Orissa: Maoists claim responsibility, warn of more attacks

Claiming responsibility for the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati in Orissa, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) warned the saffron oufit of “more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country”.

The CPI (Maoist) has decided to punish “anti-people, fanatical leaders like Saraswati” in the wake of “endless persecution” of religious minorities in the country, a party release said in New Delhi.

The statement alleged that Saraswati was a “rabid anti-Christian ideologue and persecutor of innocent Christians and was responsible for the burning down of over 400 churches in Khandamal district alone”.

It warned the saffron outfit of “more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country”.

“The Sangh Parivar leaders like Pravin Togadia have been trying to divert people’s attention by uttering lies that it is not Maoists but Christian organisations that had carried out the attack on the VHP leader,” the CPI (Maoist) said.

Appealing to secular and democratic forces to condemn the Sangh Parivar, it said “it is not SIMI that is to be outlawed but Hindu fanatical groups like VHP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, BJP, Hindu Munnani and so on.”

Slamming the Congress leadership, the release said it was strange that it did not see any threat from “overtly communal, criminal acts of the VHP and the Sangh Parivar”.

Additional security

A day after violence spilled to areas adjacent to Orissa’s riot-hit Kandhamal, additional security personnel were deployed on Sunday in Koraput district as the state sought more central forces.

Two companies of CRPF and three companies of Orissa State Armed Police (OSAP) were deployed at Jeypore where 11 people, including officials, were injured in a mob attack and clash between two communities over some objectionable graffiti in a college on Saturday, police said.

Prohibitory orders were in force at nearby Baipariguda where two churches were damaged by miscreants, Deputy Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Panda said, adding six persons have been arrested in connection with the violence.

In the wake of the violence in Koraput, the state government has sought 10 more companies of central paramilitary forces to contain arson and prevent trouble from affecting more areas, a senior official said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who had faced protest from riot victims in a relief camp at Tikabali on Saturday evening, visited Jalespeta Ashram on Sunday in Tumudibandh area where VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati had been gunned down on the night of August 23, triggering the violence.

Patnaik asserted that those perpetrating violence would be punished and promised quick relief and rehabilitation for the victims in the communally sensitive district.

Also read:
Curfew relaxed in Kandhamal
Christians demand CBI probe
(NewsX)

Orissa: Maoists warn of more attacks

NEW DELHI: Claiming responsibility for the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati in Orissa, the CPI-M on Sunday warned the saffron oufit of “more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country”.

The CPI-M has decided to punish “anti-people, fanatical leaders like Saraswati” in the wake of “endless persecution” of religious minorities, a party release said.

The statement alleged that Saraswati was a “rabid anti-Christian ideologue and persecutor of innocent Christians and was responsible for the burning down of over 400 churches in Khandamal”. (The Times Of India)

Christians hide in forests as Hindu mobs ransack villages

As death toll rises, Prime Minister denounces ‘national shame’ in state of Orissa where 60 churches were burned down

Gethin Chamberlain

The Observer,

Thousands of terrified Indian Christians are hiding in the forests of the volatile Indian state of Orissa after a wave of religious ‘cleansing’ forced them from their burnt-out homes with no immediate prospect of return.

A mob of Hindu fundamentalists rampaged through villages last week, killing those too slow to get out of their way, burning churches and an orphanage, and targeting the homes of Christians. Up to 20 people were reported dead, with at least two deliberately set alight, after the murder of a Hindu leader last Saturday provoked the violence.

In some districts, entire villages lay deserted, abandoned by Christian populations who would rather shelter in the forests than return to face the risk of death. Some villagers attempted to return to their homes yesterday despite threats of further violence.

But Christian leaders who had spoken to those who have fled said that even among the trees they were not safe. Some of their tormenters have pursued them, trying to finish the job.

