Lucknow: Muslims and Hindus condemn attack on Loreto Sisters
After Hindu fanatics attacked a school run by the sisters on 10 September, a group of scholars joined the Church of Uttar Pradesh in condemning the action and calling for fitting punishment to make an example of the culprits.
Gorakhpur (AsiaNews) A group of Hindu and Muslim scholars today joined Catholic leaders of Uttar Pradesh in condemning an attack by nationalist Hindu fanatics on a school run by Loreto sisters in Lucknow, the state capital.
The attack took place on 10 September when a group of thugs damaged the school chapel and windows and threatened those sisters who tried to stop them.
The assailants belong to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad [VHP, an extremist Hindu paramilitary formation]. They justified the attack by pointing to a man who addressed the students in the school, claiming to be a "healer" acting "thanks to the presence of Jesus" within him.
The school management said: "The man's presence in the school is part of a witness program that we offer every month to our students. No one was obliged to participate and parents knew all about it."
Catholic schools in Lucknow shut down all of yesterday in protest. Fr Paul Rodrigues, secretary of the Association of Catholic Educational Institutions of Lucknow diocese, said: "This is our way of protesting. We have called for a transparent probe that condemns the assailants of this irrational act."
The bishop of the diocese, Mgr Albert D'Souza, described the attack as "senseless" and said: "Acts like this have no place in a civilized society. The school is one of the most prestigious in the city and is renowned for the inter-faith harmony it managed to create among its students. Someone wants to destroy this."
Ajit Pandey, a Hindu who teaches sociology at Lucknow University, shares this view. The lecturer is part of a "multi-religious" group of scholars that gathered to defend the school and he condemned the attack in no uncertain terms. "How can it be that these people have usurped the role of dispensing justice? The parents of the girls had no objection to the presence of the 'healer'. It is ridiculous that these hoodlums decided or felt duty bound, to act on their behalf. The government must take stern action against them."
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