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Nagaland church body calls for peace prayers

By Correspondent

DIMAPUR, Sept 5 - As Nagaland will observe the Peace Day tomorrow, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) today appealed to the believers to utter a prayer on this day and urged the churches to pray for peace on Sunday to usher in permanent peace to the State.

NBCC general secretary Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho, in a release, said peace should not be made only a day to be observed, it has to be lived. �This is the hard reality the Nagas in general are facing,� he said.

�We have become talkers and we use verbal rhetoric to destroy each other. We observe, we pronounce and yet peace has not really settled in us, in our attitude and in our action. Today, we must weep and cry for true peace to dawn upon us. This is the real need of the day as we observe the Peace Day. War may have ceased, but killings and cold war continue among us,� the NBCC said.

It appealed to pray for peace and for political leaders and leaders of Naga political groups who are at the forefront in the decision-making process.

Stating that the signing of the ceasefire in September 1964 did not come easy, it said there was virtually a war between the Indian security forces and the Naga army where thousands of lives, including those of innocent civilians, were lost and atrocities like mass rape, burning of villages and other inhuman acts were rampant.

�Within this context, ceasefire was established,� the NBCC said.

It said verbal war must cease and mutual understanding must prevail for true peace to be established.

�Therefore, on this day, we should generate a deep sense of responsibility to God and upon ourselves to live in peace with one another. We must also make a deliberate effort to respect each other even with those whom we chose to disagree if it would serve the greater purpose of achieving peace,� the NBCC said.

The Council of Nagalim Churches (CNC) today said that it would hold a two-day national fasting and prayer programme � repentance for healing � on September 7 and 8. In a release, CNC general secretary Rev Seksim Kasar said that it is obligatory for all the regions and army brigades, battalions and units to set aside their works, and hold fasting and prayers on these two days.

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