Inter Faith Forum, a COVA (NGO) affiliate, has demanded the State government to take stern action against the culprits who master-minded the communal violence in the city.
Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, COVA convener Mazher Hussain expressed heart-felt sympathies to all those who were injured, and lost their properties, and also for thousands of residents of Madannapet and Saidbad areas, who were undergoing untold hardships due to the imposition of curfew for the last three days.
Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, Varghese Theckanath emphatically reiterated that no religion preaches violence or condones attacks on innocents, and these acts of violence being committed in the name of religions, were contrary to the very basic tenets of all religions and were a grave sin. It was very unfortunate and a matter of great grief to all of them that the recent bout of violence was instigated by throwing body parts of an animal in a place of worship, and sought to be escalated by throwing animal flesh in some other places of worship. Desecration of and damage to places of worship have been used time and again by miscreants and vested interests to deliberately spread disaffection and violence between different communities.
Sant Nirankari Mandal’s Swami Rajesh said that they were amazed and perplexed that people still failed to see through such blatant machinations and fall prey to these motivated conspiracies that were openly and grossly misusing religious sentiments to cause incalculable harm to society and humanity. He urged that the people should realize that desecration of the place of worship of any one religion was the desecration of the holy places of all religions.
International Sikh Center representative Sardar Nanak Singh Nishtar said that to prevent and disallow all such deliberate misuse of religion, they would jointly organize public discourses and rallies in the sensitive areas of the city and other parts of the state, to educate people about the message of peace, harmony and justice that is at the core of all religions.
Jain Seva Sangh leader Surendra Lunia, Jamat-E-Islami leader Mohd. Azhar, Arya Samaj leader Ramachandra Kumar, Centre for Peace and True Message representative Mufti Omer Abedeen were also present (NSS)