attacks targeting Christians, missionaries confirmed.
The 62-year old Pastor Pau Za Khen of the Upper Myanmar Evangelical Lutheran Church was kidnapped by four men from his daughter’s home in Manipur’s border town of Churachandpur on July 4 and beheaded several hours later, said mission group Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) that has close contacts with the church.
His mutilated body was found early in the morning, near the town in a paddy field, Indian Christians said in statements monitored by BosNewsLife Monday, July 23. He was brought to his neighboring native Burma, also known as Myanmar, where he was buried July 5 in Cikha sub-town of Tonzang Township, SVM added.
Pau Za Khen served as a pastor in Khen Maan village in Cikha sub-town of Tonzang Township in Chin state in Myanmar. He was also the founding chief of the Khen Maan village, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Indo-Burma border. Both the Indian Army and Manipuri rebels reportedly used to visit the village. The motive behind the killing of the pastor was not immediately clear.
"BRUTALLY MURDERED"
"Visitors and traders from Myanmar to Manipur are shocked on hearing the pastor was brutally murdered", SVM News Service quoted a church member of the Upper Myanmar Evangelical Lutheran Church as saying. Churachandpur police have reportedly been unable to identify those responsible for the attack.
News of the murder emerged amid fresh reports of violent incidents in India, including in the city of Bangalore in Karnataka state where a newly formed Hindu militant group, Ram Sena, reportedly beat two independent Christian workers and paraded them half-naked to a police station this month.
Human rights watchers said G. Mohan and M.G. John, were singled out for allegedly "hurting religious feelings" because of their involvement in evangelism.
RELIGION ARMY
Earlier Hindu militants from the Dharam Sena, or Religion Army, also beat an independent pastor, Vikas Masih, on July 6. They put a garland of shoes and slippers around his neck and took him to the Telibandha police station in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh news reports said.
In other reported incidents:
–Subhas Chalawadi, allegedly a member of the Hindu extremist Bajrang Dal, and 15 others beat Dyamappa Chalawadi and his wife Geetha, who recently converted to Christianity, on July 4 in Baloga village in the state of Karnataka, according to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), a major advocacy group.
–Hindu militants allegedly belonging to the Bajrang Dal group also attacked pastors C.J. Samuel and Pastor Moses on July 4 at Belthur near Bangalore in Karnataka after they returned from a Bible meeting, said the GCIC. The pastors were apparently admitted to the local Baptist Hospital for treatment of their injuries.
–Bajrang Dal followers were also believed to have attacked Pastors Amos Singh, Prem Masih and Ram Pa on July 2 with iron rods and sticks after a prayer meeting at the Evangelical Church of India (ECI) in Rewa district area of the state of Madhya Pradesh. Four people detained in connection with the attack were reportedly released.
WORSHIP SERVICE
–Elsewhere, about 50 Hindu militants disrupted a Sunday worship service of a church, beat the pastor and church members, and stole music equipment on July 1 in Durg District of Chhattisgarh state, Christian news agency Compass Direct said. Bibles and music instruments were reportedly stolen.
–The same day in the state of Orissa a group of up to 25 Hindu militants of the Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, or ‘Hindu Awakening Front’ reportedly attacked Chandu Markose, 35, a priest from the Church of South India in the remote village of Gelabaza. Markose was transferred to the Jesus Mary Joseph Hospital at Sambalpur, where he underwent emergency surgery on his left foot, the GCIC said.
–Police is in some cases involved in attacks such as in Mangalore region of Karnataka state’s Dakshina Kannada district where police disrupted the Sunday worship
of an independent, news reports said. The Jehovah Rapha Divine Centre in Hosabetta area was reportedly raided July 1 and the pastor, T.V. Chacko was told to obtain permission to hold worship services from district authorities.
PASTOR ATTACKED
–Just days earlier in Karnataka, Hindu militants on June 29 attacked a pastor involved in social developmental work and later filed a "false police complaint against him" in Sunderplaya village in Karnataka state’s Kolar district, Christian rights investigators said.
The assailants allegedly beat the Rev. P. Ravi, pastor of an independent Pentecostal church who was assisting people in the Kolar Gold Field area, leaving him with internal injuries. Police briefly detained the pastor who was later released on bail.
–Earlier in June in the state of Madhya Pradesh Hindu militants attacked 52-year old Pastor Khakha fir being involved in organizing a Bible study meeting in Anuppur district. A group of up to 60 militants reportedly barged into the prayer hall, grabbed the pastor and dragged him out of the church, punching, slapping and kicking him.
CONTROVERIAL SURVEYS
There are fears attacks can increase as in some regions militants reportedly conduct controversial surveys to target Christians and institutions. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat state has resumed a controversial "secret survey" of Christian institutions it began eight years ago, Compass Direct News said.
"This is the fifth time that the Gujarat government has gathered information about Christian institutions in the state," petitioner Samson Christian, Gujarat state head and national executive member of the All India Christian Council, told the news agency. “We fear that the data would be handed over to Hindu extremists for launching organized attacks against Christian institutions.”
Human rights groups have linked these and other incidents to concern within Hindu groups about the spread of Christianity in India, especially among impoverished people such a ‘dalits’, seen as the ‘lowest caste’ in India’s ancient system of Hinduism. Christians comprise less than three percent of the country’s mainly Hindu population of roughly 1.1 billion people(With BosNewsLife affliate manna-vandaag.nl and reporting from India, BosNewsLife Research).
