Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - The Indian police has proved beyond doubt that accusations against the Christians were totally false, a pretext to launch a massive attack that provoked the massacres in the states of Orissa and Karnataka in 2008. Therefore, we ask the Indian Christians, "movements such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), responsible for the violence, must make a public apology, and must remain under the close supervision of law enforcement, to prevent new attacks. The ecumenical organization "Global Council of Indian Christians," reveals to Fides, the vicious mechanism at the root of anti-Christian violence: spreading false accusations and then provoking violence.
In the case of the massacres in Orissa, the faithful were unjustly accused of killing the radical Hindu leader (belonging to the VHP) Laxmanananda Saraswati. Hence the anti-Christian violence that led to mass murder of over 100 loyal and looting of homes and Christian churches. But today the police claims to have collected unquestionable evidence that those responsible are the maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda and six accomplices, so the accusations will only serve to light the spark of an operation planned with the taste of "ethnic cleansing".
Even the persecution in Karnataka, in the same year, was organized using the same anti-Christian sentiments, instigated by false accusations. Now, observes the GCIC, there is a risk that the culprits remain unpunished: as for example the case of the two men who raped Sister Meena Behra, the Catholic religious raped in Kandhamal (Orissa), who were released on bail. "Christians have lost confidence in local police forces, and have proven to be accomplices of the attackers, witnessing violence without intervening," notes the GCIC, requesting that the trial of the two guilty is held out of Orissa, in a court that can actually guarantee impartiality. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 05/11/2011)
