The Hindu : Joint appeal for peace and harmony

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 06, 2002

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Joint appeal for peace and harmony
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 5. Prominent leaders and members of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) today jointly issued an appeal for restoration of peace and harmony in Gujarat and decided that soon ``Gujarat Prayer Day'' would be observed in consultation with religious and social organisations.

Expressing profound pain and shock at the recent mass killings of innocents, first at Godhra and later in Ahmedabad and several other parts of Gujarat, the leaders described them as a ``blot on humanity''. ``Every Indian hangs his head in shame at the enormous toll of human lives in this outbreak of communal violence'', the statement said.

The leaders urged both communities to strive for the immediate restoration of peace, normality and communal harmony. The statement was issued after the Kanchi Seer invited AIMPLB leaders for a meeting which was attended by the former President, R. Venkataraman, the former Chief Justice of India, Ranganath Misra, and the former Uttar Pradesh Governor, Romesh Bhandari. The AIMPLB was represented by Syed Nizammudin, general secretary, S.Q.R Ilyas, convenor of the AIMPLB committee on Babri Masjid and eight others.

The leaders said the killing of innocent people had no sanction either in Hinduism or Islam and the irony was that such heinous acts ``which are perpetrated in the name of religion are a negation of religion, because all religions aim at promoting humanistic values among individuals and communities.''

Urging all political and non-political organisations to work for the common objective and the urgent need of maintaining peace, calm and communal harmony all over the country, the leaders said these organisations should also discourage anybody from raising provocative slogans and making inflammatory statements that hurt the sentiments of any community. They said both the Central and State Governments should take firm measures to ensure that communal violence does not spread to other States.

``A lot of questions crop up in mind as to why these horrendous things happened. Who was responsible? Why could it not be prevented? In times to come, these questions must be addressed and honestly answered. But the need of the hour is to concentrate our efforts to give a healing touch to those who have suffered in the last few days. Let the victims not feel that, in this hour of distress, there is none to listen to their helpless cries'', the statement said.

``Let us heal the wounds and build the bridge of understanding between estranged neighbours and brothers inter- communal harmony is not possible without inculcating the values of tolerance and understanding,'' they said.

The other members of the AIMPLB include Syed Jalaluddin Umri, Abdul Kareem Parekh, Ahmad Ali Qasmi, Yusuf Hathim Muchala, Mohammed Jafar, Abdul Wahab Khilji, Manzoor Alam and Kamal Farooqui.

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