Violence in East India

[dabong1]

Burn down Christian houses, attack missionary school

BHUBANESWAR: Hindu mobs angry at the murder of a religious leader burned down several churches and clashed with police on Monday, worsening violence between Hindus and Christians in a remote part of an eastern Indian state.

Armed men raided a Hindu school in Orissa’s rural Kandhamal district last week and killed five people, including a religious leader linked to India’s main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Hindu leader had been leading a local campaign to reconvert Hindus and tribal people from Christianity in a poor region with a history of communal strife.

Police blamed the killings on local Maoist rebels taking sides in a controversy over religious conversions, but Hindus say Christians were to blame for the murders. The remote and forested Kandhamal region is a hotbed of religious tensions between hardline Hindus who accuse Christian priests of bribing poor tribesmen and low-caste Hindus to change their faith.

Houses burnt: In the latest incidents of violence, police said four churches were attacked, vehicles damaged and a police post was ransacked. No one was hurt. “It was sporadic,” Orissa police chief Gopal Chandra Nanda told Reuters. “Some prayer houses have been attacked and vehicles have been burnt.” Protesters also set fire to at least eight houses belonging to Christians and attacked a missionary school in Kandhamal, police said.

Thousands of Hindu activists blocked roads with burning tyres and squatted on railway lines in parts of Orissa to enforce a 12- hour shutdown called by Hindu groups to protest last week’s killings. Christian groups say lower-caste Hindus who convert do so willingly to escape the highly stratified and oppressive Hindu caste system. Christians in eastern India condemned the killing of the Hindu leader.

“We pray for the restoration of peace and tranquillity and brotherhood in this state,” said Asit Kumar Mohanty of the Global Council of Indian Christians. The region is a stronghold of Maoist rebels and police say they have evidence to link the guerrillas to last week’s murders. They say by attacking Hindus the Maoists were trying to garner support among the region’s poor tribes, most of which had converted to Christianity.

There have been attacks on Christians in Orissa and other parts of India in previous years. In 1999, a Hindu mob killed Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two children by burning them in their car in Orissa. reuters
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[BATMAN]

This is not the first one.. though could be one out of thousands churches burnt in india so far!
I recommend to merge this piece of news with one of many existing threads on the subject e.g.
http://www.defence.pk/forums/strategic-geopolitical-issues/8838-churches-burnt-india-27.html

 

[vish]

So when are we starting with the India-bashing?

A mob burnt a church... is it wrong, yes. Should the wrong-doers be prosecuted, yes. Will all of them be prosecuted, not likely.

Does the above imply that "minorities are treated as sub-Indians," no.

But then we all know how much everyone of us are good at jumping the gun.

 

[Spring Onion]

So when are we starting with the India-bashing?

A mob burnt a church... is it wrong, yes. Should the wrong-doers be prosecuted, yes. Will all of them be prosecuted, not likely.

Does the above imply that "minorities are treated as sub-Indians," no.

But then we all know how much everyone of us are good at jumping the gun.

Forget about the minority or majority aspect of this or other such incidents.

Let us look at this from a different angle from perspective of Secularism.

Indians are never tired of boasting "that India is a secular country where religion has no part to play in different matters and where all communities were treated irrespective of their religion."
'
If that is the situation then why BJP a political leader tried to reconvert the Christians to Hinduism ???

Why some States in India had to made laws to stop conversions of low cast Hindus to Christianity????????


And alas you said so what if a mob burnt a church its only condemnable but you refused to see flaws with Hindutva ideology which no matter how much you guys refuse to recognized is still there.


BTW it was not just one incident today a poor 45-year-old Christian woman was burnt alive by terrorists of Hindu fanatic group VHP.

 

[vish]

Forget about the minority or majority aspect of this or other such incidents.

Let us look at this from a different angle from perspective of Secularism.

Indians are never tired of boasting "that India is a secular country where religion has no part to play in different matters and where all communities were treated irrespective of their religion."
'
If that is the situation then why BJP a political leader tried to reconvert the Christians to Hinduism ???