One of those hiding in the forest, Abalkora Diggal, described how a group arrived at Balkidadi village on Monday morning chanting anti-Christian slogans. ‘In the evening, a much bigger group of over 1,000 people fired in the air and warned us to leave if we wanted to stay alive,’ he told a local journalist.

They fled into the forest, emerging only when they saw an aid convoy arrive under heavy police protection. Afterwards, they returned to the forest, without food or fresh water. ‘I had a home and a tractor. I reared goats and hens. Now I have nothing,’ said Mr Diggal.

Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India, told The Observer that many people were too frightened to return to their homes.

After speaking by mobile phone to some of those in hiding, he said: ‘They are living without food or drink and even there they are being hunted down by these people. I have spoken to nuns and priests who are hiding in the forests.

‘They said that it was a horrifying experience. Groups arrived at their villages carrying guns, swords and homemade weapons and even small bombs, which they used to blast the places. The groups targeted every Christian house in their villages. The people had a list of the Christian houses and institutions and none were spared.’ The Church said nearly 3,000 houses had been destroyed, most of them owned by Christians. More than 60 churches were burned down and at least half a dozen convents.

‘It is the result of a sustained hate campaign against Christians in Orissa,’ Rev Joseph said.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, described the violence as a ‘national shame’, while Raphael Cheenath, the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, called for an end to the ‘ethnic cleansing of Christians’.

The violence erupted after the murder of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati at an ashram last Saturday night, along with four other activists from the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) party.

It was claims by the VHP that Christians were to blame for the deaths that acted as a trigger for the killing spree, although Maoist guerillas have since claimed responsibility for the murders. Reports said that about 30 Maoists opened fire on the ashram. A spokesman for the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army said it had targeted Saraswati, who had campaigned against conversions and the killing of cows, for ‘fascist activities’.

The revenge killings have been indiscriminate: a 19-year-old Hindu Rajni Majhi was burned to death by a mob who attacked the Christian-run Missionary Orphan Centre in the Bargarh district.

Some of the 150,000 Christians in the Kandhamal area have been sheltered by Hindu neighbours, but about 5,000 are believed to have sought refuge in the forests, with up to 10,000 under guard in camps set up by the government.

Underlying the violence is a long-simmering dispute between Hindus and Christians in the state over the conversion of low-caste Hindus to Catholicism. The success of the Christian churches has fuelled resentment among hardline Hindus. The Vatican has condemned the violence. Most of India’s billion-plus citizens are Hindu, while just 2.5 per cent of them are Christians.

Shoot-on-sight orders were issued to security forces in eight districts and a curfew remained in place yesterday in nine districts.

About 3,000 Christians demonstrated outside the Orissa state building in New Delhi yesterday, holding placards calling for peace and condemning the state government. On Friday about 25,000 Catholic schools were closed in a symbolic protest against the killings. ( Guardian.co.uk)

Kandhamal crisis: Hatred through the cracks in Harmony

D N Singh

History has virtually repeated itself. But this time the crisis is much worse in that, it has turned into a fountainhead of hatred. In December 2007 it was in Kandhamal that the same Swami Lakshmananand was attacked over a scuffle between two communities. That incident too had resulted in violence, further widening the gap between the Christian and the Hindu communities. Four had died during the week long riot and many more were rendered homeless.

The incident of the night of August 24, was the beginning of a terror that has shaken the very foundations of the amity, if there was any left, between the two communities. The swamy along with four of his disciples were brutally gunned down by still-unidentified assailants. The religious fervour at the Palsapeta ashram was soon overwhelmed by an uneasy silence.

Hatred came out naked the day next. The idiocies of orthodoxy prevailed over centuries old harmony and brutal vengeance was unleashed by blood thirsty elements. Hundreds of houses, prayer houses and churches were ransacked. Worse than that, the attackers started killing people. This has now opened the floodgates for religious compartmentalization.

