Mumbai: Tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks began Tuesday in solemnity with various religious leaders coming together to express their condemnation of killing of innocent people in the name of religion.

Yet, the sombre occasion was not devoid of representatives of the two largest religions in India — Hinduism and Islam-— conveying their feelings and reactions in a subtle manner. Hindu leader Swami Gnanatej of the Art of Living Foundation in his opening remarks stated how India for ages had welcomed various kinds of people and taken the path of non-violence.

But with the recurring acts of violence on the nation, "we will not take it lying down and need a mass rising at this moment," he told an inter-faith gathering organised by US-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre and India's Art of Living Foundation.

Dr. Khwaja Iftikar Ahmad, Founder, Interfaith Harmony Foundation of India, said: "We should not talk about mass uprising but a mass awakening. We have to get together and fight together. Human misery is common to all and we have always condemned all acts of violence."

However, he stressed that it was important to convict all culprits of communal violence which has not happened in the country.

In response to the Swami's statement that the media did not publicise how the 26/11 terrorists had not harmed Muslims, Ahmad said that 33 out of 177 who had died last November were Muslims.

The community does not support religious extremism, he said. "That is why Muslim religious leaders did not offer a place in their graveyard to bury the nine Pakistani terrorists [who were killed by security forces]."

The Swami said that it was unfortunate that "outdated fatwas" were still being issued and condemned those, especially politicians, who divided the people on the basis of religion.

Wake up call

The Swami stressed that "26/11 was a wake up call as it targeted the rich and mighty. All that happened (bomb explosions) in Jaipur, Ahmedabad or Delhi largely went unnoticed as the common people suffered."

Apart from these retorts, various other religious leaders spoke on tolerance and peace.