Amid continuing tensions between India and Pakistan, Indian church leaders have warned that “war hysteria” is gripping their country and have called for dialogue to resolve differences between the two states.
The current dispute follows the storming last month of the Indian parliament complex. The Indian government claims the attack was carried out by Pakistani-backed militants.
While the Indian authorities have failed to rule out military action against Pakistan in their response to the attack, churches in India are urging their government to resolve the issue through dialogue with its neighbor.
“War is not a solution for the existing conflict situation between India and Pakistan,” said Geevarghese mar Coorilos, president of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI).
The NCCI is the biggest ecumenical body in India, grouping 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches.
In a statement issued on January 7, mar Coorilos, the assistant metropolitan of the Orthodox Syrian church’s Bombay diocese, declared that “peace can be established only by continuing dialogue at all levels.”
Ipe Joseph, NCCI general secretary, said, “There is a war hysteria in the country now. It has to be diffused at the earliest.” He stated the council’s position in favor of exerting “diplomatic pressure on Pakistan.”
“India and Pakistan cannot afford another war,” he said, referring to the three Indo-Pakistan wars since they became independent in 1947.
At the heart of the tension between the two states is the unresolved issue of the state of Kashmir, in the Himalaya region. Both India and Pakistan lay claim to Kashmir, which has been divided between the two countries since 1949, at the end of the first Indo-Pakistan war.
India claims that Kashmiri separatists, backed by Pakistan, were responsible for last month’s attack on the Indian parliament.
Earlier last week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in a statement also urged the government “to consider all other options … before taking the last step of going to war” after the Indian government threatened to launch its own “war against terrorism”.
Asserting that the Catholic Church is “fully with the government in its resolve to counter terrorism,” the CBCI expressed “serious concern” about the “fallout of a war.”
Cautioning that “war is in nobody’s interest and there are no victors but only losers in a war,” CBCI secretary general Archbishop Oswald Gracias said that “violence breeds more violence.”
On December 25, several Christian groups joined secular organizations in a peace demonstration in the Indian capital, forming a human chain of several hundred people around New Delhi’s historic India Gate.
The demonstration was overshadowed, however, by the mobilization of both Indian and Pakistani troops along their shared border.
The Indian government has denied access to Indian air space to Pakistan International Airlines, and has imposed restrictions on telephone calls from Kashmir, where thousands of lives were lost during the 1990s in violence involving Muslim separatists and Indian army operations.
Violence in Kashmir and along the Pakistani-Indian border have left other casualties among soldiers and civilians of both sides since the attack on the Indian parliament on December 13.
The Global Council Of Indian Christians (GCIC), which is based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, said in a statement on January 4 that Christians were “deeply disturbed about this ominous pattern of events—ominous because of the devastating consequence in the near, as well as distant future.”
“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 K George, GCIC convener.
Copyright © 2002 ENI
Related Elsewhere:
Recent media coverage includes:
Pakistan May Be Unable to Calm Kashmir — The New York Times (Jan 9, 2002)
Kashmir has history of pain — USA Today (Jan 7, 2002)
India and Pakistan Together, but Not Speaking — The New York Times (Jan 4, 2002)
India presses Pakistan to hand over suspects — Baltimore Sun (Jan 4, 2002)
Meeting stokes India-Pakistan peace hopes — Boston Globe (Jan 3, 2002)
Indian-Pakistani tensions recede — USA Today (Jan 2, 2002)
India, Pakistan say they’re open to talk about Kashmir rift — Boston Globe (Jan 2, 2002)
Many from Pakistan, India fear border war — Boston Globe (Dec 28, 2001)
High alert for India, Pakistan troops — Boston Globe (Dec 27, 2001)
Pakistan, India Mass Troops — The Washington Post (Dec 24, 2001)
India-Pakistan tensions sharpen — BBC (Dec 23, 2001)
India Raises the Pitch in Criticism of Pakistan — The New York Times (Dec 19, 2001)
India Wages a War of Words — The Washington Post (Dec 19, 2001)
Indian military push for Kashmir strike — Irish Times (Dec 18, 2001)
India Rebuffs Pakistanis Over Inquiry Into Attack — The New York Times (Dec 18, 2001)
India ‘has evidence’ linking Pakistan with raid — The Guardian (London). (Dec 17, 2001)
Pakistan denies involvement in Indian parliament attack — AFP/Yahoo! Singapore (Dec 17, 2001)
India Says Arrests Link Militants in Pakistan to Attack — The New York Times (Dec 17, 2001)
Indians Blame Attacks On Pakistani Group — The Washington Post (Dec 15, 2001)
For more articles, see Yahoo full coverage on the Kashmir dispute, India, and Pakistan.
Christianity Today articles on India and Pakistan are available at World Report.