Why some States in India had to made laws to stop conversions of low cast Hindus to Christianity????????


And alas you said so what if a mob burnt a church its only condemnable but you refused to see flaws with Hindutva ideology which no matter how much you guys refuse to recognized is still there.


BTW it was not just one incident today a poor 45-year-old Christian woman was burnt alive by terrorists of Hindu fanatic group VHP.

Its a question of everybody jumping the gun. Do wrong-doings happen in my country? Yes. But does that imply that my country is wrong?

But then, I really expected nothing better from you.

 

[dr.umer]

Burn down Christian houses, attack missionary school

BHUBANESWAR: Hindu mobs angry at the murder of a religious leader burned down several churches and clashed with police on Monday, worsening violence between Hindus and Christians in a remote part of an eastern Indian state.

Armed men raided a Hindu school in Orissa’s rural Kandhamal district last week and killed five people, including a religious leader linked to India’s main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Hindu leader had been leading a local campaign to reconvert Hindus and tribal people from Christianity in a poor region with a history of communal strife.

Police blamed the killings on local Maoist rebels taking sides in a controversy over religious conversions, but Hindus say Christians were to blame for the murders. The remote and forested Kandhamal region is a hotbed of religious tensions between hardline Hindus who accuse Christian priests of bribing poor tribesmen and low-caste Hindus to change their faith.

Houses burnt: In the latest incidents of violence, police said four churches were attacked, vehicles damaged and a police post was ransacked. No one was hurt. “It was sporadic,” Orissa police chief Gopal Chandra Nanda told Reuters. “Some prayer houses have been attacked and vehicles have been burnt.” Protesters also set fire to at least eight houses belonging to Christians and attacked a missionary school in Kandhamal, police said.

Thousands of Hindu activists blocked roads with burning tyres and squatted on railway lines in parts of Orissa to enforce a 12- hour shutdown called by Hindu groups to protest last week’s killings. Christian groups say lower-caste Hindus who convert do so willingly to escape the highly stratified and oppressive Hindu caste system. Christians in eastern India condemned the killing of the Hindu leader.

“We pray for the restoration of peace and tranquillity and brotherhood in this state,” said Asit Kumar Mohanty of the Global Council of Indian Christians. The region is a stronghold of Maoist rebels and police say they have evidence to link the guerrillas to last week’s murders. They say by attacking Hindus the Maoists were trying to garner support among the region’s poor tribes, most of which had converted to Christianity.

There have been attacks on Christians in Orissa and other parts of India in previous years. In 1999, a Hindu mob killed Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two children by burning them in their car in Orissa. reuters
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Damn Hindu terrorists at large. Did police make any arrests or as usual supporting hindu fundamantlists like they did in Babri Mosque?

 

[U-571]

Its a question of everybody jumping the gun. Do wrong-doings happen in my country? Yes. But does that imply that my country is wrong?

But then, I really expected nothing better from you.

u r those ppl that, when some one brings "pakistan" name even by "mistake",even into into any irrelevant topic, u guys jump on the couch and chatter "that state full of terrorists", these muslim fundamentalists, these religious fanatics, these mouzlim extremists, but yaah when some one comes here with a news "against" presumably some of the most "innocent nations" of the world, and from them "the world cant expect a least bit of nuissance", u make this expression how dare u accuse us.

the whole nation is blamed for some bad muslim's misdeeds.

when a muslim does any thing wrong,the world is but when a non-muslim does anything wrong,

why there is a double standard while dealing with muslims and non-muslims???

and lastly, i must say, indian govt shuld stop "protecting and encouraging", these elements.

 

[jaison]

Forget about the minority or majority aspect of this or other such incidents.

Let us look at this from a different angle from perspective of Secularism.

Indians are never tired of boasting "that India is a secular country where religion has no part to play in different matters and where all communities were treated irrespective of their religion."
'
If that is the situation then why BJP a political leader tried to reconvert the Christians to Hinduism ???

