Christians, Muslims release charter of demands

KOLKATA, India (UCAN) -- A group of mostly Christian and Muslim leaders have released a charter of demands stressing religious freedom and social peace prior to elections in West Bengal state, eastern India. The group named “People for People” released a charter of 44 demands in the state capital of Kolkata. The state is to elect 42 representatives to parliament in staggered elections scheduled for April 30, May 7 and 13.

The charter, released on April 13, asks politicians to take several legal and political steps to curb sectarian violence, stop tacit support for extremist elements in society, and ensure the religious freedom of minorities such as Christians and Muslims.

“Any attempt to offend or disrespect religious sentiments, or to distort the history and cultural diversity of India in (the) educational system should be stopped,” said the charter.

The Conference of Religious India started the “People for People” forum in response to violence perpetrated against Christians by Hindus in neighboring Orissa state. The violence in the last four months of 2008 killed about 60 people and displaced about 50,000, mostly Christians.

Jesuit provincial of Calcutta, Father George Pattery, who heads the Religious conference in the state, began by inviting members of religious minorities to join the forum to find ways to end violence perpetrated by extremists.

In February, the group of about 100 Christians, mostly Religious, as well as Muslims and Sikhs gathered to discuss ways to sustain the initiative. They named their forum and elected an ad hoc team of office bearers. Membership is open to all.

Father Pattery, the forum president, said they prepared the charter to educate voters on how to select political candidates and tell them of voters’ demands.

The charter asks for a nation-wide law to curb sectarian violence and revoke state laws that restrict people’s freedom to convert from one religion to another. It also demands for laws to end reconversion campaigns undertaken by radical Hindu groups.

The charter also demands compensation for the victims of sectarian violence in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in Gujarat in 2002 and in Orissa last year. It also wants measures for booking and punishing people responsible for deaths and destruction during such rioting.

Father Pattery said the idea of a charter developed from the directives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India regarding the elections and from a people's manifesto prepared by the South Asian Peoples' Initiative, a rights group in New Delhi.

Forum secretary Sunil Lucas said they would print 700,000 copies of the charter and insert it in the daily newspapers in the city’s four major languages of Bengali, English, Hindi and Urdu.

The charter also demands the state help educate Muslim women and implement a federal government-appointed committee’s report that suggests several steps to improve the social and educational status of Indian Muslims.

Forum vice president Imran Zaki said that the charter represents the sentiments of the Muslim community to a large measure. Zaki said he was “positive” that the charter could create awareness among people of how to choose political candidates.

Retired Bishop Parimi Samuel Pavana Raju of the Church of North India's Calcutta diocese said such a charter was very essential in conveying a message to the majority that the minority is important.

“One function of the charter is to make our voices heard and to let the voiceless speak out,” he said.