Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, MAY 2
The town of Dimapur, despite its notoriety for being a breeding ground for criminals of all kind, has not seen violence perpetrated along religious lines till date. On the face of it, the interfaith relationship among its citizens is exemplary and worth replicating.
This is not to suggest that, in truth, the otherwise is true. But the message that peace, and communal harmony, in its current disposition is only on “surface level” and that the leaders of different religions must interact and involve in “social exchange” with one another was the recurring theme of an interfaith meeting held here today in Dimapur.
The Christian Forum Dimapur along with the Nagaland Baptist Churches Council (NBCC) and Peace Channel called the interfaith meeting at Hotel Acacia, under the theme “Nurturing a community of peace” where representatives from various communities – Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh and Christian – took participation. Recognizing that true peace, especially in the context of interfaith coexistence, could be achieved only when there are social exchanges among the religious communities, the meeting resolved to form a forum to facilitate such exchanges. Ajay Sethi, of NIIT Dimapur, volunteered to be the coordinator of the forum where one member from each of the communities will be included. This initiative has been based on the belief that in order to encourage social exchange among the followers of different religions, the leaders themselves must lead the way by acting on it. Trust building workshops for the religious leaders were suggested as the first step towards achieving this noble aspiration.