If we talk of the divide; then the root of the problem in this part is poverty, and that is being capitalized by the zealots for their respective gains. Else the poor tribals or dalits who inhabit in these woods are no buyers of such dogmas. Even the sponsors of such dogmas consciously or unconsciously forget that, in the name of religion they have bred the shoots of an endemic repulsion for each other. That is the feeble base on which Kandhamal district today stands.

The fabrics have been torn apart as the entire district today is a witness to the cowardly acts of rapacious groups from both the sides. The venom of hatred has now spilled out to other districts and an incapable administration appear as perplexed as the victims. So far about 17 people from both the communities have died. The minority forum in the state claimed that more than 5000 people have fled to the jungles to escape the terror and about 600 churches are damaged. ( It is a different thing that Kandhamal district has less than 300 schools put together ! )

The areas are still tense and nobody knows what would happen next. But, back in Bhubaneswar the politicians lolling in the luxury of inactivity seem engaged in a verbose battle in the Assembly. It is only the media teams those make rounds of the areas risking their lives. The common man in Kandhamal is simply torn between the fear of the loss of life and the desire to live.

It is not the time for the religious groups or the politicians to indulge in inflammatory rhetoric, which will further deepen the crisis. And for the Chief Minister of Orissa the writing on the wall is, trust is fine but, control is better. (ZeeNews)

Churches burn as violence spreads in Orissa

By Jatindra Dash

 

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) – Hindu mobs have burnt at least four more churches in Orissa, officials said on Monday, as religious violence appeared to spread.

 

Thousands of people, mostly Christians, have taken shelter in makeshift camps, where Hindu mobs went on the rampage last week after a Hindu leader was killed.

 

Last week officials said the violence appeared to be abating after Hindu and Christian leaders called for calm, but over the weekend it spread to new parts of the state.

 

Mobs set fire to four churches in the districts of Koraput and Rayagada, Orissa’s Director General of Police, Gopal Chandra Nanda, told Reuters.

 

Two churches and several houses were also burnt in the Kandhamal district, the epicentre of the tension, despite a curfew imposed in most of its towns, one of the state’s leading newspapers, The Samaja, reported on Monday.

 

Officials said they could not confirm that report.

 

The violence has drawn international condemnation, including from Pope Benedict. Local government officials revised the death toll to 14 and said they had received unconfirmed reports that two more bodies had been found.

 

Thousands of police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in nine of state’s 30 districts after the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a senior state police official said.

“We are going to deploy in three more districts on Monday,” he added.

 

(For the latest Reuters news on India see in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in/.)

Christians may form militia for self-defence: Church leader

By Indo-Asian News Service on Sunday, August 31, 2008

Looking low and dejected, a Church leader from Orissa warned Sunday that if the government failed to stop attacks on his community, Christians in the state will be forced to raise a militia for self-defence.

 

“All that the governments have been doing, both in the state and at the centre, is paint an illusion. Beautiful, but hollow words is all they have to offer. It’s been eight days and the violence continues. If such a situation persists, we will have no option but to form our own ‘Suraksha Vahini’,” the priest told IANS on condition of anonymity.

The priest, who is based in Bhubaneshwar and who reached New Delhi Aug 26, said he did not want to be quoted by name because he had already received death threats and feared for his life. He spoke in the church premises in the heart of the capital.

The Church leader might be in a delegation set to meet President Pratibha Patil Monday. He said, however, that not many were hopeful.

“We met the prime minister, the home minister and will meet the president tomorrow. However, I have my doubts that anything fruitful will come out of it. All that we keep getting are fine words that ‘this will be done and that will be done’. In reality not only Kandhamal but many districts in Orissa are burning,” the church member said.

“I have told people from Orissa to say they are not Christians in order to save their lives. You can follow religion as long as you are alive. This sadly is increasingly becoming an intolerant society,” he added.

Orissa has been on the boil since the killing of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader and four others Aug 23 by suspected Maoist guerrillas sparked off a wave of anti-Christian violence that has left 13 dead. Hundreds of people have fled their homes.

