Nearly 700 Christians Move To Relief Camps To Avoid Attacks By Hindu

[rammuuu]

Nearly 700 Christians fearing attacks by Hindus took shelter in government-run relief camps Saturday after sectarian violence in eastern India left at least four people dead last week.

Authorities were providing food, medicine and security to Christians who moved into the four relief camps on Friday in the rural district of Kandhamal in eastern Orissa state, said Pradeep Kapoor, the inspector-general of police.

Meanwhile, two police officers were suspended for failing to prevent violence on Christmas Eve, when long-standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian community erupted over conversions to Christianity, Kapoor told The Associated Press.

Nearly 800 police and paramilitary forces were trying to restore calm, he said.

No fresh incidents of violence were reported Saturday for a second day in Kandhamal, nearly 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state, Kapoor said.

[S1ngh]

Whats your news source? Always post news source to it credible.

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

now we are gonna see india make a Christian the President of India. It is a tradition in India that whenever a minority community is massacred, the indian fascists place a member of the victim community in the role of President of India, a position with no real power.

Giani Zail Sio(1982-1987) during sikh genocide in punjab and two years before operation bluestar, Abdul Kalam(2002) same year as Godhra mob vioelnce against Muslims, next a Christian....

current president is the first female President Pratibha Patil. she is part of the Indian National Congress.

peace.

[Gurakum Singh]

Hell with india, first Sikhs, then the muslims, and now the christians. Who next the Buddhists? Man oh man, one day, just one of these days india will fall into so much trouble that we will see the bjp, congress's party guy's heads on the roads. India will just crumble. Tell those leaders to enjoy it while it lasts cause the minorites are coming with weapons to take your heads off!!

[SaRpAnCh]

[rammuuu]

all a have say is hindu terorism

[rammuuu]

BREAKING NEWS: At Least Nine Christians Killed In India As Violence Spreads (UPDATE) Print E-mail Add to Favorites

Friday, 28 December 2007

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent

There have been attacks against Christians across India's Orissa state.

BAMUNIGAM, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- At least nine Christians have been killed in India's religiously volatile eastern state of Orissa where Hindu extremists continued attacking Christian institutions and individual believers for a fifth day Friday, December 28, church sources said.

"Seven Christians were killed [Wednesday] December 27 alone in the eastern Indian state," including five who died when "Hindu radicals attacked houses in Barakhama [village] in [Orissa's] Kandhamal district" and a seminary in the village, said the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News), an official news agency of Catholic churches.

Two more Christians were reportedly killed when police opened fire at a protesting crowd, but there was no immediate independent verification. With two earlier deaths, at least nine Christians have lost their lives in the violence that started on Monday, December 24, according to church estimates.

"Where is the rule of law?" key Christian leaders asked in an appeal to authorities obtained by BosNewsLife. The regional Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, John Dayal, a member of the National Integration Council advising India's government and Reverend P R Paricha of advocacy group All India Christian Council (AICC), who signed the appeal, suggested that beside the killings some "50 churches and institutions" were known to have been "destroyed or desecrated."

DEEP APPREHENSION

"There is deep apprehension that the State government and the police, despite their lip-service to restore peace and remove the fears of the people, have not shown the alacrity and diligence required in the face of the spreading hate campaign against Christians, coercive and threatening speeches and the violence," Friday's appeal of Christian leaders said.

"It is strange that both the Central and State governments are pleading that police forces cannot enter the deep forest areas because hoodlums have cut trees to block roads. Surely the police have the manpower and machinery to remove such roadblocks and restore the rule of law," they said, adding that India's Central Bureau of Investigation should make arrests and "restore peace" while officials should also give "compensation to all victims."

Regional Catholic Archbishop Raphael Cheenath said earlier in comments published by BosNewsLife this week that the bloodshed began early Monday, December 24, in the small town of Bamunigam, about 336 kilometers (210 miles) southwest of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. "Hindu fundamentalists forcefully removed the Christmas decorations which a local business association had put up [across the town] as a preparation for Christmas." After "some quarrels" a group of people attacked the Christians "with sticks, knives and other lethal weapons," he said, adding that the violence soon spread.

On Friday, December 28, Hindu extremists reportedly continued to attack Christians with swords, wooden sticks and iron bars. Eyewitnesses said that in several places attackers set fire to vehicles, homes and churches, as well as documents and furniture gathered from Christian institutions. Catholic church officials said priests, nuns and laypeople including children and women fled their villages into jungle areas to escape the violence. The whereabouts and fate of some priests remained unknown Friday, December 28. Christian missionaries were also targeted, but there were no reports of injuries, BosNewsLife established.

