Wednesday, March 02, 2005

NE Christians demand dissolution of NMC

GUWAHATI, March 1 – The Christian community of North East today urged the Centre to reconstitute the National Minority Commission (NMC) by disolving the present one as it had allegedly lost its credibility as the guardian of the minority community and its interests. A group of eight Christian associations of the North East in a statement said Commission Chairman Tarlochan Singh's comment at a recent seminar in Kochi that there was an abnormally high increase in the Christian population in the region was “highly motivated”.

“The Christian community of North East demands an apology from the Commission for its controversial and highly provocative statement in the Kochi seminar and subsequent statement made by Chairman to the media,” they said. “The Christian community feel that the Commission's observations were biased and not intended to objectively study the census data. We suspect the actual intention of the Commission was to sensationalise the whole issue by citing data from selected pockets,” the statement said.

They also expressed concern that the indigenous and tribal people of North East are facing the onslaught of “unchecked influx of people of the dominant community from outside the region which is evident from the changing population pattern in the region.” The statement was signed by representatives of Dispur Baptist Church, Nepali Baptist Church, Catholic Women's Association, All Bodo Christian Coordination Committee, Mar Baptist, Garo Baptist and Catholic Churches. — PTI

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