Silent rally against fresh abduction in Garo Hills

TURA: The abduction of the father of a Catholic missionary priest by armed men from his village in remote Rongara area of South Garo Hills has once again raised concern over the security scenario in the Garo Hills where militants and other criminal gangs continue to operate at ease despite ongoing police operations.
Seventy-year-old Aidinon R Marak, a retired state PWD staffer, was at home in his village of Imblock A of Rongara, when five armed men barged into his house shortly after midnight on June 15 and took him away.
No communication has been made so far between the gang and the family of Aidinon Marak whose son Francis N Marak is a diocesan priest of the Catholic church. Father Francis is currently the assistant parish priest of Rajabala Catholic Church.
Following the incident the Catholic faithful in Garo Hills has appealed to the kidnappers to immediately release the parent of Fr Francis unharmed.
The priests and congregation of the Sacred Heart Church in Tura have condemned in the strongest terms the abduction and called upon the kidnappers to return Aidinon Marak to his family unharmed at the earliest.
The Catholic Church in Garo Hills has also given an appeal to the group behind the abduction urging for immediate release of Fr. Francis’s elderly parent.
Meanwhile, the Catholic faithful from all the districts of Garo Hills held an emergency meeting at Tura Sacred Heart Church on Thursday over the abduction incident.
The faithful together with the church elders have unanimously decided to stage a silent rally in protest against  the abduction next week.
The rally at 10:30 AM on June 28 will begin from the Sacred Heart Church in Tura Chandmari and proceed through the main thoroughfares of the town and an appeal has been made to all the Christian churches in Garo Hills to join hands in this protest rally against the abduction.