India update 10-07-08

Kandhmal: Christians unwilling to return home
7 Oct 2008, 0316 hrs IST, Anand Soondas,TNN
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RAIKIA (KANDHMAL): A huge question mark is now hovering over when the thousands of Christian refugees, cowering after a bloody purge, will be psyc


A relief camp in Kandhmal. (TOI Photo)
More Pictureshologically ready to leave the relief camps and head home. As a TOI team visited shelters put up by the administration and NGOs in the districts hit by violence — Kandhmal, G Udayagiri, Raikia, and Nuagam — it looks as if it would take a long time before broken families and homes are able to gather courage to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives. "They came in a large group, too many to count," said Asha Lata Naik on Monday, clutching her six-month-old child at the Vijaya High School relief camp for homeless christians of Raikia and adjoining villages. "Then two of them raised their swords high and brought it down on my husband's head. He bled to death in front of me. He had been working hard to save money so that he could celebrate our child's first birthday. Tell me how will I go home." Fear is so pervasive here that one can almost touch it. In fact, there is such terror that Christians say they will try to remain in the relief sites for as long as they can. At the camps, where CRPF jawans have their eyes on every group and where headcounts are maintained with regimental discipline, the Christians take small breaks of an hour each in the morning and in the evening for their ablutions. Then they return to their dingy, stinking cluster of tents in obedient, single files. After that they look around to ensure friends and family too have returned. There is panic if someone is missing. There is another woman, Kanakha Rekha Naik, whose husband was killed in the presence of their two children, six and three. "Parikhit (her husband) begged them that we be spared. But he wasn't. He was hacked to pieces. I spent three days in the jungles before I heard of this relief camp." Ironically, Parikhit's elder brother, Vinayak Naik, is a CRPF officer entrusted with the protection of people's lives. "But look at me," he said. "I've never been so much at the mercy of people. We lived in a joint family, so my house is gone, too. I can't leave them alone and have extended my leave indefinitely. I am a soldier but I am afraid to be alone now. We are better off here." If Asha Lata and Kanakha have lost their husbands, Christo Das Naik, 60, lost his wife. At the G Udayagiri camp, where inmates said there were around 6,000 of them, the old man said: "They killed my wife, Ramoni. Around 1,500 people came to my village, Rudangiya, and attacked us — burning our houses. My wife couldn't escape though my son did. I will not leave until he returns. I have nowhere to go until then." There are whispers about his son that Christo Das wouldn't want to hear. A CRPF officer at a Nuagam relief camp said there is simmering anger regarding the abysmal conditions there. "These people have always been independent and dwelled in the forests like they owned them. But they don't have an option. Most feel they will get killed if they go home," he said. The government says things are under control and the refugees are returning to their villages. Home secretary T K Mishra said on Sunday that "situation is normal" and that nearly "10,000 of the around 23,000 villagers taking shelter in relief camps have returned home". There is no sign of it, though. The Christian houses remain broken, with no trace of human life in any of the deserted hamlets. The only thing that moves is the saffron flag planted atop some of the broken roofs.

Tue, 07/10/2008 - 7:38am Blame game over seer death Hindu radical outfits try to divert attention
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 6: As the CID crime branch investigation into the death of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati progresses at a snail’s pace, Naxalites and stung by the outbursts against VHP and others for their role in the murder and rape against Christians Hindu outfits have begun a blame game with their conflicting versions of the “truth”.On Sunday, top CPI(Maoist) leader Sabyasachi Panda on behalf of the group, claimed responsibility for the swami’s murder.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Tue, 07/10/2008 - 7:16am BJP favours anti-conversion law in Karnataka:‘Reign of terror’ in Dalit locality in Rajasthan ruled by BJP
DH News Service, New Delhi:Demanding anti-conversion law in Karnataka, the BJP on Monday charged the UPA government with not helping out Karnataka and Orissa to deal with the problem of “social, ethnic conflicts and conversions” in the two states.Accusing the central government of “adding fuel to the fire for short sighted political mileage”, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu also blamed some of the constituents of the UPA dispensation of making “irresponsible statements” and creating “further social unrest”.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, North India
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Mon, 06/10/2008 - 5:03pm Fanatical Mob Mistook Victim For Christian
Sandeep MishraBhubaneswar: The Orissa government, already under fire for neglecting to rein in communal violence, faced further embarrassment on Saturday following revelations that a Hindu girl had been brutally raped and burnt alive by fanatics belonging to the community who presumed that she was a Christian. The girl lived in a church-run orphanage. The incident reportedly took place in Bargarh district on August 25.The state government, drawing severe flak for reacting late to the nun rape case in Kandhamal, today admitted that two more rape-related cases had been reported from the same district.“A complaint about rape of a 22-year-old has been lodged at Tikabali police station recently. A case (No. 149/2008) has been registered and one person has been arrested in this connection,” state home secretary T.K. Mishra told reporters here.The attempt to rape case had been lodged in Phulbani Sadar police station, said the home secretary, adding that a case had been registered and investigation was on
A Christian priest claimed that Rajani Majhi, who was burnt alive during the mob violence at Padampur, had been gangraped before she was killed. The revelation, which has come just a day after the state government confirmed the rape of a nun in Kandhmal, was rubbished by the police.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India