Sikhs March Against RSS Attacks / Genocide agianst Christains in Orissa

March against attacks on Christians

Posted in: Asia
By TNS | Sep 16, 2008 - 10:37:53 PM

Chandigarh, September 16: SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann today participated in a candlelit vigil organised by the National Christian League, Chandigarh, expressing solidarity with the minority community in the wake of communal attacks on Christians in Orissa.

Around 200 protesters held the march near parade ground in Sector 17 here this afternoon. Mann led the march.

He said: “The police acted as mere spectators to the accesses being committed on the Christians for six months and instead of helping them, they abetted the violence and never intervened to save the hapless Christians and their institutions.”

They handed over a memorandum to Punjab Governor Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) highlighting the plight of the Christian community in Orissa and demanded immediate suspension of chief secretary, home secretary and director general of police, Orissa.

“The Christians have been chased and hunted like animals, nuns raped, priests and religious workers injured in hundreds. Over 40 churches have been destroyed, as we gather data from the victims and the kin of the dead,” stated league president Jagdish Masih.

“The perpetrator of violence is the Sangh Parivar and its component elements — the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal, the Vanvasi Kalyan Sangh and groups connected to the VHP”, Masih alleged.

They also insisted that the CBI should investigate the incidents and Kandhmal district of Orissa be handed over to the Indian Army.

Compensation must also be given to the next of kin of those killed and the churches should be rebuilt.

They demanded the setting up of a fast-track criminal court to try those found guilty of violence.