Hindu RSS Fanatics Attack Pastor

By James Varghese

A pastor has been beaten up by a group of Hindu radicals. According to a story on the web site www.persecution.in, the assault occurred on the evening of March 11 in Madhya Pradesh, India.

When leaving his house, Pastor Tulsi, 26, was attacked by members of a Hindu militant group called RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).

According to the web site, when he was assaulted Tulsi (who works for an Indian evangelical team), was holding a copy of Jesus Calls magazine and his organization’s brochure.

The story on www.persecution.in said the Hindu militants snatched the material from Tulsi and started to beat him up. Later the radicals took Tulsi to an area police station where the story said they locked him up, claiming that Tulsi was converting people to Christianity by force.

The story on the web site said that area believers attempted to see Tulsi but were refused permission. They were told that police needed to talk to RSS leaders before granting any visits to see Tulsi, as they feared trouble from members of the militant Hindu sect.

According to www.persecution.in Tulsi was made to forced to sign his name on blank pieces of paper. That, the story said, would enable either the police or the Hindu radicals to say he was engaging in forced conversions.

Tulsi was apparently told that if he renounces his faith he would be immediately released, but he refused.

The writer of the story asked that people pray for Tulsi.

Intolerant Hindus Attack Easter Services in India

Assaults on two churches mar celebrations in Karnataka state.
by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists stormed two Easter Sunday services and beat at least 16 Christians, including two pastors, in the Karnataka state capital of Bangalore and in Shimoga district.

A mob of more than 150 intolerant Hindus on Sunday (March 23) launched an attack on a Pentecostal church in Karnataka’s Shimoga district at 9 a.m., and a group of more than a dozen assailants struck Christians of an independent church in Byapanahalli on the suburbs of Bangalore at 11:45 a.m., reported the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

“About 150 Hindutva radicals armed with sticks stormed the Indian Pentecostal Church in Gundlikoppa village, around 20 kilometers from Shimoga district headquarters, while the believers were attending the Easter service,” Dr. Sajan K. George, GCIC’s national president, told Compass.

Accusing the church of “forced” conversions without any evidence for the charge, the attackers beat 35-year-old pastor Mandya Nagraj and five others, besides vandalizing church property, George added. The assailants damaged the roof and musical instruments.

Pastor Nagraj had received a threat a week earlier, added George.

Police arrested six of the attackers and provided protection to the pastor after GCIC’s intervention. The Pentecostal church, attended by around 60 Christians, has been functioning for six years with no evidence of attempting to convert people by force or fraud.

Girl Beaten

In the second attack, George said at least 12 extremists led by the Hindu priest of a local temple and his associate, identified only as Puttappa, attacked the Grace Almighty Full Gospel Church in Byapanahalli in Bangalore.

The assailants beat 30-year-old pastor P. Isaac and nine believers, including a 17-year-old girl identified only as Jency. The girl was rushed to a hospital for first-aid.

Following the attack, the assailants went to the homes of a few believers and warned them against attending the church. They also took Pastor Isaac to the police station and sought to register a complaint against him for “forced” conversions. Police interrogated the pastor and subsequently released him.

But police brokered a “compromise” between the attackers and the pastor requiring him to leave the area.

The independent church was established around seven years ago, and has more than 60 members.

Karnataka came under the President’s rule on November 20 last year, when the ruling coalition comprising the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) party and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) broke up. Legislative elections are expected to be announced soon.

Christian persecution rose to new heights in the state after the BJP and JD-S came to power in February 2006.

There are a little more than 1 million Christians in Karnataka, which is home to over 52.8 million people.

Holiday Attacks

Attacks on Christian holidays are becoming increasingly common in India.

Hindutva extremists beat two pastors of Believers’ Church on Easter last year (April 8) in Salwa village in Madhya Pradesh state’s Mandla district. They arrived at the house of the pastors, Dinesh Toppo and Chandan Chhinchani, to launch the assault.

Similarly, on Christmas Eve of 2007, Hindutva extremists led a series of violent attacks on Christians and their property in Orissa state’s Kandhamal district.

The attacks, lasting more than a week, killed six Christians and razed at least 730 houses and 95 churches, according to a fact-finding team of the All India Christian Council’s Orissa chapter. Hundreds of displaced Christians remained in relief camps set up by the Orissa government at press time. (See Compass Direct News, “Two More Victims of Violence Succumb to Injuries in Orissa,” February 20.)

