The duration of curfew in Meghalaya capital Shillong has been shortened for Friday, a week after a tiff between a Khasi bus driver and a Dalit Sikh woman stoked communal fire.
Curfew in 14 localities that were most affected by the violence had been relaxed for five hours from 7 a.m. on Thursday.
“The restrictions have been relaxed in 14 areas under Lumdiengjri police station for nine hours from 7 a.m. for Friday until further orders. Also under Section 144 of CrPC, night curfew has been shortened from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the city,” East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner P.S. Dkhar said on Thursday.
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The day also saw the All India Christian Council appealing to the Christian community in Meghalaya as well as other communities to find solution to the problems through peaceful dialogue rather than resort to violence.
In a statement from Hyderabad, the council’s Northeast coordinator Bisop Paothang Haokip and administrator Reverend Madhu Chandra Singh said: “Opponents of the church in India are already misusing these incidents for propaganda as a case of Christian majority community attacking Dalit Sikhs. The church across India is deeply in solidarity with all marginalized groups including Dalit Sikhs.”
As the nation is being actively polarised based on caste, religion, and tribe, it is important that Christians everywhere demonstrate that they resort to peaceful methods of resolving complex social problems, the council said.
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