Hindu Militants ‘Attack Christians’ As Police Watch

Sunday, November 28th, 2010 at 5:40 pm  
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By Worthy News Asia Service

NEW DELHI, INDIA (Worthy News)– A tense calm remained Saturday, November 27, in several villages of India’s troubled state of Orissa after Hindu militants reportedly attacked local Christians as police forces watched nearby.

U.S.-based Christian advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC) said “Hindu radicals” stormed three villages in Orissa and assaulted Christians. “The attackers claimed that they were teased by Christian boys” prompting the November 7 violence, ICC said.

However, the victims reportedly said they were attacked for refusing to pay donations for a Hindu festival called ‘Druga Festival.’

ICC investigators said some 250 radical Hindus stormed the villages of Peliguda, Kenduguda and Telarai near the town of Malkangiri. “They broke into Christian homes after the Christians refused entry. The police were present at the scene but refused to protect the Christians.”

TELEVISION FOOTAGE

Police officials had no comment, but Indian television channel ETV-2 reportedly aired footage of the incident throughout the country.

The victims have complained to the police at the Malkangiri police station but police have not yet made arrests, ICC said.

Orissa has been a consistent scene of attacks against Christians, according to rights groups. In 2008, an estimated over 100 Christians were killed and more than 55,000 displaced after militant Hindus carried out attacks against Christians.

“We are outraged by these latest attacks against Christians in Orissa,” said ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, Jonathan Racho. After the 2008 anti-Christian violence, we hoped that Indian authorities would have taken actions to stem further aggression against Christians.

Unfortunately, the Christians continue to face violence as this and other attacks indicate. We urge authorities of India to immediately bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice and protect Christians from further acts of violence.”

ICC said it has urged its supporters to call Indian embassies in their countries “and politely ask Indian officials to bring the perpetrators of these latest attacks to justice” in the heavily Hindu nation.

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Iraq Detains Militants Over Deadly Church Siege

Sunday, November 28th, 2010 at 3:27 pm  
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By Worthy News Middle East Service

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (Worthy News) — Iraq said Saturday, November 27, that its security forces have detained a dozen militants suspected of helping take Christians hostage in a church siege that killed scores of worshipers and two priests last month.

“Police have arrested 12 members of the group responsible for the attack against the church,” French News Agency AFP quoted the official as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity and without specifying when they were detained.

At least 44 worshipers, two priests and seven security force personnel were killed during the October 31 seizure of a Baghdad cathedral and ensuing shoot-out when it was stormed by troops.

A group linked to Al-Qaeda said it launched the church attack to force the release of converts to Islam allegedly being detained by the Coptic Church in Egypt. Days later it declared Christians everywhere “legitimate targets.”

NETWORK CLOSED

Cairo-based satellite TV channel Al-Baghdadiya said it had shut its Iraq operations after its broadcasts were cut for airing the demands of the militants who launched the church attack.

Saturday’s reported arrests came just days after two Iraqi Christian brothers were gunned down Monday, November 22, inside their vehicle workshop in the volatile northern city of Mosul, police said. Saad Hanna, 43, and Waad Hanna, 40, were shot dead after a series of other anti-Christian attacks in the city, 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Baghdad.

Christians in the region earlier mourned a Christian father and his 6-year-old daughter Wednesday, November 17, after they were killed in a bomb attack. The man and his daughter were killed late Tuesday, November 16, in Mosul when an explosive attached to a vehicle detonated, Christians said.

The previous night, attackers went into two Christian homes in the Tahrir neighborhood, killing the male heads of the households and then driving off, according to local Christians. At about the same time, another bomb detonated outside a Christian home, wounding a bystander, church leaders said.

MORE ATTACKS

Earlier this month, a series of bomb and mortar attacks targeted the homes and businesses of Christians in the capital Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 33 and drawing international condemnation.

Between 750,000 and 1.2 million Christians lived in Iraq before the US-led invasion of 2003, but their number has since shrunk to around half a million or less following attacks against their community and places of worship, according to church observers.

The number of Christians in Baghdad has now dwindled to around 150,000, a third of their former population in the capital, news reports said.   (With reporting by Worthy News’ Stefan J. Bos).

