[ Karda Natam ]
DAPORIJO, Nov 4: The Tagin Indigenous Faith and Preservation Society (TIFPS) has extended its support to the Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP) on its demand for immediate implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 1978, and requested the state government to meet the demand.
The act prohibits people from converting to other religions.
The IFCSAP’s Lower Subansiri unit also supported its parent body’s demand to implement the act in letter and spirit “to safeguard the cultures, customs, ancestral faiths and belief systems of indigenous people of Arunachal.”
Referring to the demand for establishment of a church in Tawang and subsequent protest in the capital, the TIFPS said that “of all the burning issues in the state, the least important or not at all required is building temples, churches, masjids etc.”
“We are setting a wrong precedence and it is dangerous for our future. We have never seen issues like this before. Protest for good roads, good schools, good hospitals – these are the essence of basic human civilization. However, a protest for building a church at a place like Tawang, where majority of the population follow Buddhism and which already has three churches, for only a few Christian brothers and sisters, is uncalled for and not necessary at all,” the TIFPS said in a press release on Wednesday and reiterated that the state government meet the demand of the IFCSAP.
