“We are in hell on Earth.”
That was the response from Inter-Religious Organisation president, Pundit Lloyd Mukram Sirjoo, yesterday when asked about the death of four-year-old Amarah Lallite, who was beheaded by a 39-year-old man now in police custody.
During an interview with Guardian Media, Pundit Sirjoo said the incident sent shock waves throughout the country.
“What would cause that to happen? Around the world, we see genocide and wars taking place, but across the world so much is happening, and when it reaches home where a little child is affected, it shows our society is really lacking spirituality.”
As he referenced the tragedy, he contended that given the spate of crime and violence, which he said continues unabated, citizens needed to strengthen their fate.
“This couple, they would have had their differences, and people cannot pull apart or leave, and that situation where the little child has to face the consequences of their mishandling of their own problems, we need more spirituality, and individuals need to uplift their own spirituality and create a momentum of positivity.”
As he lamented the crime scourge, the IRO president maintained that law enforcement authorities needed to continue their fight.
“One of the main reasons why these things are happening is because criminals are not caught; if criminals are caught and criminals are punished, and there is an expectation of being caught and an expectation of being punished, then you would not have all of these things. The authorities will always say we are doing this, things are in process, and we will be doing this and that. We want to know that the criminals are caught and put behind bars.”
He also said citizens can no longer harbour offenders.
“Sometimes the public has a lot of information, and if they share the information with the authorities, crimes would be down a bit and lessened a bit,” he said.
“But why are we not sharing?” he asked.