“Christians are not safe in Kandhamal. Anti-social elements are attacking Christians, burning churches, setting fire to the houses of Christians and raising slogans against them,” said Raphael Cheenath, the Catholic archbishop of the areas of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, Orissa’s capital.
He and other Christian leaders met Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, but it was unclear when and if all priests, Christian missionaries and others fleeing the worst anti-Christian violence in years, would be able to return to their homes and churches Saturday, December 29.
Church leaders and other officials accused local authorities of failing to prevent what they called a “pre-planned attack on minorities” by Hindu extremists, which began Monday, December 24 in the town of Bamunigam, about 336 kilometers (210 miles) southwest of the state capital of Bhubaneswar, where Hindu extremists took away Christmas decorations.
INTERRUPTING CHRISTMAS
Elsewhere in the area, Hindu extremists interrupted Christmas worship services, including at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Brahmani village. The priest of the church, Rabi Sudhasundar, told reporters that troubles began when a Hindu leader did not want Christians to openly celebrate Christmas.
He said Hindu mobs armed with sticks and guns attacked the Christians, adding there were over 200 Catholic families in Bamunigam area where Brahmani village is situated. The priest stressed that his church had receivd permission from authorities for holding a Christmas program, but was attacked anyway. Violence soon spread across the region, with Hindu mobs burning churches and other Christian institutions as well as homes of Christian villagers and attacking believers, witnesses said.
Police forces were not able, or willing, to stop a single instance of violence and arson over the last five days, church and human rights activists alleged. “The only police officer who tried to prevent the attackers was immediately transferred. The officer belonged to the Christian community,” Archbishop Cheenath told reporters. Police officials have said however they arrested over a dozen suspects.
Yet, with an absence of a clear police presence, Hindu mobs continued their rampage, targeting Christian institutions and individual believers, for a fifth day in several parts of Orissa Friday, December 28, especially in Kandhamal District, witnesses reported.
Church officials said eight people were confirmed dead, although other reports spoke of nine people killed, including a tribal who was apparently hacked to death by an angry Hindu mob. About 500 houses and 55 churches were attacked in Kandhamal District, church officials said, adding that clergy as well as families were hiding in forests, fearing for their lives.  Â
“LITTLE TRUST”
Archbishop Cheenath said he had little trust in an investigation launched by the Orissa government. “The Commissions of Inquiry work as burial grounds for such violent incidents,” he said. He also criticized the state government’s decision to ask a retired High Court judge to lead the probe into the violence in Kandhamal District.
Several Hindu nationalist organizations have been blamed for the violence, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or ‘World Hindu Council’ which opposes the spread of Christianity and what it calls “forced conversions.”
However VHP’s State General Secretary Gauri Prasad Rath has denied his organization was involved in the arson and attacks in the area, saying members were only holding “a peaceful” rally on Christmas Day, December 25.
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 a statement, monitored by BosNewsLife, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) called the situation in Orissa “a veritable Calvary” and announced a nationwide prayer octave for peace in Orissa.
PRAYER WEEK
The Catholic Church with other Christians in India would spend a week of prayer, starting Sunday, December 30, to Sunday January 6, 2008 “for the Christians of Orissa to express solidarity with them,” said CBCI Secretary General and Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes.
Fernandes stressed that “the series of attacks from Christmas eve till yesterday with impunity suggests a sinister planned effort not only to allow mob rule but to intimidate and destroy the spirit of the Christian community.”
He said the violence in Orissa seems even worse than attacks in the Indian state of Gujarat where between December 25, 1998, and January 3, 1999, in Dangs and neighboring districts over twenty churches were reportedly burned or destroyed, and scores of individuals were physically assaulted.
The attacks were followed by the burning alive of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his small sons Timothy, 9, and Philip, 7, in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Orissa’s Keonjhar district in January 1999. Orissa’s Christians comprise about 900,000 people of the 36-million strong population of the predominantly Hindu state, according to official estimates. (BosNewsLife’s Chief International Correspondent Stefan J. Bos contributed to the story. Stay with BosNewsLife for continues coverage on the crisis in Orissa).
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