Father Cedric to work for Syrian refugees, to move to Beirut

After working with the St Xaviers’ Social Service Society, Prakash established Prashant, a human rights organisation, on October 2, 2001. He was also involved in the relief and rehabilitation efforts for the 2001 earthquake victims.

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It was at Prashant that former MoS for home Haren Pandya gave his testimony in 2002 before the Concerned Citizens’ Tribunal, headed by the late Justice V R Krishna Iyer, about a controversial meeting on the night of February 27, 2002. Pandya was assassinated in March 2003. He called the Beirut assignment “a call of God”, which he confirmed during a Catholic retreat. In July, he had gone to Lebanon on a 10-day “recce mission”.

In Beirut, Prakash will work for Syrian refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, mainly towards formal schooling for children. “It is a big challenge,” he said.

“Most countries don’t mind hosting the refugees for some time, but they don’t want them permanently. Our mission is to get them into formal schools, not into schooling in camps where they teach you crafts. We would like the Syrian refugees to get into schooling in Germany,” he said.

Prakash’s parents were from Mangalore and he grew up in Mumbai and has an honours degree in philosophy from St Xaviers’ college. He moved to Gujarat in 1987 after learning about the work Jesuits did among the tribals in south Gujarat. He was decorated with the Chevalier de la Legion of d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) in 2006 by the President of France for lifetime commitment to the defence and promotion of human rights in India. In 1995, he received Kabir Puraskar for the promotion of communal peace by the President of India.

Prakash’s work will be now be taken forward by Father Francis Parmar, former principal of St Xavier’s College. He will work closely with Mumbai-based human rights activist and founder of Citizens for Justice and Peace Teesta Setalvad on the riot petitions.