'It is clear local, state officials are unable to protect minority'
Christians have staged a rally in India to demand government intervention to halt violence against members of the minority religion in Orissa state, after reports of Christians being killed, church buildings destroyed and meetings broken up over the Christmas holiday.
The rally yesterday in Delhi drew an estimated 1,000 Christians and was organized by the All India Christian Council to unite protesters from a wide range of denominations whose members have been victimized by the violence in Orissa.
A message was delivered to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after officials met with Union Home Minister Shivraj V. Patil, as well as the head of the National Commission for Minorities.
During the meeting with Patil, Christians were told that roadblocks and communication breakdowns are making it difficult to restore security in the villages of Orissa, and Patil confirmed he likely will visit the state in order to stop the attacks, prosecute the criminals and provide compensation to the victims.
"Sadly, the delegation was not satisfied with the promises of the Union Home Minister since most violence continues in rural villages and the government didn't give specific plans to halt the violence in villages nor a planned amount for compensation of victims," Rev. Abraham Sahu, the president of the Delhi chapter of AICC, said.
"It is clear that the local police and Orissa state government have not been able to protect the Christian minority. While Orissa's leader claims they were prepared and are fully committed to stopping communal violence, we have doubts. For example, why does Orissa not have a state minorities commission? The Central Government must act now." said John Dayal, the secretary-general of the AICC.
Posted: December 28, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
SAROSH
Since the BJP came to power and their supporters in key positions of the Indian Government, Christians have been attacked and persecuted. Pastors are being intimidated and attacked, churches are being damaged or destroyed; Christians are made to feel unwanted and live in fear.
Hindus have made great contributions in business and technology in the US, but so have Christians made enormous contributions to India in the all levels of education and in social and humanitarian work among India's impoverished masses.
Christians and Christian institutions are violently attacked several hundred times each year. A landmark event was the case of the Australian Graham Staines and family. Graham Staines, 58, and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8, were burnt alive when Hindu fascists doused their jeep in which they were sleeping with kerosene and set it ablaze. When the three terrified occupants tried to break out of the vehicle, the Hindu mob pushed them back into the burning inferno. Staines' crime was that he had devoted 34 years of his life to serving lepers in India.
Nuns have also been gang-raped.
These attacks occur in states where Hindu political parties are in power.
Hindu attacks on Christians in India have increased dramatically during and after the rule of the BJP Government in 1996. There were 109 attacks against Christians in Gujerat in 2001 alone and 155 attacks against Christians in the rest of India - a total of 264 attacks in 2001.
The role of the BJP is obvious. Implicitly or explicitly, the BJP which was in power at this time, provided the political and criminal atmosphere for these assailants to act against Christians with impunity and immunity. The following sample case provided by Compass Direct News, an American Christian watchdog, illustrates the problem:
When four tribal Christians in Toranpada village, Maharashtra state, asked for help following an attack by Hindu extremists last month, police responded by taunting and kicking the victims, then filing charges against them. The four converts filed a complaint at the local police station immediately after the attack. When they returned on June 15 to ask what action had been taken, one police officer told them,"Ask Jesus to call me on my mobile phone".
Three police officers then asked for a demonstration of prayer. When the four Christians knelt down, the officers kicked them and taunted them. The officers then filed charges against them for breaching the peace.(July 6, 2006)
PART TWO
Supreme Court receives petition against Hindu extremists' anti-Christian material. mardi 24 avril 2007. NEW DELHI, April 24 "“ The Supreme Court of India has admitted a petition seeking action against the distribution of compact discs (CDs) by Hindu extremists that allegedly suggested in 2006 that Christians in Gujarat state should be beheaded. Admitting the petition filed by non-profit organization Anhad, the high court on April 5 gave four weeks to the federal government to reply concerning the circulation of the CD as preparation for the Shabri Kumbh, a "reawakening" event organized by Hindu extremists in Dangs district, Gujarat from February 11 to 13, 2006, according to The Hindu, a national daily, on April 8. In the petition, Anhad sought an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, as the Gujarat government has not taken any action against the makers and distributors of the CD. The CD, made by the Shabri Kumbh Samorah Aayojan Samiti (Organizing Committee) and titled "Shri Shabri Kumbh 2006 : Spirituality along with the Wave of Patriotism,""incites Hindus against the Christian community and suggests that Christians be attacked and beheaded," said the petitioner, alleging that the CDs were widely circulated, distributed and openly sold in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra and in the north-eastern states. "In the CD, the narrator, while talking about Hindu tradition and culture, makes constant references to the evil forces and foreign powers that are out to destroy the Hindu religion whilst simultaneously flashing pictures of churches and Cross on the screen as if to insinuate that the Christian community is the evil force and the foreign power that the Hindu community has to reckon with," the daily quoted the petitioner as saying. On the CD cover, there is a caricature of a headless Christian priest wearing a cassock and holding a cross."In place of the head is a question mark symbol," the petitioner lamented."The caption on the top of this picture literally translates into "˜Church : in the name of service.'" The CDs were distributed during the rally, and several leaders of the Hindu extremist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its political wing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and other affiliate groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council), gave inflammatory speeches against Christians.( See Compass Direct News,"Event in India Shows Extent of Fear of Christianity," February 14, 2006.) http://www.spcm. org/Journal/ spip.php. ..
SAROSH
|