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India Hindu Militants Attack Punjab Church

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 11:44 pm  
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LUDHIANA, INDIA (Worthy News)– A major evangelical group has urged the government of India’s Punjab state to protect minority Christians after Hindu militants allegedly attacked a church and injured at least one Christian, Worthy News has  learned.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) said a Hindu mob armed with sticks and swords attacked a church in the city of Ludhiana last Sunday, November 14. They also “beat up a believer and threatened him and his family with dire consequences if they (continue) to attend Sunday worship [services]” added EFI General Secretary Richard Howell in a statement.


The troubles began last month when a man, identified as Munna, attended a church service and requested Christian believer Bindeshwar to explain more about Christianity, EFI said.


During conversations at Bindeshwar’s home Munna became aggressive and after several meetings there he returned with a Hindu mob of some 40 people, EFI explained.


They allegedly beat up Bindeshwar because the devoted Christian and his family refused to leave their church. The mob also went to the church Sunday, November 14, to attack Pastor Sunil, but the church leader did not appear, EFI said.


EMBRACING CHRISTIANITY


Hindu militants allege that Pastor Sunil “offered money to Munna in exchange for embracing Christianity,” charges Christians have strongly denied.


Police soon detained three suspects, but they were released under pressure of the influential Hindu-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said EFI. BJP could not be reached for comment.


Around 50 pastors and leaders from different denominations have asked local police to launch a criminal investigation, but “police is trying to hush up the matter without taking any action,” EFI said. In a statement, police said “that an inquiry is underway.”


Howell said he has urged supporters to “kindly write to the Chief Minister of Punjab, appealing him to safe guard the rights of the minority communities…And to give protection to churches against attacks and to take immediate action against the perpetrators of violence.”


The latest attack comes amid reported growing opposition among Hindu groups against the spread of Christianity in the country, a predominantly Hindu nation of over 1 billion people.

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Militants Attack Christians Across India

Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 4:50 pm  
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By Santosh Digal, Worthy News Asia Correspondent reporting from India

NEW DELHI, INDIA (Worthy News)– Hindu and Muslim militants have attacked several Christians and a church in several incidents across the country as part of efforts to crackdown on the spread of Christianity in the country, Christians said.


In one incident, Pastor Mallappa Hanumanthappa Andrew of the evangelical Samadhana Prayer House and his brother were attacked October 20 by some six extremists while walking on a village road in the state of Karnataka, local Christians said.


The Hindu militants reportedly accused them of forcing Hindus to turn to Christianity, charges they strongly denied. They also burned down the home that was used for church meetings, locals said.


Police reportedly briefly detained four suspects, but released them two hours later. It was not clear when and if court procedures were to follow. Elsewhere in the state, police detained Pastor Muthyalan Paul on October 26 in an area of the city of Bangalore, just shortly after alleged Muslim extremists stormed a prayer meeting and accused him of “forceful” conversion, Worthy News learned.


BIBLES DAMAGED


They also tore Bibles and damaged household items, witnesses said.


Police, supported by the Muslim extremists, charged the pastor with “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of others,” Noel Kotian, a local pastor told Worthy News.


A judge sent the pastor to Nelamangala Sub-Jail, but with area Christian leaders’ intervention he was released on bail the next morning, Christians said.


The attacks followed violence in the volatile state of Orissa where Hindu-militants confined three recent converts to Christianity in a house and assaulted them to force them to “deny their new faith”, local missionary Ashish Parida told Worthy News. Aswini Sahu, Sanatana Jena and Amulya Swain were targeted because they became Christians six months ago after listening to Christian radio broadcasts, the missionary added.


“When the Hindu extremists learned of it, they threatened them and expelled them from the village after the Christians continued to worship Christ.” The Christians took shelter in different homes, and then went back to their village after receiving word by telephone things were settled, he said.


BEATINGS, DETENTION


However, “as soon as they returned, however, the extremists caught hold of them, beat them and confined them,” on October 14, Parida explained. “With area Christian leaders’ intervention, police rescued the Christians and warned the extremists not to disturb them again.”


There were also reports of attacks in the central state of Chhattisgarh where a Hindu mob reportedly tried to take over the premises of the Indian Pentecostal Church.


Hindu extremists attempted to make a Hindu temple of the church after local children claimed they saw a Hindu idol image in a tree in the church premises, Christians said.


Church pastor Zachariah Menon and others have been meeting police and state officials following the October 22 incident, according to local Christians. Hindu militants, but in some cases also Muslim extremists, are increasingly cracking down on devoted Christians in the predominantly Hindu nation, said rights groups and Christian leaders.

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