“Sangh Parivar trying to wipe out Christianity’

Special Correspondent, The Hindu

BHUBANESWAR: A delegation of Christian organisations of Orissa met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday and told him that the Sangh Parivar was “trying to wipe out Christianity from Kandhamal district.”

The team which met Mr. Patnaik at the State Secretariat said “fundamentalist forces were trying to name the communal violence as ethnic conflict between the tribals and Dalit Christians.”

The victims of the attacks were Christians, it said.

The Church representatives, led by Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Raphael Cheenath, said the claim that those leaving the relief camps in Kandhamal were going back to their own villages and settling down in their homes was not true.

Most of the Christian families that had left the relief camps in the riot-hit district had migrated to relief camps in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur and other places and also settled down in rented houses and in the homes of their relatives and friends, they said in a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister.

A large number of Christians of Kandhamal had gone to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat, they added.

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Orissa Christians need to be protected under as Stateless Refugees by UN

The government of Orissa is closing the refugee camps and driving out thousands of Christians, without food or shelter. In the meantime, the violence continues, denounced as a genocide to the United Nations, which is being asked for immediate intervention.  Fr. Manoj Digal of the archdiocesan social service center tells AsiaNews, ”One of the three relief camps in Baliguda was shut down on Oct 15th, and 900 people sent away. It is ridiculous, these people have nowhere to go, they are defenseless, moreover they have been given just 10 kg of rice per family. How will they live? The government has not even given them tents, where will our people stay? They have lost everything, they are reduced to nothing, moreover, the looming fear of reconversion to Hinduism, if they return to their villages they can only stay as Hindus. The government has not ensured any security for these Christians. There is a grave risk and threat to their lives terror still haunting them, moreover, now radical women’s groups who are terrorising the Christian women. Our people are destitute.” 

Sajan K, George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has petitioned the United Nations over the decision by the government of Orissa to close the refugee camps in the district of Kandhamal. 

"These Orissa Christians and others to follow," he concludes, "express the desire to be termed Prima Facie Refugees and urge you, through the UNHCR to deem them so, in order that they can be covered by a legal framework to protect their human dignity from rights violations and abuse. Currently, they along with tens of thousands, are a stateless people, as the writ of the government of India does not run large in the state of Orissa.  more

Christian cleansing: a challenge to the secular state

India: Attacks on Christians a challenge to the secular state

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 @ 19:07 UTC

by Ayesha Saldanha To read more click here