Task before Pope
By the Editor

BEAMING his message – to mark the Easter – Pope Benedict XVI has decried the ongoing suffering in the world, lamenting the continual slaughter in Iraq and expressing worry over unrest and instability in Afghanistan.

It is good of the Pope to have chosen the auspicious occasion of Easter to sensitize the international community about what is happening to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

We are confident that the powers that be would listen to the spiritual leader of the Christian community, who has immense following and commands respect.

However, in our view, the Pope, because of his unique position and influence in the Christian world would do more.

First of all, it is to be pointed out that the Pope used vague remarks in describing the pathetic conditions of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and failed to pinpoint the culprits.

Secondly, like political leaders in the West, he preferred to lambaste the so-called terrorist tendencies but avoided speaking on the root causes.

This smacked of bias against Muslims, which is not expected of a religious personality like Pope.

As some leaders in the West are fanning the notion of clash of civilizations, it is duty of the Pope and his counterparts in other religions to speak loudly against such loathsome tendencies.

It is ironical that all hot spots of the world today involve Muslims sending wrong signals to the Ummah.

We know that majority of people in the United States and other Western countries are not supportive of the aggressive and colonialist policies of some of their leaders.

This has been vindicated by a latest survey in the United Kingdom, which reveals that people consider the country a more dangerous, less happy and less pleasant place to live because of the pro-Bush policies of Prime Minister Blair.

There is also extreme discontentment in the United States and other countries of the globe but neo-cons are showing no signs of repentance.

Neutral observers have come to the conclusion that there can’t be genuine peace in the world as long as some headstrong Western leaders change their world view.

We think that personalities like Pope are ought to play a bigger role to persuade them for the change in the larger interest of the humanity – which shall, by all perceptions be a great service of universal altitudes.●