Rights group calls Orissa attack on Christians “unprecedented”

By Jeremy Reynalds

Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

The recent community-wide violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district was an “unprecedented” attack on the Christian community in India, says a rights group in its fact-finding report.

A story on the web site www.NewKerala.com reported that Joseph D'Souza, president of the All India Christian Council (AICC) said, “We are saddened to acknowledge that the violence in Orissa, which left at least four killed and 730 houses and 95 churches burnt, will go into the history books as an unprecedented attack on Christians in India..”

D'Souza added, “The tragedy is deepened by the fact that the violence was avoidable if the authorities had enforced the rule of law.”

According to NewKerala, the state chapter of the AICC visited the affected villages on Jan. 3-5 in Kandhamal to assess the damage.

In its fact-finding report, NewKerala reported the Christian rights group noted that followers of the radical Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) group had attacked members of the minority community using guns, knives, bombs and other weapons.

“Many of them had a yellow ribbon on their heads and vermilion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion) on their foreheads,” NewKerala reported the AICC report said.

According to NewKerala, the AICC accused the state police of bias and inaction. “In all the villages we have visited, people testify that the attacks, destruction and looting was done in the presence of the police.”

NewKerala noted the rights group also alleged a “conspiracy to hide the bodies of Christians killed by VHP cadre to destroy evidence,” indicating that the death toll could be much higher. “Many are missing - both adults and children - in every village.”

NewKerala noted the AICC report said that the worst hit area was Barakhama village, where 415 of the 450 houses belonging to tribal Christians were burnt down, and six of the seven churches were vandalized.

The AICC also said, NewKerala reported, that a church in Barakhama was turned into a Hindu cremation ground.

“On that day (Dec 24), an old Hindu person had died naturally. To desecrate the place of worship of Christians, the VHP cadre brought the body and cremated it right in front of the pulpit (of a church that was celebrating Christmas Eve). The ashes of the body remain there until today (Jan 5). We have a photograph.”

Describing how the first killing of a Christian took place, NewKerala reported the report said that 50-year-old Bhogra Naik from Barakhama was “cut into three pieces” after his house was destroyed.

NewKerala reported that the AICC report said Brahmani was another village that suffered a huge amount of violence. Talking about an attack there, it said VHP cadre took away a goat from a Christian family and butchered it. Then shouting slogans, they began attacking looting houses owned by Christians.

The report added that all the men in this village went into hiding in a nearby forest to save their lives. While there they licked the dew on the leaves of plants and trees to quench their thirst.

Referring to another incident, NewKerala noted the report said attackers forcibly shaved the heads of, and “reconverted” to Hinduism, 12 Christian families and their pastor, in the Kutikia area in Baliguda.

“Later, all of them were told to eat raw rice mixed with goat blood to become Hindus,” NewKerala said the report noted.

The story on NewKerala noted the report concluded that the violence was pre-planned, given its simultaneous eruptions across the district within hours of the first incident, and the fact that it could be sustained for more than a week despite the presence of law enforcement.

The violence began Dec 24, NewKerala reported. As the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Brahmani village was pitching a tent for Christmas celebrations, a mob allegedly led by members of the VHP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) launched a fierce attack on Christians and their stores to protest Christmas celebrations.

There were also reports of some Christians engaging in vandalism in the ensuing violence.

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[01/14/2008]

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