© 1998 VNN
|
WORLD January 5, 1999 VNN2790 India Sends Troops To Protect Christians FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL INDIA, Jan 5 (VNN) — Attacks part of orchestrated Hindu terror campaign, church leaders say Thursday, December 31, 1998 JOHN STACKHOUSE The Globe and Mail New Delhi -- The Indian government has sent security forces and a high-level mission to western India following fresh attacks on the country's Christian minority in what has become the most violent holy season for Christians on record. India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister also sharply rebuked some of his party's extremist followers for their public support and possible involvement in the attacks, which included the ransacking of a Roman Catholic prayer hall and missionary school on Christmas Day. Two more Catholic prayer halls were attacked Tuesday night by mobs of Hindu fanatics demanding that missionaries leave the remote area in the western state of Gujarat. Church leaders said the attacks were part of an orchestrated campaign by Hindu nationalists to terrorize missionaries and recent converts. "The Hindu activists are literally on the warpath and there is a tremendous amount of fear among the Christians," said Cedric Prakash, co-ordinator of the United Christian Forum for Human Rights in Gujarat, where the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party holds power. The BJP also leads the national coalition government. The Christian forum has recorded more than 60 cases of violence against Christians this year in Gujarat state, and more than 100 incidents across the country since the BJP took office. The government dispatched security forces to the remote villages where attacks had occurred, and promised more security for the Christians, who number about 20 million in a nation of 980 million people. "India is a secular state and all citizens... are to be provided with full safeguards, full security," Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told reporters. Mr. Vajpayee also criticized the World Hindu Council, which considers itself to be the BJP's religious arm, saying "there is no place for fundamentalism" in India. The Vatican, Washington and number of other governments have lodged complaints over the continued harrassment of Christians. While the Prime Minister condemned the attacks, many of his party's most fervent supporters vowed to continue the offensive. Gujarat's Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, warned missionaries and said his government will take "stern steps to control...any attempts at conversion." Hindu religious leaders joined in the criticism of Christian missionaries and blamed the late Mother Teresa for wagin what they called a "holy war" against Hindus. The World Hindu Council, at its annual meeting in Jaipur, issued a statement this week warning: "The churches have announced that the 21st century is for evangelization of Asia. In this program, the main target will be the Hindus of India." The council's working president, Ashok Singhal, said India should be wary of Christians promoting basic literacy , which he called a plot to convert the 80 per cent Hindu nation to Christianity. He singled out Mother Teresa and the Indian-born economist Amartya Sen, who won this year's Nobel Prize for economics for his work linking literacy with economic growth. "As the welfare government has not been able to fulfill the basic needs of the people, the churches are flushing funds into India to help force conversions," Mr. Singhal said. Members of the council's youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, have been linked with several attacks this year and launched protest marches in several Christian villages on Christmas Day and subsequently. At its annual meetings, the Hindu Council announced a new program to establish one-teacher Hindu schools and "moral education centres" in impoverished tribal villages, where the indigenous people are largely animist by faith. The Hindu Council was largely responsible for the December 1992 destruction of a medieval mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya, which led to months of bloodshed across India. The council passed a resolution this week to build a Hindutemple on the site of the razed mosque. It also vowed to march to a Hindu shrine in the Pakistan controlled portion of Kashmir. The group said it would not seek visas from Pakistan as it considers all of Kashmir to be part of India, and was prepared to face Pakistani gunfire. Kashmir has a Muslim majority. Two-thirds of the region is controlled by India, but it has been disputed by the two countries since they were partitioned at independence in 1947. Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9901/WD05-2790.html
|
