[8 July, 2004]
Urgent action to protect Indian Christians

Dear Friends,

You will probably be aware, from CSW and other sources, that the Government headed by the BJP (a party which has close links to militant Hindus) lost the recent Indian elections. Many Christians believe that this is an answer to prayer. Under the BJP-led Government, persecution of Christians and other minorities had increased dramatically. The BJP had also been reportedly planning to bring in a national anti-conversion law. In the wake of the election result, other positive events have happened, including the repeal of the state anti-conversion law in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. However, it would be a mistake to believe that all is now flourishing for Christians in India. Serious problems remain. The first of these is the continuing persecution and intimidation of Christians and other minorities in states where the BJP still hold power, notably Gujarat. Reports indicate that the Gujarat government has been misusing state apparatus, including the police, the Charity Commissioner and other bodies, to interrogate and harass human rights activists. One of these is the veteran campaigner, Fr. Cedric Prakash, the head of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP). He has recently received personal threats and was interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) Crime Branch, Gandhinagar three times between June 12 and 14, 2004. The authorities are apparently trying to "prove" that he is "anti-national" (a favorite charge that hard-line Hindus like to throw at non-Hindu minorities).

Attempts have even been made to impound his passport. This would be a grievous blow to Fr. Prakash as he frequently travels abroad to highlight the plight of the minorities in parts of India today. Prashant, the organization he founded and runs, has been vocal in the past and continues to campaign for justice for the victims of the Gujurat massacres of 2002. Their work continues even now under the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government and it is for this reason that Fr. Prakesh is currently believed to be at risk from militant groups. The other main threat to Christians is that the attacks upon them, often by members of militant Hindu groups such as the VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal continue. These organizations have not been cowed by the result of the election. One recent example of this comes from Tamil Nadu. About 50 Bajrang Dal activists stormed into the Independent Church at Berikkai in Hosur district and attacked Pastor Govindraj on May 5 2004. After ransacking the place of worship, they left, shouting a triumphant Hindu slogan. In Tripura state, on April 19, a missionary of the Evangelical Congregational Church of India, Letthang Gangte, and his family were attacked and badly beaten in their own home by a gang of assailants, in the village of Rajghat, West Tripura. The attack is believed to be in response to a propaganda campaign by local militant Hindu groups against conversions to Christianity. The attackers are thus likely to be either members of those groups or at least inspired by their rhetoric. Across the country, the RSS and other militant groups are expanding. For example, the RSS and its front organization Dharma Jagran Vibhag (religious awakening department) have decided to set up youth cadres in every village of the tribal Chhatisgarh state in Central India. These will be called the Raksha Sena or Defense Army, and their declared aim is to prevent conversions to Christianity.

This is bad enough, but it is also feared that cadres such as these, containing trained, enthusiastic volunteers who are zealous advocates of the militant Hindu doctrine of Hindutva, could be used to attack Christians and other minorities. Similarly the VHP plans to triple its presence within two years in India's highly sensitive tribal belt that spans the six states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. All these states are still run by the BJP. The VHP is working in partnership with another militant group, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, which is notorious for turning tribals against Christians and Muslims and for attacking Christian institutions and personnel.

Moreover, the RSS is suspected to be playing a major role in the launch of a new digital television channel, which, according to one observer, is intended to "whip 90 million television households into a patriotic frenzy." Anti-Christian messages continue to proliferate on Hindu militant e-mail and web forums. For example, a contributor to one of these claimed "if these missionaries aren't converting everyone they cross, they sure are poisening [sic] their mind into accepting Christianity as a great savior religion". Another was of the opinion that there was a Christian plot "to corrupt [us] and kill us off". A third suggested "I think the only way to stop this [Christian] invasion is to pressure the government/censorboard to instate laws that will ban agains [sic] anti-hindu content".

It has been seen in the past, in many countries, that such inflammatory language and views, when widely disseminated, are often the precursor to acts of violence against the target minority community. Let us pray that this is not the case in India.

Thank you for your support and for your ongoing prayers.

