By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net
“Creating harmonial and friendly relation between the two communities (Muslims and Christians) is of prime importnce,” said Beemapalli Rasheed, convener of the Joint Committee of the Beemapalli Muslim Jama’ath and the Cheriyathura Parish.
The joint committee was formed when the authorities of the Masjid and the Church met in the Bishop’s House in Cheriyathura yesterday. Father Eugene Perera was elected the chairman of the committee. The joint committee aims to reinstate peaceful relations between the communities, which were estranged after the police firing in the Beemapalli area.
The first official meeting of the committee will take place on Saturday, 20th of June, in the Bishop’s House in Cheriyathura.
An umbrella organisation called Muslim Samghadana Ekopana Samiti was formed recently to coordinate the activities of Muslim organisations in trying to obtain justice for the victims of the police firing. And the new committee aims to reinstate the lost trust and faith between the two communities, says Mr. Rasheed. Though only the Muslim Jama’ath and the Parish are in the committee now, it wishes to work in cooperation with and receiving advice from cultural and intellectual leaders as well as other Muslim organisations.
The committee made it clear that it would organise joint protest activities if there was any fault on the part of the government in dealing with the issue. It also asked the Government to help reinstate peace in the area, not to create further problems by charging wrong cases against the violence-hit people and to conduct a fair probe of the incident.
Six Muslims were killed and several others seriously injured in the police firing in the Beemapalli area in Thiruvananthapuram on 17th May. The police had tried to project it as communal clash between the Muslims of Beemapalli and the Christians of Cheriyathura.