Evangelical Fellowship of India Condemns Varanasi Blasts

EFI NEWS PRESS RELEASE

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EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP OF INDIA CONDEMNS VARANASI BLASTS

The Evangelical Fellowship of India condemns the cowardly terrorist bomb attacks on the devotees at the ancient Sankat Mochan temple and train passengers in the city of Varanasi last night; killing at least 20 people and leaving more than 50 injured.

Shedding the blood of innocent children, women and men is motivated by hateful ideology that does not care to desecrate the faith of others. The motive is also to instigate communal strife and break the harmony between communities.

We urge the communities to maintain peace and harmony and not to play into the hands of the perpetrators of the crime. Our prayers and sympathies are with the survivors enduring pain with wounded psyches and with the relatives of the deceased. We stand in solidarity with them.

EFI calls on the civil society to ensure continuance of peace and stability for religious and political fanaticism has no place in our secular democratic republic of India, our motherland.

We call upon the government of the state and the centre to take all possible steps to ensure the safety of its citizens and bring to justice those behind the blasts. Let us all continue to work for national reconciliation.

Rev Richard Howell
General Secretary
Evangelical Fellowship of India
Vice Chairman
International Council World Evangelical Alliance

EFI is a Charter member of the World Evangelical Alliance, an NGO in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.