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) told BosNewsLife that the Hindu militants were part of an angry mob of some 100 people who last week attacked the nuns near their St. Mary convent in Alibag, just outside Mumbai.

One of the two victims, identified only as Sister Mercy, returned two the convent after spending five days at Alibag Civil Hospital, but she struggles to overcome the trauma of the sexual abuse, the well-informed GCIC said. "I told them, 'kill me, don't leave me half-dead, if you must, then kill me'," she recalled in remarks published by GCIC. "They pushed me against the wire, and hit me, then threw me to the ground," she reportedly said.

It came on the heels of a report detailing 142 religiously-motivated attacks on Christian targets in 2007, although it acknowledged the real total may be "much higher." The report, issued by Britain-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), specifically cited deadly clashes in India's Orissa State over the Christmas period of 2007, described by rights watchers as the "largest attack on the Christian community in the history of democratic India."

Human Rights group releases report on anti-Christian violence in 2007 as UN Special Rapporteur warns of rising communal divisions in India

dimanche 23 mars 2008 By Michael Ireland

A report documenting the high rate of religiously-motivated violence against Christians in India during 2007 has been released by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The report was released as the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief concluded her 17-day visit to India.

At a press conference in New Delhi last week, UN Rapporteur, Asma Jahangir, warned that communal divisions seem to have increased in India during the past decade and called on the Indian government to address this growing problem.

CSW’s report provides details of 142 religiously-motivated attacks on Christian targets in 2007, although it acknowledges that the real total may be much higher. It also provides a summary and analysis of the outbreak of severe communal violence, predominantly against Christians, in Orissa over the Christmas period. This episode was described by CSW partners, the All India Christian Council (AICC) as « the largest attack on the Christian community in the history of democratic India. » The highest recorded rate of separate incidents was in Karnataka state.

The report links the anti-Christian violence to an « anti-conversion culture, » rooted in the extremist Hindu nationalist ideology of Hindutva. This culture is also reflected in anti-conversion laws, currently in force in four states and on the statute books in three states. A new anti-conversion bill is due to be discussed in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly today.

The report criticizes pervasive police inaction or complicity with regard to anti-Christian violence, especially in the states of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. In some cases, police arrested the Christian victims of attacks instead of their assailants, and a number of attacks on Christians by police officers were also recorded.

The report also highlights that religious freedom for Dalits is damaged by the religious conditionality attached to eligibility for the affirmative action-style system of ‘reservations’ designed to address the social exclusion of Dalits. Those who adopt Christianity or Islam lose their eligibility for these rights.

A copy of the report can be found at : http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.a...

CSW Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas, said : “India has one of the worst rates of anti-Christian violence anywhere in the world. We urge the Indian government to take seriously the warning of the UN Special Rapporteur and to address both the activities of Hindu extremists in attacking and inciting hatred against Christians, and the prevailing culture of impunity for the perpetrators of these attacks. We further call for the repeal of all anti-conversion laws and for the extension of equal rights to Dalit Christians and Muslims.”

CSW is a human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.

For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045, email pennyhollings csw.org.uk or visit interro_liens_callback .

Attack on Bar by Hindu extremists widely condemned in IHK

Srinagar, March 19 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, the assault on Kashmiri lawyers by a mob of Hindu extremists outside Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu has triggered severe condemnation from various political, religious, and social organizations. The lawyers on Monday had gone to visit detainees on the orders of High Court to see if they needed any legal help.

The All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), while condemning the attack, termed it a vain attempt by Hindu fanatics to put a cover on the atrocities and excesses being perpetrated on the Kashmiri detainees languishing in different jails of Jammu and India.

“The attack on lawyers cannot be termed as an aberration as the Hindu extremists have attacked various pro-movement leaders in the past,” said the APHC spokesman. He flayed the puppet administration for not taking any action against the assailants, adding, “The authorities have demonstrated state terrorism albeit in a different form.”

Senior Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani termed the act of Hindu Chauvinists as fascism. “The attack on lawyers reflects the extent of danger to the life of Kashmiri prisoners in jails,” said Gilani. He appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross to take serious notice of it and play its role in getting the detainees shifted to Valley to ensure security to their life.

The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) termed the attack a vile tactic by the superintendent Kot Bhalwal Jail. The JKLF has warned of serious consequences if the assailants were not arrested and brought to justice and appealed to all the Muslim and democratic countries to exert pressure on India to stop atrocities on people in occupied Kashmir.

