AIZAWL: Responding to a call given by two church bodies, various churches of different denominations in Mizoram, offered prayers for restoration of peace in violence-hit Manipur.
While members of some churches offered prayer on Saturday night, other churches, including Mizoram Presbyterian, held special prayers on Sunday (July 09).
The prayer call was given by Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC), a conglomerate of major church leaders and the Northeast India Council of Churches (NEICC).
Earlier, the MKHC and Mizoram Presbyterian Church had expressed serious concern over the ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur that broke out since May 3, and extended their solidarity to those affected.
They had also strongly condemned the torching of churches and vandalism of other religious structures by miscreants.
Meanwhile, Mizoram is facing a resource crunch as it is yet to receive monetary assistance from the Centre to provide relief to over 12,300 internally displaced people from the neighbouring state, an official statement said.
The state finance department will dole out Rs. 5 crore to the Executive Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to provide relief to the IDPs, it said.
The statement also said that the government has decided to raise funds from ministers, legislators, corporators, employees of Central, state, PSUs and commercial bank sectors, among others it said.
According to the state home department, a total of 12,344 people from Manipur are currently taking shelter in 11 districts of Mizoram.
Northern Mizoram’s Kolasib district hosts the highest number of IDPs at 4383, followed by Manipur border Aizawl district at 4167 and Saitual district at 2940, the department said.