Friday, August 29, 2008

FIACONA Prayer Vigil at the United Nations on 29th August

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organization of North America
110 Maryland Ave, NE, Suite# 306, Washington, DC, 20002 USA
Phone: 202-547-6228 www.fiacona.org, Email: bernardmalik@hotmail.com

Press Release

Prayer Vigil in front of United Nations on 29th August 2008

(30 Martyred, 10000 fled to the jungles, 400 plus injured and 100's village churches razed down and burnt in last 72 hours)

In the wake of unabated violence against Christians in Orissa, FIACONA has called in solidarity with the suffering Christians a day of prayer on 29th August.
The Catholic Church is closing all its institutions in India on 29th to protest the burning alive of Christians and destruction of Christian institutions. In expression of our solidarity and to support our grieving community in India, FIACONA will observe prayer vigil in front of the United Nations from 12pm to 3pm. At the end of vigil a memorandum will be handed over to the Secretary General of the United Nations. There are innumerable incidents where Christians are assaulted, humiliated, paraded half-naked, beaten up, their limbs mutilated, tortured, burnt alive, nuns gang raped and even murdered. There are about 123 incidents in Orissa in last 72 hours alone and 143 incidents of violence against peace-loving Christians in the state of Karnataka. All the Christians of India and the world are in extreme shock and profound grief, over these brutal and heartless events happening against Christians in Orissa. Being a forever peace-loving and religious tolerant community, Christians are remaining mute spectators to these intensely inhuman and barbaric acts. But the international community is taking note and thus a lot of negative publicity is also being generated.

Christians of India and all over the world have full faith in dynamic, charismatic, and justice driven leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh. We are confident that as he has made India into one of the leading economies, he will also make it into one of the leading religious tolerant countries of the world. We look forward to him for guidance and leadership in this matter. As all these incidents happened, FIACONA is deeply concerned along with the entire Christian community of India. We request that necessary action may be immediately initiated to stop the inhuman atrocities being committed against Christians in Orissa and rest of the country.

For the favor of publication
Rev. Bernard Malik
302-354-5452

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