Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mysore (Agenzia Fides) – New episodes of violence against Christians emerge in the State of Karnataka (south-east India): a Catholic cemetery in Mysore was vandalised and meanwhile two evangelical Pastors were arrested by police in the district of Tumkur, accused of carrying out “forced conversions”.
On 10 March, says the local Church, the Catholic cemetery at the parish of the Infant Jesus in Pushpagiri, Mysore, was the object of vandalism: a statue of Christ was destroyed as were several tombs. According to initial investigations, the perpetrators may well be drunks and disorderly. However, there is concern and perception by the community that this is yet another example of the climate of intolerance.
In another episode in the district of Tumkur several days earlier, the police arrested two evangelical Pastors accused by extremists of carrying out “forced conversions”. The militants stormed a church and plundered it, taking away Bibles and Christian books. Later, the same militants warned the local police, denouncing the alleged “illegal conversions” and the agents arrested two Pastors.
For weeks Karnataka has been at the centre of attention of public opinion and in the news for the debate on the lack of recognition of the attacks against Christians which occurred in 2008 (see Fides 28/2/2011). Local Christian leaders and the faithful of all denominations continue to state that the violence has not stopped but continued much to the indifference (or even complicity) of civil institutions, governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, supporter of Hindu extremist groups (see Fides 10/3/2011). (PA) (Agenzia Fides 12/3/2011)
