Agencies
Published on Mon, Dec 31, 2007 at 14:23, Updated at Mon, Dec 31, 2007 in Nation section
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday assured Gladys Staines, widow of Australian missionary Graham Staines who was murdered in Orissa nine years ago, that his government would take steps to ensure that the secular fabric of the country was not disturbed.
"I assure you that the government will take all necessary steps to safeguard the fundamental rights and liberties of all sections of our society and protect their religious freedoms as enshrined in the constitution,” Singh said while replying to Staines' letter expressing concern over the increasing communal violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district.
"Please be assured that we will not tolerate any efforts aimed at disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our country," Singh said in the letter.
Gladys Staines has stayed on in the state even after the brutal killing of her husband and two sons who were burnt alive while sleeping in their jeep in Keonjhar district on Jan 23, 1999.
Singh said he had spoken to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik about the situation in the state and assured Staines that the central government was taking steps to ensure "restoration of normalcy" and peace to the affected areas.
Kandhamal district has been tense since Christmas Eve with Hindus and Christians clashing repeatedly. At least five people have died and hundreds of houses torched in the last few days.
Christian groups staged a demonstration in Bhubaneswar on Monday to press for their demand that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe the violence in Kandhamal.
A group of Christian leaders met Singh on Monday and demanded compensation for loss of life and property, a government statement on what measures are being taken for the safety of Christians and the PM to publicly condemn the violence.
“In riots everyone is a looser. All the leaders should sit and find permanent solution to the problem. We are not serving there (in Kandhamal) to convert people into Christianity. Many Hindu organizations like ISKCON do good work abroad, do we say that they are converting—no,” said Sajan K. George, president of Global council of Indian Christians, told CNN-IBN.
The Orissa government has announced it will give Rs 1 lakh as compensation to relatives of people who died in the violence. Houses will be given under Indira Awas Yojana to those whose properties were burnt.
Conversions implicitly mean the abandonment of one religion to take to another. Religions that teach theirs is the only true one sow the seeds of religious conflict. Only religions that teach there are many ways to God can effect a culture of religious coexistence and India, as a nation, is the prime example of a culture affording the practice of various religions without conflict. The only historical record of the tearing of this social fabric of religious harmony is the conversion activities of Semitic religions that proclaim that theirs is the only true religion. Such religions must be banned in India.
"I assure you that the government will take all necessary steps to safeguard the fundamental rights and liberties of all sections of our society and protect their religious freedoms as enshrined in the constitution,” Singh said while replying to Staines' letter expressing concern over the increasing communal violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district.
"Please be assured that we will not tolerate any efforts aimed at disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our country," Singh said in the letter.
Gladys Staines has stayed on in the state even after the brutal killing of her husband and two sons who were burnt alive while sleeping in their jeep in Keonjhar district on Jan 23, 1999.
Singh said he had spoken to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik about the situation in the state and assured Staines that the central government was taking steps to ensure "restoration of normalcy" and peace to the affected areas.
Kandhamal district has been tense since Christmas Eve with Hindus and Christians clashing repeatedly. At least five people have died and hundreds of houses torched in the last few days.
Christian groups staged a demonstration in Bhubaneswar on Monday to press for their demand that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe the violence in Kandhamal.
A group of Christian leaders met Singh on Monday and demanded compensation for loss of life and property, a government statement on what measures are being taken for the safety of Christians and the PM to publicly condemn the violence.
“In riots everyone is a looser. All the leaders should sit and find permanent solution to the problem. We are not serving there (in Kandhamal) to convert people into Christianity. Many Hindu organizations like ISKCON do good work abroad, do we say that they are converting—no,” said Sajan K. George, president of Global council of Indian Christians, told CNN-IBN.
The Orissa government has announced it will give Rs 1 lakh as compensation to relatives of people who died in the violence. Houses will be given under Indira Awas Yojana to those whose properties were burnt.
Conversions implicitly mean the abandonment of one religion to take to another. Religions that teach theirs is the only true one sow the seeds of religious conflict. Only religions that teach there are many ways to God can effect a culture of religious coexistence and India, as a nation, is the prime example of a culture affording the practice of various religions without conflict. The only historical record of the tearing of this social fabric of religious harmony is the conversion activities of Semitic religions that proclaim that theirs is the only true religion. Such religions must be banned in India.
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