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Harsh Kapoor: (fwd) catholic union of india statement on kashmir |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <nettime-l-temp@material.net> is the temporary home of the nettime-l list while desk.nl rebuilds its list-serving machine. please continue to send messages to <nettime-l@desk.nl> and your commands to <majordomo@desk.nl>. nettime-l-temp should be active for approximately 2 weeks (11-28 Jun 99). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 19:52:35 +0200 To: aiindex@mnet.fr From: Harsh Kapoor <aiindex@mnet.fr> Subject: catholic union of india statement on kashmir June 14, 1999 FYI (South Asia Citizens Web) ============================= A l l I n d i a C a t h o l i c U n i on Established 1919. Registered under the SRA, 1981 .National Office: F-299, New-Rajendra Nagar, New Delhi 110 060 Email: johndayal@vsnl.com, jdayal123@aol.com President: Norbert De Souza Secretary General : Prof. Remy Denis National Secretary, Public Affairs: John Dayal 91-11-2722262 14 June 1999 Press statement to Fides The following statement was issued to the Vatican news agency Fides by John Dayal, National secretary for Public affairs and spokesman, All India Catholic Union: ----------- Concern at reports of torture of soldiers, appeal for urgent steps to de-escalate tension and restore peace NEW DELHI, June 14: The Catholic community joins with its fellow Indian citizens in expressing its deep distress and concern at reports that Indian soldiers captured in the Kargil area of Kashmir were tortured and executed before their bodies were handed over to the Indian defence forces. This act has sharply escalated the tension between India and Pakistan and has made the search for peace that much more difficult. Torture of prisoners of war violates established international conventions, and must be condemned in the strongest terms. The urgent need is to de-escalate the confrontation in Kargil. The Shimla agreement between India and Pakistan forms the basis of peaceful co-existence in the sub-continent. The Line of Control has in close to thirty years come to be recognized internationally, and barring brief skirmishes, has been honored by both countries and their security forces. It is important that those who have crossed this line vacate go back. The sub-continent cannot afford war, and it cannot afford the constant bleeding of proxy wars and terrorism. The basic issues for the nearly 1.2 billion people of India and Pakistan are of development, of food, public health, education, housing and fruitful employment. Peace is a sine qua non to allow the two peoples to work for a life of dignity and happiness. It was in this context that the Christian community in India, and specially the Catholic community, had last year expressed its apprehensions at the induction of nuclear weapons in the sub-continent. In a statement signed, among others by the All India Catholic Union, the community had pointed out that a nuclear stand-off in the sub-continent would not guarantee peace, but would in fact rapidly deteriorate the security environment. This has been tragically borne out by events in recent months. This is the time for all peace-loving people in Pakistan and India to decisively speak out against an escalation of the confrontation. This is not the time for jingoism. The word of reason and goodwill must be brought to bear on the political establishment. Any aggravation of the tension or escalation of the conflict can only bring untold misery to the common people.