[15 September, 2004]
Update on recent attacks upon Christians in India

Dear Friends,

Several Christians have been murdered and others attacked during the last few weeks. This is despite the hopes many had had for a better future after the defeat of the BJP-led government in May's general election. Would you join us in prayer and action on behalf of India 's Christians?

Father Job Chittilappilly
On 28 August, a Roman Catholic priest, Father Job Chittilappilly, was killed at his parish in the town of Thuruthiparambu in Kerala. He had received threatening phone calls in the period leading up to the attack because of his alleged proselytism and his pastoral activities among Hindu families. This suggests that the murder was premeditated and planned by Hindu militants. Furthermore, crime investigators said that the murder was likely to have been a deliberate execution.

Some days later a worker for the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], which has close links with Hindu militants, was arrested for the murder.

However, many local Christians believe that there were others involved in the murder and have called for the "real culprits" to be brought to justice.

Dr Jeremiah Sunder
Meanwhile, several Christians were killed in the town of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh state, in north India , on 25 August. A mob of people burst into the house of Dr. Jeremiah Sunder, a 47 year old neurosurgeon and an active member of the local Christian community. The attackers killed Dr. Jeremiah along with his wife Hannah and his mother Pankajam.

The assailants also tried to kill Dr Jeremiah's two children who were at school, but were thwarted by the principal of the school who refused to let the mob have access to the children.

It is reported that the assailants had ties to a local politician belonging to the BJP.

The main reason for the attack appears to have been a dispute over land that Dr Sunder was trying to buy. However, since he was buying the land for Christian purposes (the land was to be for a nursing home), the incident may have had religious connotations as well.

Other Incidents
Other Christians have been attacked and at times severely wounded. On 22 August, armed assailants attacked and beat up a parish priest, Father John Sunderam, in Kubbu in Jharkhand state's Lohardaga district. The attack left him in a coma and another priest, Father Albanus Tirkey, hospitalised.

On 26 August, a group of 300 Hindu fundamentalists stormed the Church of Our Lady of Charity in the town of Raikia , in Orissa. The attackers burst into the church and burned Bibles while tearing down the Tabernacle, destroying statues of saints, and damaging musical instruments, doors, windows, and other church property. Police were present but did not intervene.

Other minority communities have also suffered from violence recently. On 28 August, six Muslims were hurt in blasts at two mosques in western India as unidentified men on motorcycles hurled bombs in Jalna town and the Parbhani district in Maharashtra.

There has been some good news. On 9 September three Gospel for Asia native missionaries captured by 'an anti-Christian mob' in the Indian state of Bihar , and threatened with death, were released.

New Law
The new Congress-led government has announced that it is planning a new law to protect religious minorities from communal violence and an initiative to establish a commission to enhance welfare, education and employment for minorities in India .

However, it remains to be seen whether the government, in the midst of its other commitments, and facing inevitable opposition from the BJP on the matter, will carry out its plan. CSW recently spoke with an Indian Congress MP and he was cautious about the chances of success.

Many thanks for your ongoing support and prayers.

Please Pray
Please pray for the safety of Christians in India , especially those who are particularly targeted by the Hindu militants - pastors, priests, evangelists, missionaries, and church workers. Pray that they will continue to go about their work boldly and that God will protect them.

Pray that the Government does have the courage to proceed with the two measures [see above] to help the minorities, even in the face of inevitable opposition from the militant Hindu elements, and that these measures prove genuinely effective.

[14 October, 2004]
Indian Christians attacked in ongoing campaign of violence

Indian Christians continue to be attacked in India on an almost daily basis.

On October 5 two Indian missionary pastors serving with Gospel for Asia (GFA) were beaten and kidnapped by a group of militant Hindus in Chattisgarh state, central India.

The two, named Tulsiram and Vijay, were preparing to baptize 32 new believers when they were attacked. After beating the two missionaries, the attackers dragged them out of the village and took them to an unknown location. It is reported that the kidnapping was part of a plan to stop them from continuing ministry in the village.