Why some States in India had to made laws to stop conversions of low cast Hindus to Christianity????????


And alas you said so what if a mob burnt a church its only condemnable but you refused to see flaws with Hindutva ideology which no matter how much you guys refuse to recognized is still there.


BTW it was not just one incident today a poor 45-year-old Christian woman was burnt alive by terrorists of Hindu fanatic group VHP.

one correction the bjp is not converting but the missionaries are converting hindus into christians that is y such violence was created..........and it is a bjp allies state and even the police offered no help wen called...............no christian institutions are recommending the cm to resign...........i think that the rss,vhp should be banned along with the student islamic movement of india(simi).........
but still india is a secular nation.........

 

[dr.umer]

...but still india is a secular nation.........

Yes, it very much looks like that...

 

[dabong1]

but still india is a secular nation.........

Secularlism/Capatalisim has caused more death and destruction then probably all the religious wars put together.

 

[dabong1]

So when are we starting with the India-bashing?.

Nothing to with india-bashing,it is about "hindu" fanatics going on the rampage.
Enough indians on this forum post islamic-muslim fundamentalist stories.
It cuts both ways,if eveybody else is going link the persons faith to the crime that they have commited then expect the same back..........the headline before 9/11 would have been "Mob torch's church" but under the current climate its "Hindus torch churches".

 

[Spring Onion]

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Orissa: Hindu extremists burn one nun alive, rape another

A Catholic nun was burnt alive by a group of Hindu fundamentalists who stormed the orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh (Orissa), this according to Police Superintendent Ashok Biswall.

A priest who was at the orphanage was also badly hurt and is now being treated in hospital for multiple burns.

Another nun from Bubaneshwar’s Social Centre was gang raped by groups of Hindu extremists before the building housing the facility was set on fire.

Sources also told AsiaNews that elsewhere one priest was wounded and two other were abducted.

The list of violent anti-Christian acts is thus getting longer.
For the past two days the state of Orissa (north-east India) has been racked by violence following the assassination of radical Hindu leader Swami Laxanananda Saraswati.

Churches, community and pastoral centres, convents and orphanages have been attacked yesterday and today by mobs shouting “Kill the Christians; destroy their institutions.”

Tensions in the state are in fact still running high. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has planned demonstrations for today and tomorrow. Gangs of Hindu fanatics from the VHP as well as Sangh Parivar are roaming roads and villages, setting up road blocks, sending their own members on raids of plunder and violence.

According to firsthand accounts the archdiocese’s social centre was attacked and torched. Before that the attackers raped Sister Meena, a nun working at the centre.

The local pastoral centre, which has escaped destruction in last December’s violence, is now a total wreck. Father Thomas, who ran the facility, is in hospital with serious head injuries.

Speaking to AsiaNews Fr Ajay Singh also said that a nun was burnt alive in an orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh.

Elsewhere Sisters of Mother Teresa have been attacked by stone-throwing Hindu militants with one seriously injured.

All Christian institutions are now in danger because mobs of Hindu radicals are roaming the streets, breaking down doors and smashing windows, including in some cases Christian homes. Many priests and nuns have had to escape.

In Bubaneshwar Hindu militants stoned the Archbishop’s residence, but did not dare invade the place because of police presence.

In Phulbani the parish church and the home of local clergy were attacked and set on fire. All local priests fled and found refuge in the homes of some of members of the local congregation.

The youth hostel that houses students who study in Phulbani has also been torched.

Some missionaries of Charity who were attending a health course in Brahamanigoan were blocked for hours in the village.

Elsewhere nuns left their convent finding shelter in some school buildings.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Clerical Whispers: Orissa: Hindu extremists burn one nun alive, rape another

 

[Spring Onion]

Why Hindu fanatics are so found of burning human alive ????

 

[Goodperson]

I condemn the incident.

however how convenient is it to forget similar incidents in Karachi where a Hindu youth was killed in barbaric way on some accusation of Blasphmy?
Do provide some details.

 

[Flintlock]

They should ban religious conversions. It destroys the fabric of society.