500 DIED VICTIMS OF INTER-FAITH VIOLENCE

NIGERIA: HUNDREDS DIED DURING ATTACKS
IN THE AREA BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM

JOS, Nigeria (CNN) - Gangs of machete-wielding Muslims have been blamed for the weekend slaughter of hundreds of Christian villagers in Nigeria. Men armed with gun, knives and machetes launched a pre-dawn attack on the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Zot, and Ratsat, south of the city of Jos, on Sunday, setting fire to homes and killing at least two hundred people. The government, led by acting President Goodluck Jonathan, has issued a red alert for the region amid fears of revenge attacks and calls for justice by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch. Survivors told Human Rights Watch that the masked men who stormed their village were speaking Hausa and Fulani, the languages of mostly Muslim nomadic herdsman who originate from the north. Some say they recognized the voices of their attackers as people who used to live there. The Fulanis are Muslim herdsmen who move long distances to graze their cattle. Jos is a majority Christian town dominated by the Berom, Anaguta, and Afisare ethnic groups. They are peasant farmers with strong ancestral ties to the land.

During the country's military rule which ended in 1999, Muslims were appointed as the city's local representative, which bred resentment among the local Christian population, according to Human Rights Watch. Jos is located in the Plateau State which straddles the majority Muslim region to the north, and Christian-dominated areas to the south. More than 50 ethnic groups reside there leading to flare-ups between rival groups. Some analysts believe the weekend slaughter was a revenge attack for the killing of around 150 members of the Hausa Muslim community by Christian mobs in Kuru Karama, south of Jos, in January 2010.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

When we are on the material platform, there are different types of religions — Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and so on. These are instituted for a particular time, a particular country or a particular person. Consequently there are differences. Christian principles are different from Hindu principles, and Hindu principles are different from Muslim and Buddhist principles. These may be considered on the material platform, but when we come to the platform of transcendental devotional service (sādhana-bhakti), there are no such considerations.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta”
Purport in Madhya-līlā - Chapter 25, Verse 121.