Q: Do you face any sort of difficulty in Kashmir now in the light of what happened in Sri Lanka recently? Are you apprehensive that a similar thing could happen anywhere in India, especially in Kerala? As the parliament elections are now taking place, do you think that the present regime may be voted out? Are you of the opinion that a lot of people are swayed by fundamentalist feelings?

A: The Holy Week celebrations were absolutely peaceful, as we received a lot of cooperation from the people. In fact, we were even able to hold processions. The situation now is such that I can’t really say anything about what is happening else-where. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concern-ed, the security system ensures the houses are safe, but I am not sure if the same can be said about the rest of India. The chances are that anything can happen anywhere. It is also apparent that only churches have been targeted so far. However, what happened in Sri Lanka could be a reaction to something else, which is yet to be investigated; we shall wait and see. I am not an ex-pert in political matters; all I can say is that the mood of the people will be reflected in the election results. From what I have heard, in certain parts of the country people do hold fundamentalist feelings. We have many experiences of that in Jammu and Kashmir.

Bp Ivan Pereira
Jammu-Srinagar