Diocese appeals to Indian president as anti-Christian violence rises

Published: 2004-01-19

BHOPAL, India (CNS) -- A Catholic diocese has appealed to India's president to intervene in escalating anti-Christian violence that followed the murder of a girl whose body was found in a Catholic school. Indore Diocese, in central India's Madhya Pradesh state, faxed an appeal to Indian President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam asking him "to instruct the political parties not to make inflammatory statements, which will threaten the lives of people," reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Father Joseph Vallassery, secretary of Indore Diocese, alleged that right-wing Hindu groups had hired people from neighboring Gujarat state to "aggravate the already tense atmosphere" in the diocese.

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