Orissa state
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As attacks on Christians in Orissa spread to new states, Indian church leaders are meeting to plan joint response
Church leaders from across India will meet in Delhi on Saturday to plan future action in response to the killings in Orissa.
The Catholic Archbishop of Delhi, Vincent Concessao, is to host a meeting on 20 September where church leaders will discuss how to further lobby the government and plan other protests, the Rev Enos Das Pradhan, General Secretary of the Church of North India told CMS on Thursday.
A hunger strike is among the possible courses of action they will consider.
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The Rev Pradhan said that the government must take the Orissa attacks as seriously as the Delhi bombings of 13 September.
“They are taking action against the bomb terrorists but they are not taking action against the terrorists attacking Christians,” he said.
He said that some church leaders were calling for the Bajrang Dal – the Hindu extremist group blamed for the attacks – to be classed as a terrorist organisation and banned by the government.
In Orissa, Wednesday 17 September saw approximately 800 church leaders from Orissa and other states at a peace rally in the state capital, Bhubaneswar.
The anti-Christian violence in Orissa that has left 45 people dead spread to other Indian states over the weekend of 13–14 September.
In Karnataka state, 13 churches were attacked on Saturday 13 September, and one was set on fire on the same day in Madhya Pradesh.
A report by John Dayal, Secretary General of the All India Christian Council, lists 45 confirmed deaths since attacks began in Orissa’s Kandhamal district on 25 August.
An astonishing 40,000 people have fled their homes and are hiding in the forests, fearing the wrath of Hindu extremist groups.
Attackers turned on Kandhamal police on Tuesday 16 September, when a mob of 500 stormed a police station at Gochapada and shot one officer dead.
For the 12,000 or more people in refugee camps, constant rain is causing havoc, reports the Evangelical Fellowship of India, with poor hygiene and malnutrition beginning to take their toll.
A report from the Church of North India indicates that upward of 200 churches in Orissa have been set on fire and 1,000 Christian homes ransacked.
Protests by Christians across India continue. Madras Diocese of the Church of South India is organising a major protest rally for 21 September in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu.
CMS is able to receive donations which will be sent to provide relief and support to the most affected and vulnerable communities in Orissa.