CNI School in Jammu & Kashmir Burnt

The Tangmarg branch of Tyndale Biscoe & Mallinson School of Amritsar Diocese of Church of North India in Jammu & Kashmir was vandalized and set on fire yesterday by a fanatic mob in repercussion to the rumor spread about desecration of Quran in the USA by some conservative group. The whole school building got completely burnt destroying everything in it. The Diocese of Amritsar has lost the most beautiful school of the Diocese. However, thank God for there was no human casualty. The few support staff who were present in the School managed to run away to safety in time. There were few other incidents of attacks on church. Last night a C.N.I. Church was burnt in Malerkotla (Chandigarh Diocese) and a Roman Catholic Church was attacked in Poonch (Jammu) but the police successfully prevented any damage to the Church.

Rt. Rev. Pradeep Samantaroy, bishop of the Diocese and Mr. Alwan Masih, General Secretary of the Church of North India Synod, have written letters to the President, Prime Minister and other high officials in the Government of India to take steps to give adequate protection to the Christians of J & K. Bishop Samantaroy says that “The Tangmarg School building is gone but not our hope and confidence. I thank God for the gift of this challenge to rebuild on my birthday. I know my limitations. But I believe prayers of the faithful will cause a storm in heaven and invite God’s intervention in the Kashmir situation. It is a time to pray and act together.”

Earlier, Mr. Alwan Masih had condemned the reckless proposal of the tiny fanatic Church in Florida, USA and had appealed to the USA government and the partner churches and mission agencies to stop this kind of extremist attack on religious book for no reason. He has urged the members of the Christian community in the State of Jammu and Kashmir to stay calm and maintain peace asserting that “we need to be vigilant along with our brothers and sisters of other faiths so that no miscreants can break our harmony”. In the same tone appealing to the Prime Minister, Mr. B. D. Das, a member of CNI and an Advocate in the Supreme Court of India, has categorically demanded that “the culprits responsible in causing this damage to the properties of a church based school should be severely dealt with and the Government Officials should be put to task for their gross negligence, inaction, apathy amounting to connivance for allowing the school to ashes. Had the fire could be extinguished in time, the damage could have prevented.”

Bishop Samantaroy informs that “the situation poses one of the worst challenges for the Christian Community in recent times. We, as disciples of Lord Jesus Christ, need to come together in prayer to express our
solidarity with the victims of religious intolerance and seek God’s intervention in establishing peace and harmony among people.” A Fasting Prayer has been organized at the St. Paul’s Church, Amritsar from 11.00am onwards. We request the recipients of this news to express solidarity with us by participating in this prayer.