Pakistani Catholic Church: we fast for Muslims and peace in India

After the recent violence in Delhi, Card. Joseph Coutts and Fr. Saleh Diego ask the Indian government to protect all citizens. A Hindu is in danger of dying after saving his Muslim neighbors. Pakistani conservatives appreciate the Church's initiative. Hope for a better coexistence also in Pakistan.

Karachi (AsiaNews) - The Archdiocese of Karachi and the National Justice and Peace Commission of the Pakistani Bishops' Conference ask all Christian faithful to fast on Friday, March 6, for Muslims and peace in India.

Recent religious clashes in Delhi have shocked many and several Muslims in the Indian capital have been targeted by Hindu extremist groups: the current toll is around 40 dead and 300 injured. The Indian Islamic community is at loggerheads with the government of Narendra Modi, which has recently introduced a citizenship law that discriminates against the faithful of Islam.

Card. Joseph Coutts, archbishop of Karachi, expresses serious concern about what is happening in India, and asks the Indian authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of all their citizens, regardless of the faith or caste they belong to.

Saleh Diego, vicar general and member of the national commission for interreligious dialogue of the archdiocese of Karachi, is on the same wavelength. He appreciates the position of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who in a recent Twitter post promised to defend all minorities living in Pakistan: "Anyone who targets non-Muslims, and their places of prayer in our country, will be treated severely . Minorities have the same rights as all other citizens." 

Card. Coutts and Fr. Diego remembers the gestures of brotherhood and mercy of all those people of the heart - Catholics, Sikhs and even Hindus - who ran to the aid of the victims in Delhi. In particular, their thoughts turn to Premkant Baghel, a Hindu who is now in serious condition for saving six Muslim neighbors from the flames.

Muslims in Pakistan have welcomed the Catholic world's stance against Modi's extremist policies. Acknowledgments came from a local fishermen's organization, but especially from Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic conservative party. One of its leaders, Yunus Khan, stresses that everyone in Pakistan, whether Muslim or Catholic, is united "for peace and harmony in the world".

The hope is that the unity of purpose for what happened in India will translate into a more concrete commitment by the government of Islamabad and the Muslim majority in Pakistan in favor of peaceful coexistence with other confessions.