Vijay managed to escape and ran nearly 25 miles to tell the GFA district leader about the incident. The 32 believers whom they were planning to baptise were the first converts of his ministry in the village, so the attack seems to have been deliberately timed.

After being badly beaten and threatened, Tulsiram was released the next day.

At the end of September, a group of Hindu militants in India 's southern state of Karnataka threatened to kill an Indian pastor in front of his family and to torture church members as part of a widespread campaign against missionaries.

Pastor Kumar had received threats from anti-Christian groups over the past few weeks in the village where he and his family arrived two years ago to preach the gospel and to establish a church. The militants had also threatened that anyone who went to the church - including the 40 new believers over the last two years - would be killed.

On October 1 they threatened Pastor Kumar that if he went to church to lead the service that Sunday (October 3) they would kill him in front of his family. In the end the pastor and the other believers, following police advice, stayed away from the church and met elsewhere in secret.

These attacks follow other disturbing incidents in late September. On September 25 a group of nuns and priests from Mother Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity, were attacked by suspected militant Hindus in the state of Kerala, southern India.

They had been visiting a slum area on the outskirts of the city of Kozhikode to bring food for the inhabitants.

They were attacked by a small group suspected of belonging to Hindu militant groups. The group was shouting slogans in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has links with Hindu militant groups such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

According to reports, the City Police Commissioner confirmed he believed that RSS and BJP activists were behind the attack. Although the culprits escaped at the time, by October 7 the police had made 12 arrests in connection with the attacks.

The RSS issued a statement denying any involvement. It did, however, take advantage of the situation to demand a probe into alleged conversions by Christian groups - even though conversions are allowed by the Indian constitution.

These two incidents follow on from a spate of others around India over the last months. Despite victory for the Congress-led coalition in May's general election, which many believed would be beneficial for non-Hindus, attacks from those believed to be Hindu militants have continued unabated.

Sam Paul of the All India Christian Council said: "The previous BJP-led regime had been indifferent to the attacks on the minorities by groups like the RSS. This encouraged those groups to continue with their attacks. The current United Progressive Alliance government has promised to take action to prevent such attacks, and we are hopeful that it will do so".

NOTES TO EDITORS:

On August 28, also in Kerala, a Roman Catholic priest, Father Job Chittilappilly, was killed. He had been threatened in the period leading up to the attack by phone calls because of his alleged spreading of the Christian message and his pastoral activities among Hindu families. The police ruled out robbery as a motive because nothing was taken. The crime investigators said the murder was likely to have been a deliberate execution. A 25-year-old man later arrested in connection with the murder is reported to have strong links to Hindu militant groups.

On August 22, armed assailants attacked and beat up a Father John Sunderam, in Jharkhand state. The attack left him in a coma. Another priest, Father Albanus Tirkey, was hospitalized.

On August 26, a group of 300 Hindu militants stormed the Church of Our Lady of Charity in the town of Raikia , in Orissa state. The attackers burst into the church and burned Bibles while tearing down the Tabernacle, destroying statues of saints, and damaging musical instruments, doors, windows, and other church property. Police were present but did not intervene.

Four young Christian women from a Bible college were attacked whilst handing out Gospel tracts in Orissa on August 13. Their attacker then tried to kidnap the wife of the pastor in charge of the team. When this failed, he went to the police and filed a false complaint against the Christians, leading the authorities to arrest the pastor and all four women. They were later released.

On September 12 a group of Hindu militants attacked a church in Udupi in Karnataka state. They attacked the Christians who had gathered to worship. Four Christians, including the church leader, Pastor Gopinathan, were injured and had to be taken to hospital. The militants also caused extensive damage inside the church.

On September 29 in Kerala, suspected militants vandalized the Saint Thomas Mar Thoma Church in the state capital Trivandrum.

Other minority communities have also suffered from violence recently. On August 28, six Muslims were hurt in blasts at two mosques in western India as unidentified men on motorcycles hurled bombs in two different locations in Maharashtra.