ESCALATING VIOLENCE

Amid the escalating violence, Christians across the country have held demonstrations, including in front of Orissa Nivas, the Orissa state government's guest house in New Delhi,

where UCA News estimated that some 400 Christians, Catholics among them, gathered with lighted candles. Christian leaders also met India's Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil

this week to seek his intervention. Patil reportedly promised to help end the violence.

Elsewhere in Bhopal, capital of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal on December 27 joined about 250 priests and nuns in praying for the return of peace and normalcy in Orissa, UCA News said. The archbishop expressed "deep sorrow" over the victimization of Christians there.

Father Anand Muttungal, spokesperson or the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh said in published remarks that the violence in Orissa should be seen "as a political game" of the Hindu-led Bharatiya Janata Party [bJP] or Indian People's Party. Other groups behind the violence include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or 'World Hindu Council' which opposes the spread of Christianity and what it calls "forced conversions."

Analysts say Orissa is a stronghold of Hindu nationalism. An anti-conversion law has been in place since 1968 in an attempt to block missionary activities by Christians. In 1967 the state adopted the Freedom of Religion Act, which started the process that has led to what human rights groups and churches describe as "repressive" anti-conversion laws. (Stay with BosNewsLife for continues coverage on the crisis in Orissa.) Also read:

[rammuuu]

Seven teenage girls were missing in eastern India where Christian-Hindu violence left many christians dead over the past 10 days,

A boarding school informed police about the missing ninth grade students on Saturday, said Satyenbrata Sahu, a divisional commissioner.

"We suspect they have run away out of fear," he told The Associated Press, adding police were searching for the girls.

The families say that in past extremists hindu terorists have also attacked women as well and they fear for their girls.The gang-rape of four nuns and the looting of their convent.On September 22 in the Jhabua region of the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

Christian nuns raped in India by hindu terorists

A gang of 10-15 hoodlums knocked on the door of the convent at 2 in the morning, and asked the nuns (who provide medical services to members of the tribes living in the region) to come with them to see a patient, according to Father Lucas Izidore, the secretary of the Indore diocese where the events took place. Izidore said that the nuns, suspicious of the request, refused to open the door and instead bolted themselves into the convent chapel and started praying.

The hoodlums then broke open the iron doors of the convent, and looted the convent. Later, they shouted at the nuns to open the chapel doors, promising that they would not harm them. "On coming out, all the four nuns in the convent were forcibly taken to the nearby fields and gang-raped," said Father Izidore. He requested that the names of the nuns, and the congregation to which they belonged, be withheld.

[rammuuu]

http://www.compassdirect.org/en/display.ph...;idelement=5176

INDIA: DEATH TOLL IN ORISSA VIOLENCE REACHES 9; TENSIONS PERSIST

Hunger, fear grip state after burning of 90 churches, hundreds of houses.

NEW DELHI, January 2 (Compass Direct News) – Orissa state’s Kandhamal district remains tense 10 days after a series of anti-Christian attacks began, and thousands of Christians whose houses have been burned down are facing hunger and fear.

“Local Christians who had fled to the nearby mountains fearing for their lives have begun to return, due to a high presence of police and security personnel,” said pastor Victor John, who came to Udaigiri village in the Mallikapur area of Kandhamal as a guest speaker in a Baptist church on December 24, the day the attacks led by the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) began.

John told Compass that the atmosphere was still tense despite the deployment of troops.

“I am planning to leave for my home in Chhattisgarh state tomorrow morning, but it is very risky,” he said with evident nervousness in his voice. “I need prayers.”

A police official told Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) today that although there was no report of fresh violence since Tuesday morning, “the situation continues to remain critical.”

IANS also reported that at least three houses were burned down in three separate attacks on Monday (December 31) in the villages of Rabingia, Barpada and Daringbadi.

According to a memorandum submitted to the National Human Rights Commission on Monday, Christian leaders said that around nine people had been killed, close to 90 churches burned, about 600 houses torched or vandalized, and 5,000 people affected.

The memorandum was signed by Delhi Catholic Archbishop the Most Rt. Rev. Vincent Concessao, AICC President the Rev. Dr. Joseph D’Souza, spokesperson of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese the Rev. Dr. Dominic Emmanuel, and Joint Secretary of Christian Legal Association Lansinglu Rongmei, among others.

Dr. John Dayal, general secretary of the All India Christian Council (AICC), told Compass that there was no official account of how many people had died in police gunfire, mob violence or other injuries sustained during the anti-Christian violence that began on Christmas Eve.

“Many people, including young women, are still reported missing,” said Dayal, who was visiting Kandhamal district on a fact-finding mission. “We have no account, and neither do we know if the police have tried to search for them. Christians have been arrested, we learn, but there is no official word on it. Troublemakers seem to have a free hand in the entire district despite night curfew.”

