ACNS - Call to protect Christians after school lost to Quran anger violence

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Call to protect Christians after ?most beautiful
school? lost to Quran anger violence

Posted On : September 15, 2010 5:25 PM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2010/9/15/ACNS4731
Related Categories: India

The Bishop of Amritsar has called on the

President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil to
protect Christians in northern India after a mob
burned down the oldest school in Kashmir and also
attacked other Christian institutions.

The Church of North India's Rt Revd Pradeep Kumar
Samantaroy, wrote that it was ?with a heavy
heart? that he informed the President of the
complete destruction of the Tungmarg Tyndale
Biscoe branch school that provided ?quality
education to five hundred fifty children from one
hundred fifty villages around Tangmarg.?

The school, managed by the Diocese of Amritsar,
had 27 staff and 16 support staff and had been
founded in 1996 by Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson
School Educational Society to cater for the
economically deprived sectors of the community.

The whole three-storey wooden structure with 26
classrooms, computer labs and a library
containing, among other books, copies of the
Quran was completely destroyed on Monday after
being set on fire by a large mob that marched on
the school after hearing reports of a man
desecrating the Quran in America. None of the
staff were injured; they all managed to escape the blaze.

> "I am pained to state that though the local
> authorities were informed about a possible
> attack? no protection was provided," said Bishop
> Samantaroy in his message to the President. "As a
> result of it the whole building was burnt to
> ashes incurring a huge loss of property and
> causing irreparable damage to the sentiments of the Christian 
> Community.

"You are aware that the Christians in the State
of Jammu and Kashmir are a tiny minority who
always live and serve under stressful and
sometimes threatening situations. The present
situation has made the Christians in Jammu and Kashmir feel very 
insecure."

The school?s headmaster Rahinder Kaul expressed
his sorrow at the destruction of the school: "As
word spread, my phone hasn't stopped ringing,
with students, parents, staff members, friends
and well-wishers all expressing their shock and
disbelief - many, many students broke down
completely while talking to me ? theirs is by far the biggest loss."

He added, "Today the school, the pride of the
children who studied here and the staff who have
put everything into the school, is a heap of
ashes. I cannot express my own shock and sense of loss."

Other Christian institutions also came under
attack including the Roman Catholic Good Shepherd
High School at Pulwama that was also set on fire
and the Church of North India hospital at
Anantnag was stormed by protestors, two of whom
were shot and killed by security forces.

> ENDS