Aid to the Church in Need: India: US Commission to investigate India’s anti-Christian violence

India: US Commission to investigate India’s anti-Christian violence

Posted by Press Release on 11/5/2009, 11:27 am
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ACN News: Monday, 11th May 2009 – INDIA
US Commission to investigate India’s anti-Christian violence

By John Newton

THE bishop in India whose diocese has been at the centre of anti-Christian violence has welcomed news of a fact-finding visit by a US government human rights organisation.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom will visit Orissa next month (June), before issuing a report later in the summer.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar welcomed the commission’s interest in Orissa, saying he hoped it would persuade the authorities in India to do more to protect minority rights.
Archbishop Cheenath told ACN: “I would be happy if they put pressure on the government to put into practice what is in the constitution.
“If an independent body can force local government to put into practice the provision of the constitution – religious freedom – it would be good for all minorities.”
The commission’s visit comes eight months after two waves of anti-Christian violence in 2007-8 swept the Orissa district of Kandhamal where more than 80 people died and nearly 6,000 were made homeless.
Almost 30,000 fled their villages in a spate of attacks orchestrated by Hindu militants. Many thousands have yet to return home and still others have left Orissa for a new life elsewhere in India.
Since the attacks, Archbishop Cheenath has described his increased frustration at alleged government inaction to punish those responsible for the attacks, its apparent failure to organise proper police protection as well as provide sufficient compensation for the victims.
Reports received by ACN have underlined the archbishop’s concern about apparent intimidation of Christians during the recent general elections, including threats to chase them away and even kill them if they refused to vote for extremist parties.

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar

In his interview earlier this week, the archbishop stressed that Christians are not the only religious group harassed by Hindu militants, mentioning problems faced by Buddhists and Muslims.
The archbishop’s comments come after reports from Asia News stated that Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, secretary general of the Indian bishops’ conference, had welcomed the US commission’s visit, saying he hoped it would contribute to “accelerating the path of justice for the Christians of Kandhamal”.
Archbishop Fernandes said: “The Church is not seeking vengeance – as Christians we are forgiving – however, as agents of peace, the Church seeks justice which is essential for peace, and reconciliation which is essential in the process of rebuilding and building sustainable peace and stability among communities.”
ACN is sponsoring peace-building programmes under the auspices of Archbishop Cheenath in places where there are fears that Christians will continue be the target of attacks.
As part of these projects, all groups – especially the young – will be encouraged to undertake joint activities to help rebuild trust and cooperation.
As well as visiting Orissa, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom will be visiting Gujarat, western India, where in 2002 more than 1,000 Muslims died in clashes with Hindus.
In September 2008 the commission sent a letter to the then US President George Bush urging him to raise its concerns about violence against Christian in Orissa – and broader issues of violence and intolerance between India’s religious communities – with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom will not be the first such body to visit the area to examine the problem of religious violence.
The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, visited India in March 2008 to examine the violence in Orissa over Christmas 2007.
In her report, released in February 2009, she noted extremist groups had spread religious hatred which had “unleashed an all-pervasive fear of mob violence”.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.
For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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