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Vatican deplores 'senseless violence' in Kashmir
The Vatican has said it deplored "senseless violence" in Jammu and Kashmir after rioters defied curfews and torched a Christian school in a surge of anger stoked by the desecration of the Koran.
The Vatican has said it deplored "senseless violence" in Jammu and Kashmir after rioters defied curfews and torched a Christian school in a surge of anger stoked by the desecration of the Koran.
"Unfortunately, violence yields violence, a senseless violence because it targets the life of innocent people," Pier Luigi Celata, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, said on Monday on Sky Tg 24 news channel.
Top state police official Kuldeep Khoda and other local officials blamed Iran's state-run Press TV for fanning simmering anger in Kashmir with a report on a group of Christians who tore pages from the Koran in a demonstration outside the White House on Saturday.
Local authorities later banned the station from broadcasting on local cable channels.
"These reports are causing us a lot of pain," Celata said, recalling Pope Benedict's statement that "violence can never be justified as a response to a slight" and was not compatible with the sacred principles of religion.
