The Hindu

BANGALORE, Aug 29: Nearly 2,000 Catholic educational institutions in Karnataka, with a strength of six lakh students, will remain closed on Friday to protest the recent violence on Christians in Orissa. Of these, 400 schools are in Bangalore.

Announcing this at a press conference here, Archbishop of Bangalore Rev. Bernard Moras said such a call for closure of schools across the country had been given by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. As many as 25,000 Catholic educational institutions throughout the country would remain closed on Friday, he said. Rev. Moras described the violence in Orissa as “unfair and uncalled for.”

Though certain groups have claimed responsibility for the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda, some fundamentalist outfits were deliberately pointing fingers at the Christian community, he said. The terror being unleashed on Christians in Orissa was such that people were just fleeing their homes to save their lives.

Rev. Moras reiterated the demand by the Church in India for an impartial inquiry into the Orissa violence and evolving a national policy for checking militancy in the country, especially those aimed at religious groups and communities.

Archbishop to meet CM

Expressing concern over the sporadic incidents of violence against the Christian community in different parts of Karnataka of late, Rev. Moras has decided to meet Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and Governor Rameshwar Thakur to urge them to take steps to stop it.