Archdiocese of Bhopal pays tribute to the ‘Pulwama’ Martyrs

Archdiocese of Bhopal paid tribute to the martyrs of Pulwama attack at Pastoral Centre, Arera Colony, Bhopal on Friday 15 Feb. 2019.

Archbishop Leo Cornelio SVD strongly condemned the terrorist attack on CRPF personnel with strongest words ever, who sacrificed their life in the brutal terrorists attack. He said “Any sort of violence and terror is against the progress of humanity.” Terrorists are trying to destabilize the peace and harmony in the world, he continued. The time has come to unite the peace loving community, against all kinds of terrorism, he added.

The Christian community came together at Pastoral centre on Friday and lighted the candles in memories of the brave heroes and observed two minutes silence to pay the homage.  

Fr. Maria Stephen, the P.R.O. led the prayer with a Bhajan to pay respect to the departed souls. He said “The society is deeply wounded and it needs healing touch. We have the habit of handing over the responsibility of spreading peace to the Army, Jesus, Krishna, Ram, Allah or society but we forget that an individual is majority to spread peace and love.  The need of hour is to change. Further he said that – “We are proud of Indian Army for their dedicated service to the country, and we place our faith in them.” He also expressed his deep condolence to the bereaved family members of martyrs and prayed for them.

It is to be noted that whole country is in anger and sorrow as 38-45 CRPF personnel were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. This is the worst terror attack to take place in Kashmir since the start of the century. The scale of this terror strike has exceeded even that of the Uri attack on September 2016, when four heavily armed terrorists targeted an army brigade headquarters causing 19 deaths. The Indian army had responded with a cross-border surgical strike in which several terror launch pads were destroyed.

Fr. Shaji (Asst. PRO), Sudhir Sharma (Coordinator), Sisters and along with many other Christians gathered around to pay the homage to martyrs of Pulwama attack.