauthorised gatherings of 10 people or more.

Tell us what you think of this report