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12-28-2007, 07:52 PM
Hindus, Christians clash in India
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 27, 1:04 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071227/ap_on_re_as/india_churches_attacked;_ylt=AgzN1v eqJno9SIFFMYf24vgBxg8F
NEW DELHI - Hindu extremists torched nearly a dozen churches and the
home of a Christian leader Thursday, defying a curfew imposed to
quell three days of religious violence in eastern India. Christians
retaliated by setting fire to several homes belonging to Hindus.
Local police have been unsuccessful in halting the attacks and the
federal government announced it was sending in a paramilitary force.
About 19 churches, most of them small mud and thatch buildings, have
been razed since violence broke out on Christmas Eve when long-
standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian
community erupted over conversions to Christianity.
Hindu groups have long charged Christian missionaries with trying to
lure the poor and those who occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism's
complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.
On Thursday, a mob of Hindus burned down the house of Radhakant
Nayak, a member of India's upper house of parliament and a Christian
leader in the area, Nayak told the CNN-IBN news channel.
Also, 11 churches were ransacked and burned in Kandhamal district of
Orissa state, the Press Trust of India quoted unnamed police
officials as saying.
Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said several prayer houses
were ransacked and some were set on fire, but he did not have the
exact number.
Meanwhile, in the village of Brahmangaon, a group of Christians
burned down several Hindu homes in an apparent retaliation for the
attack on churches. Angry Hindus then burned down the village police
station, complaining of a lack of protection, a local police official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters.
Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a senior government official in the area
confirmed there had been "disturbances" in the village, but could not
provide details.
One person has been killed and at least 25 people, belonging to both
Hindu and Christian communities, have been arrested for suspected
involvement in the violence, Bhol told The Associated Press by phone.
But the arrests and curfew have not stopped the attacks and the
federal government said it was sending in a 300-strong paramilitary
force.
"We have to get the violence under control," the junior federal home
minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, told reporters.
India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Religious
minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the
country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent,
often coexist peacefully.
But throughout India's history, the issue of conversions has provoked
violence by hard-line Hindus.
Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. An
Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to
death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class in 1999.
Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to
obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law
was intended to counter missionary work.
There were conflicting reports of what started the violence in the
rural district of Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi.
Each side blamed the other.
The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of
their leaders, who heads an anti-conversion movement.
But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the
fighting began when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking
Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage conversions.
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 27, 1:04 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071227/ap_on_re_as/india_churches_attacked;_ylt=AgzN1v eqJno9SIFFMYf24vgBxg8F
NEW DELHI - Hindu extremists torched nearly a dozen churches and the
home of a Christian leader Thursday, defying a curfew imposed to
quell three days of religious violence in eastern India. Christians
retaliated by setting fire to several homes belonging to Hindus.
Local police have been unsuccessful in halting the attacks and the
federal government announced it was sending in a paramilitary force.
About 19 churches, most of them small mud and thatch buildings, have
been razed since violence broke out on Christmas Eve when long-
standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian
community erupted over conversions to Christianity.
Hindu groups have long charged Christian missionaries with trying to
lure the poor and those who occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism's
complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.
On Thursday, a mob of Hindus burned down the house of Radhakant
Nayak, a member of India's upper house of parliament and a Christian
leader in the area, Nayak told the CNN-IBN news channel.
Also, 11 churches were ransacked and burned in Kandhamal district of
Orissa state, the Press Trust of India quoted unnamed police
officials as saying.
Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said several prayer houses
were ransacked and some were set on fire, but he did not have the
exact number.
Meanwhile, in the village of Brahmangaon, a group of Christians
burned down several Hindu homes in an apparent retaliation for the
attack on churches. Angry Hindus then burned down the village police
station, complaining of a lack of protection, a local police official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters.
Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a senior government official in the area
confirmed there had been "disturbances" in the village, but could not
provide details.
One person has been killed and at least 25 people, belonging to both
Hindu and Christian communities, have been arrested for suspected
involvement in the violence, Bhol told The Associated Press by phone.
But the arrests and curfew have not stopped the attacks and the
federal government said it was sending in a 300-strong paramilitary
force.
"We have to get the violence under control," the junior federal home
minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, told reporters.
India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Religious
minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the
country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent,
often coexist peacefully.
But throughout India's history, the issue of conversions has provoked
violence by hard-line Hindus.
Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. An
Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to
death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class in 1999.
Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to
obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law
was intended to counter missionary work.
There were conflicting reports of what started the violence in the
rural district of Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi.
Each side blamed the other.
The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of
their leaders, who heads an anti-conversion movement.
But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the
fighting began when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking
Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage conversions.