Comdemning the attack, the patron of Jammu Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi, Muhammad Azam Inqalabi said that such Hindu extremists had massacred lakhs of Muslims in Jammu in 1947.

The Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) at a meeting held at its head office in Srinagar and presided over by its chairman Zaffar Akbar Bhat strongly condemned the attack on lawyers. “This attack on lawyers has proved it beyond any doubt that the Hindu chauvinists enjoyed the patronage and support of the administration and police in Jammu, Zaffar said.

The Secretary General of the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League termed the attack a handiwork of Indian secret agencies and added that the attack had debunked India’s claims of being a democratic country.

Attacks on Christians Continue

Christians Forced to 'Reconvert' in Himachal Pradesh by RSS Fanatics,

3/4/08 New Delhi (International Christian Concern) - Reports of Christians being forced to convert back to Hinduism from the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, where an "anti-conversion" law was recently passed that prohibits forcible conversion. Nevertheless, the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came into power two months ago, does not appear to see any problem with forcible "reconversions" of Christians to Hinduism.

At least 60 Christian families were reportedly "reconverted" by organizations linked to the BJP in the last week alone, which, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), is the tip of the iceberg.

The EFI said in a statement that one Pastor Ram Lal and his wife were reconverted in a ceremony organized by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) on February 27 in the Rampur area of Shimla district.

The extremists first tried to induce Pastor Lal by offering Rs.15,000 ($400) a year in exchange for preaching Hinduism, instead of Christianity. But after he refused to do so, they threatened to kill him or put him behind bars by lodging a false complaint. Under duress, he finally underwent a ritual to convert to Hinduism.

"It is better for me to die than to leave Jesus. But I was under so much pressure," the release quoted Pastor Lal as saying to the Christian Legal Association (CLA).

Pastor Lal's "reconversion" came just days after over 60 families were "reconverted" to Hinduism at a ceremony in the Satyanarayan Temple in Rampur, and one day before RSS and VHP extremists approached other Christians, asking them to install idols of Hindu gods in their homes. But, these families did not heed their demands, and as a result the extremists "reconverted" them forcibly, said the release.

The atmosphere in Rampur area was "very tense" at press time.

From Deception to Force

Extremist groups started a reconversion drive in Himachal Pradesh about a year ago. However, what began as a deceptive movement last February under rule of the Congress party has now turned overtly forceful with the BJP's coming to power late last December.

In March 2007, a fact-finding team of the All India Christian Council (AICC) recorded testimonies of Dalit families who said they were made to sign papers not knowing that the papers were documents requesting "reconversion" to Hinduism in Sirmaur district on March 21, 2007, according to a report in Hindi language daily Punjab Kesari.

Prior to the reconversion drive, the extremists launched a virulent anti-Christian campaign to suggest that missionaries were alluring poor Hindus to Christianity. In 2005, the local edition of a Hindi language daily, Dainik Jagran, carried a series of articles highlighting allegations made by extremists against Christians, as highlighted in ICC's press release on May 15, 2007 (Deceitful Propaganda Led to Himachal Pradesh Anti-Conversion Law).

Law that Bans Forced Conversion Doesn't Prohibit Forced Reconversion?

Himachal Pradesh has a special law banning conversion by the use of "force, inducement or fraudulent means." But the law excludes "reconversions" implicitly by stating that a conversion by unfair means shall not be recognized as such. Extremist groups, who are linked to the governing party, assert that Christian organizations give financial benefits for conversions, and thus conversions to Christianity do not count as true conversions.

The anti-conversion law was passed by the Congress party, which claims to respect religious freedom. However, in the face of the December 2007 elections which Congress was afraid of losing to the radical BJP, the party switched positions on the issue of conversion to try to win back votes. The BJP still defeated the Congress.

Despite the hypocrisy of the "anti-conversion" laws, there are sections in the Indian Penal Code concerning hurting religious feelings and creating animosity among religious denominations that could be applied against the forced reconversions. However, the police, under pressure from the government, hesitate to file cases against extremist groups linked to the ruling party.

"Complaints are filed only against Christian preachers, and that without evidence of conversion by unfair means, but no action is taken against the Hindu extremists who openly force Christians to convert. What would you call it, if not hypocrisy?" asked Tehmina Arora, general secretary of the CLA.

There are less than 8,000 Christians in Himachal Pradesh, according to the Government of India's figures.


http://www.persecution.org/suffering/ICCnews/newsdetail.php?newscode=7294&title=christians-forced-to--reconvert--in-himachal-pradesh--despite-new-anti-conversion-law