Dayal complained that no church group had been allowed to visit the affected areas, so the AICC has not been able to provide even psychological support to traumatized victims.

Police asked Dayal’s team to leave Kandhamal on Sunday (December 30), but after going to the state capital of Bhubaneswar, he returned later to affected villages.

“We understand from our priests and others who are able to communicate with us that there has been bias in distribution of relief, and that many families are still not getting any assistance,” he added.

Government officials are not giving relief to women, Dayal pointed out, explaining that the women were asked to comeback with their husbands or sons. “We fear it may be a ruse to arrest the men folk,” he said.

Violent Response to Conversions

Tensions in Kandhamal began on December 24 as the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Brahmani village was pitching a tent for Christmas celebrations. A mob led by the VHP launched a fierce attack on Christians and their shops to protest the planned celebrations.

Local Christians say VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a prominent opponent of Christians for more than a decade, was behind the attack.

“It was Saraswati who instigated the mob to attack us,” said a Christian from Brahmani on condition of anonymity. “Later, Christians learned that Saraswati was coming to launch more attacks. Sections of Christians tried to stop him on the way, which resulted in a clash between the two groups, following which the VHP claimed that their leader was hurt and announced that now Christians would be attacked as revenge.”

Saraswati told media on December 25 that the reason for the violence was conversions by area Christians.

It is estimated that Christians make up 16 percent of the total population of Kandhamal district.

Pleas for Protection

Christians from various denominations across the country have held several rallies to show solidarity with the victims, and they have met with political leaders, including the prime minister, imploring them to ensure the safety of believers in Orissa.

Written requests have been submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pratibha Patil, Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Orissa State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Gov. Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare.

A group of Christian authors demanded a ban on the VHP for its reported role in the ongoing communal violence in Orissa.

The Writers’ Forum, which is meeting for its second annual meeting in Panjim in Goa state, called for the ban in a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil on Monday (December 31).

The forum accused the federal and Orissa state governments of inaction and apathy due to their inability to stop “premeditated” violence, saying the ongoing abuse had done “international damage to India’s reputation.”

Police, however, said the peculiar terrain of the area hindered their movements and efforts to reach the hot spots in time.

“Kandhamal, which has an area of 8,021 square kilometers, has only 15 police stations with a sanctioned strength of 647 personnel, who cater to a population of 648,201,” authorities said in the Hindustan Times today.

[rammuuu]

Around 20,000 people are expected to attend a protest rally this coming Thursday to stage a rally demanding justice and compensation for the victims of widespread violence committed against Christians living in the Indian State of Orissa.

Describing the recent violence as the ‘largest attack’ against Christians since the founding of modern-day India, both the Christian Solidarity Worldwide partners and the All India Christian Council (AICC) stated the religious attacks on the followers of Jesus Christ were premeditated and planned by Hindu extremist organisation.

“According to the report of a recent A.I.C.C. fact-finding visit, the attacks have resulted in the destruction or damage of 95 churches, the burning down of 730 Christian homes and the killing of four Christians, with many more still missing and presumed dead. The widespread and systematic nature of the attacks led Christian groups to conclude that they were premeditated and planned by Hindu extremist organisation,” both ministries said

The rally is calling for a full and unbiased investigation into the attacks, for the victims to be compensated in line with the stipulations of Indian law and for the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to visit the scene of the violence. It will also call for the establishment of a state commission for minorities in Orissa and for any Hindu extremist groups found to be complicit in the violence to be banned in the state.

The rally has been organised by the AICC and the All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Organisations. Billed as the “Stop Violence Against Christians Rally”, it will be addressed by the AICC President, Dr Joseph D’souza, Dr Udit Raj , Bishop Joab Lohara of the Free Methodist Church and by victims of the attacks.

Dr D’souza said the intimidation launched by the Hindus extremists were the ‘most disturbing attack’ against Christians since the founding of India. He went further, saying the media portrayal of a clash between Christians and Hindus was wrong given ‘religious extremists’ were inflicting terror on the minority Christian community and not the other way around.

The CSW Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, added the attack was not an anomaly but rather a series of targeted attack against Christians. She urged the Indian government to do everything it could to limit the power of these Hindu extremist organisations.

“At the heart of this appalling outbreak of violence is a series of targeted attacks on Christians and their property. These attacks are not an anomaly, but the tragic culmination of well over 150 religiously-motivated attacks against Christians which we recorded in 2007,” she said.

“We strongly support the demands which will be made at the forthcoming rally, and urge that the international community to encourage the Indian government to do everything in its power to secure justice and to curtail the power of the Hindu extremist organisations who have long been implicated in anti-Christian violence.”