By Thomas Scaria
Mangaluru, Aug 1, 2022: The Catholic churches in Mangaluru have organized special prayers for communal harmony as sectarian tension prevails in the southern Indian coastal city.
Two Muslim and one Hindu youth were killed in separate incidents of targeted violence by extremist groups from both the communities in the last week of July in Mangaluru suburbs forcing police to impose 144 section in the region until August 5.
Father Joseph Martis, parish priest of Most Holy Redeemer Church, Darebail, said in his Sunday sermon on July 31 that the city requires more prayers and divine blessings as communal tension mounts day by day.
“Young people are being sacrificed in the name of their religion and politics and people here live in fear and anxiety,” said the priest. A special prayer followed the homily.
The tension started with the murder of an 18-year-old Muslim B. Masood, in Sullia, some 85 km southeast of Mangaluru, followed by the killing of a Hindu youth, Praveen Nettaru, Taluk president of the Yuva Morcha, a youth wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The police could not make any serious breakthrough in both the cases and several office bearers of the youth wing resigned from their positions to pressurize the state government to arrest the culprits.
Meanwhile, another youth Mohammed Fazil was killed by a group of masked men in Surathkal, near Mangaluru.
Around 20 young men were taken into custody for questioning, including the owner of the car used in the attack according to information from the police, as on August 1. The car owner arrested is a Catholic youth, who claimed to have only rented his car to the assailants.
Meanwhile on July 31, the student wing of the ruling party, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, entered state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra’s residence in Bengaluru and demanded a ban on the Islamic group, Popular Front of India (PFI), terming it as a terrorist organization.
Most Catholic churches organized prayer service for peace during the Sunday Mass on July 31.
“Whichever community they belonged, we have lost three young people. Let us join the grief of their family members and pray for peace,” Father Martis urged the congregation.
Mangaluru has experienced sporadic incidences of communal violence, moral policing, and attack on pubs and bars in the recent years.
A welcome and timely initiative.