Lauding Pope, Hindus want religions and nations to handle immigration as a universal urgency

Washington, Sept 4 : Applauding Pope's highlighting of immigration issues, Hindus have urged the host countries to improve national policies to protect immigrants' human rights and the countries of origin to work on eradication of the causes, which lead to migration. Acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), has said that it was the moral responsibility of all religions to take the issue of immigration as a global urgency and come up with clear policies on it.

He urged world religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Dalai Lama XIV and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to take a strong stand on issues relating to immigration. Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that with strong political response and will, host nations should respect human rights of immigrants and make their integration into mainstream smooth, create infrastructure to handle immigration impact, commend cultural diversity, combat human trafficking, and promote social cohesion. Countries of origin should work on economic and other development and improve living conditions so the prospective migrants do not consider leaving. Migration affects every nation, so treat it humanely and responsibly, Rajan Zed added.

ANI