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PM tells Staines
widow India will act to stop communal riots
WSN Network
New Delhi: In a somewhat belated assurance, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has said India will take necessary measures to protect the
religious freedom of all communities. The assurance was in a letter
he has written to Ms Gladys Staines, the widow of Graham Staines,
the Australian missionary who was burnt to death along with his two
sons in Orissa in 1999.
Ms Staines, who returned to Australia a few years ago, had written
to the Prime Minister expressing anguish at the recent attacks on
Christians and Church buildings and institutions in Orissa. In his
letter, the Prime Minister has said: "We are taking all steps to
ensure the restoration of normalcy and to bring about harmony and
peace in the affected areas."
Also stating that he has spoken to the Orissa chief minister
regarding the violence, Dr Singh said: "I assure you that the
government of India 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.
Please be assured that we will not tolerate any efforts aimed at
disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our country."
The Prime Minister’s letter to Ms Staines was released to the media
by the government on Monday, also the day when a statement came from
Mr John Dayal, a member of the National Integration Council and
secretary-general of the All-India Christian Council. Mr Dayal,
currently in Orissa, said a fact-finding team which included him had
gone to the Phulbani area of Kandhamal district on Saturday but "was
forcibly expelled by the inspector-general of police, Pradeep Kapoor,
who ordered the Phulbani town police inspector to ensure that I left
the district that night".
According to Mr Dayal, the town police inspector made the group
follow an armed police escort for nearly an hour-and-a-half at
night, finally leaving them on the border of Ganjam district. The
experience, he said, left the team deeply distressed and frustrated.
Mr Dayal said the team had driven to Phulbani on December 29 and en
route was able to assess the damage caused to the Carmelite Convent
and the Carmel English School. Nuns the group interviewed told them
of attempts that were made to set the convent on fire while they
locked themselves inside a room.
As for the group’s meeting with Mr Kapoor, Mr Dayal said, "He would
not allow me to proceed, or even to remain in Phulbani. He said it
would not be safe for me, or for the persons with whom I would stay.
He said the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in Phulbani town
and I had to draw my inference from this fact about the situation
and tension in the place."
2 January 2008
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