India:Communists against the bishop, Church in the streets to protest

Kerala, India, Oct.22,2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – No reaction yet from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) following the protest march of 30,000 people in Thiruvambady, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, demanding formal apologies from the Communists for derogatory remarks made against Mgr Mar Paul Chittilappilly. There were bishops, priests, men and women religious as well as lay people, including members of other religions, from 106 parishes of the local diocese. Schools and hospitals run by the (Syro-Malabar) diocesan council were closed in protest.

The protest was sparked by the CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan when he called the bishop a “wretched creature” for his “lie” and reiterated his view later, saying: “A lie is a lie, and just because it is uttered by a bishop it does not become a holy lie.”

The insulting remarks were in turn caused by a speech Mgr Chittilappilly made last September at a rally in support of minorities’ rights. In it the prelate said that a former Kerala Communist leader, Mathai Chacko, supposedly called for priest in order to have the last sacraments administered as he lay dying. He is also supposed to have contracted marriage in church.

For Vijayan, such remarks were nothing but an act of support for the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), which is trying to regain the ground it lost in the last elections. In making such remarks against the late Communist leader, who lived a “rich Communist life”, the bishop portrayed the late Communist leader as a man of contradictions in order to carry out political propaganda.

According to Fr Paul Thelakat, from the Syro-Malabar Synod, “what is striking is not so much the content of the debate, but the hatred in the tone Vijayan used. There are practicing Christians, Muslims and Hindus in the party. Is there no space for faith in the politics?  If it so, then people with faith cannot engage in politics according to Communists and perhaps cannot vote for them. In India we consider this party like many others, secular but not atheist. But is it all a mask, that of democracy which they claim they want to serve?”

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Muslims apologise for attack on Lahore Church

Lahore, Pakistan, Oct.18,2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – The Muslims of Gowindh village have apologized to the Christians for desecrating more than 60 years old The New Apostolic Church and hurting their religious sentiments on October 10th.  Nadeem Anthony of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) who visited the area with a fact finding team told AsiaNews.

On October 10 an angry mob of Muslims stormed The New Apostolic Church, abused and threatened Christians, in Gowindh village near Hadiyra, outskirts of Lahore cut off the loudspeaker’s wires and put manure on the walls of the Church. Some Muslim clerics allegedly made inciting announcements through their mosque loudspeakers asking Muslims to come out “as war has been broken out between Muslims and infidels.” Hundreds of Muslims then chanted anti-Christian slogans as they marched through the streets of the village.   The enraged Muslims dislodged the loudspeaker and later subjected the Christians to a “social boycott” for three days refusing to sell them anything even food for their animals. The Muslims of the area asked the Christians not to use the loudspeaker for their Morning Prayer because this was the same time when Muslims also offer their prayer. But Christians continued their prayers in the loudspeakers as Muslims also do, which enraged the Muslims as a result they attacked the one and only church of the area.

On October 12th Athar Rasool, Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) Athar Rasool organized a peaceful gathering of representative of both communities where Muslims submitted a written apology to the Christians. The villagers also signed a peace agreement under the supervision of the SPO and senior police officers including the Hadiyara Police station house officer. But the Christians say that the tensions have not been diffused and on Sunday October 14th they did not use their loudspeaker “to avoid further problems”, while the loud cries for Eid (last day of Ramadan) sailed from the mosques.

Police found that Haji Yasin and Molvi Rasheed were the two key people behind the incident, who instigated the Muslims and incited anti-Christian hate in the mosques. Police have warned them not to create further tensions. No other steps were taken, despite the degree of violence and damage.

Gowindh is a village on the India-Pakistan border and falls in the Hadiyara area of Lahore. The village has a population of around 10,000 people including 25 Christian families. There are eight mosques in the village, and only one church, that was built before partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

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