Zia Haq , Hindustan Times New Delhi, June 28, 2013
First Published: 23:54 IST(28/6/2013) | Last Updated: 23:57 IST(28/6/2013)
In the disaster-struck hills of Uttarakhand, emergency relief operations have brought religions together, as Islamic and Christian charities join hands to nurse thousands of Hindu pilgrims and locals impacted by deadly flooding.
Teams from Caritas India, a Christian voluntary organisation, are scouring the hills for survivors. In Shakti Vihar area of Srinagar town in the state’s Pauri district, nearly 150 volunteers from Convent schools and Church centers, including priests and nuns, have descended on the hills, helping clear the debris left behind by the waters.
Political outfits, such as the All India Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen, led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, has announced relief worth Rs. 78.75 lakh.
A Youtube video, made available by the organisation, showed young Church volunteers removing knee-deep slush from wrecked homes.
Members of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, an Islamic organisation, are holding relief camps at Hardwar railway station for victims, led by a Muslim cleric. The relief camp of the Jamaat, inaugurated by railway superintendent GK Das, is housing several survivors, according to a Jamaat leader.
The All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat has donated Rs. 1 lakh to the PM’s relief fund as a token amount towards the relief efforts being undertaken by the central and state governments.
“We have appealed to the other Muslim organisations, NGOs and individuals to offer relief help in this hour of need of our brethren and sisters affected by the natural calamity,” Zafarul-Islam Khan, the Mushawarat’s chief said, in a statement