11/01/2008
Recent violence, in which churches have been burnt and several Christians killed in the Indian state of Orissa, has been denounced by BMS World Mission and representation has been made to the state’s highest office.
BMS Director for Mission, David Kerrigan, has contacted the office of Naveen Patnaik, Orissa’s chief minister, to express grave concern for the welfare of Orissa’s Christians, following attacks on Christian communities over the Christmas period.
“Mr Patnaik was already meeting with Christian leaders in the area,” said Rev Kerrigan, “but when I asked what steps had been taken to safeguard the lives and property of Christians in his state, I was assured that significant action had already been taken”. According to the chief minister’s office, two local government officials have been removed from their roles in affected areas and the chief of police has been given orders to be proactive in preventing further violence.
Official statistics put the death-toll resulting from the riots at three, but BMS contacts in Orissa are estimating a much higher toll – possibly running to hundreds of people. A report by Catholic Bishop, PK Samantaroy of Amritsar, who visited the worst-affected areas shortly after the violence, says that most areas are deserted as Christians are still in hiding, which will make accurate figures hard to come by until a degree of normality returns.
The report also suggests that the violence over Christmas happened with the full knowledge of local police and government.
According to the Bishop’s report, local believers told a Christian delegation how they had to run for their lives as a crowd of thousands of Hindu fundamentalists rushed towards a church in Barakhama.They also described how attackers not only set fire to churches and Christian homes, but also plundered them of all valuable goods.
In Balliguda, statues of Jesus had been broken and burnt, along with communion vessels at the front of one Catholic church and at a convent hospital an ambulance was set alight and a gas cylinder was tossed inside it.
According to BMS contacts on the ground, much of the violence seems to have taken place with the full knowledge of police in affected areas and police are refusing to accept eyewitness reports from Christians. An estimated 64 church buildings have been destroyed along with over 440 houses and over 100 shops, offices and other buildings.
Official government aid has been called “grossly inadequate” in a report by a local barrister, in some cases consisting of one thin blanket for a family of six.
BMS is waiting to see how best we can help our historic partners in Orissa,” says David Kerrigan.
“We are currently evaluating possible relief grants but would ask British Christians to pray for believers in Orissa at this time.”