_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Bishops urge restraint
Caution and diplomacy needed
With rumors of war sweeping the subcontinent during the first days of the year, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) appealed to that country’s government to “consider all other options before taking the last step of going to war.”

The Indian bishops expressed satisfaction that the government had pursued diplomatic options after a December 13 attack on the country’s parliament. The attack has been attributed to a suicide squad of Islamic militants demanding secession for the Muslim-majority areas in the northern Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir. India has blamed Muslim terrorist groups based in Pakistan. The December 13 incident rekindled tensions between India and Pakistan—countries that have fought three wars over Kashmir since the partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan in 1947.

“We urge the government to continue its diplomatic efforts and exhaust all other possibilities of dialogue at all levels before considering the option of waging an offensive war,” said the CBCI.

Back to Catholic World Report February 2002 Table of Contents