Radical Hindu groups in the state alleged that Christians killed Saraswati because he opposed religious conversion. Christian groups deny this.

Another senior Church member from Delhi, said that the number of dead in Orissa was much more than what the authorities were admitting.

“The state government says peace is being restored and people are returning to their homes. Which homes are they talking about? The ones that have been burnt down?” (Freshnews)

Orissa victims tell Naveen: Go back

Chief minister rejects demand for CBI probe, faces victims’ wrath

 

BHUBANESHWAR; Chief minister Naveen Patnaik was at the receiving end when he visited trouble-torn Tikabali on Saturday evening. Angered with the Orissa government’s failure to tackle communal riots in the wake of the  brutal murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, around 500 riot victims gheraoed the CM at Tikabali relief centre and chanted “Naveen, go back. We don’t want government help.”

Patnaik, who reached Kandhamal by road on Saturday, found the riot victims waiting for him since morning, agitated and in no mood to listen. “Please go back. When we needed your help, you were not here,” said Rupa Digal, a riot-affected person.

However, Patnaik announced that victims would get all help including cooking gas, utensils and other assistance to rebuild their homes.

On Sunday morning, the CM visited Jalespata Ashram where Swami Laxmanananda and four of his associates had been killed. He assured the inmates of the ashram the culprits would be arrested soon. However, he rejected demands for a CBI probe into this incident.

“We have already ordered a judicial probe,” he said. Later, on his return to Bhubaneswar from Kandhamal on Sunday, Patnaik appealed for restoration of peace.
But the communal flare-up has now crossed the borders of Kandhamal district. On Saturday, violence broke out in tribal-dominated Koraput district. On Sunday morning, people set ablaze four churches in Kunudura of Koraput. Police clamped curfew in Jeypure and held flag marches in sensitive pockets of Koraput district.

“We are making all efforts to create peace committees at the ward level,” said Koraput district collector, Balakrushna Sahu, adding that one company each of the CRPF and the Orissa State Armed Police  were deployed in the areas. All schools and colleges will remain closed for three days from September 1 to 3 in Koraput.

And with the recovery of three more bodies under Raikia police station in Kandhamal, the death toll has touched 15.

One week after the beginning of the violence in Orissa, thousands of people, most of them Christians, were still hiding in the forests or have found refuge in shelter camps.
The ABVP has called for an Orissa bandh on Monday. “All schools and college will remain closed on Monday,” an ABVP spokesperson said. (DNA India)

More prayer houses attacked in Orissa

BHUBANESWAR: Violence was reported from more areas in Koraput district in southern Orissa on Sunday, even as the situation was limping back to normality in the riot-hit Kandhamal district.

Eight prayer houses were damaged in Kundra area of Koraput during the day, police said.

Violence erupted in the district following a clash between two groups in Jeypore town on Saturday and five churches were damaged. Curfew was clamped and it is still in force.

In Kandhamal, two groups of women victims clashed at a relief camp at Baliguda over distribution of relief material. More than 9,000 people have taken shelter in the seven relief camps opened in different areas of Kandhamal to help families affected by the violence triggered by the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda. The authorities were finding it difficult cope with the influx of people into the camps.

On Saturday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik faced an angry group of protesters when he visited a relief camp at Tikabali. The families affected by the riots raised slogans against Mr. Patnaik and asked him to go back.

Asked whether his government would hand over the case pertaining to the killing of the swami to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Patnaik replied in the negative. He expressed the hope that the State police would be able to arrest the culprits.

On the other hand, shortage of security personnel was also making it difficult for the administration to restore peace in the district. Curfew continues to remain in force in eight towns of the district. (The Hindu)

New Delhi favors CBI probe into Orissa violence

NEW DELHI (ICNS): The Central cabinet has discussed the violence in Orissa and most ministers favored a high level CBI probe into the causes of violence that claimed several lives, a minister said.

Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal told media on Friday that central government favors a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation into the communal violence. “We would have liked ideally that this matter be handed over to the CBI as there was a need to render justice immediately,” he said adding that judicial probes usually takes more time. He said this when asked of Orissa violence was discussed in the Cabinet meeting. “We have been a tolerant society. This kind of senseless destruction by individuals belonging to a particular organization shall not be tolerated,” he said. According to laws a CBI enquiry in an event can be ordered only after a state requests for it. Central officials, including Prime Minster Manhoman Singh have already spoken to Orissa Chief Minister urgin him to take immediate action. The Centre government on Friday reportedly asked the Orissa government, to take swift and strict measures to bring normalcy in the violence-hit areas of the state. Reports said Central Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta spoke to the State Chief Secretary wanting to know what measures the government was taking to end the violence and book the culprits. (Indian Catholic.com)

Dr. John Dayal writes to Sonia Gandhi to end ethnic cleansing of Christians

Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:01 am (PDT)

POSTED BY: All India Christian Council office@madhuchandra .org

Subject: Dr. John Dayal writes to Sonia Gandhi to end ethnic cleansing of
Christians in Orissa

Member: National Integration Council, Government of India Wrote to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress President and Chairperson of UPA On behalf of All India Catholic Union and Federation of Catholic Associations of Delhi All India Christian Council Truth-Seakers International Christa bhaktamandali, Maharashtra United Christian Action, Delhi 505 Link, 18 IP Extension, Delhi 110092 India

Email: johndayal@vsnl. com

Phone: 91-11-22722262 Mobile 09811021072

28 August 2008

Honourable Mrs Sonia Gandhi

Congress President and Chairperson, UPA

10 Janpath, New Delhi

Respected Madam

Greetings

Re: Call to end ethnic cleansing of Christians in Orissa

I am writing this to bring to your notice the utter failure of the Government of Orissa to bring a halt to the killing of Christians, the destruction of their properties and the persecution of their Church in the state in general, and in the district of Kandhamal in particular.

Although the Orissa government is a coalition of the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party, it is the BJP which is running the show and has complete control of the government, the police and the relief and
rehabilitation ministries. The government has also given full freedom to the RSS, the VHP to carry on their aggression on the Christian community.

I would like to point out that the Christian community has unequivocally denounced the murder of VHP vice president Lakshmananada Saraswati who was killed in Kandhamal some days ago, reportedly by Maoist groups. The state government failed thrice. They failed in December 2007 to protect Christians from VHP and RSS violence in which more then 100 churches were destroyed and thousands rendered homeless. They
failed again this time when about 30 Christians have been killed, a nun gang raped, another woman burnt alive, many priests grievously injured and hundreds of houses burnt. I am attaching herewith the list of persons killed, injured and destruction of Churches in the last four days.

There is urgent need to restore peace, to stop the targeting and persecution of Christians which is  tantamount to the Ethnic Cleansing of Christians from Orissa. VHP and its leaders like Praveen Togadia have openly said is their avowed target.

We request that:

1. The Union Government must authorise the Army to move its troops into affected blocks of Kandhamal district where the local police and RAF have failed miserably.

2. The Centre must order a CBI enquiry into the murder of the VHP leader, and he ensuing violence to trace the guilty in both cases.

3. Urgent compensation to the kin of the dead and the injured, relief and rehabilitation must be taken so that the tens of thousands of Christians now hiding in the forest of and other districts can return home. Government must rebuild their house and also rebuild every single church that has been destroyed.

Dear Madam, it is the fair name of India that is being tarnished in this anti Christian violence. The Union Government has to act, and it has to make the State Government to wake up to its constitutional responsibilities.

I am sure you will advice the Union government and request the Prime Minister to do whatever is necessary in this regard.

Thanking you

Yours faithfully

Dr John Dayal