CNN (04.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (05.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net C The Indonesian government is considering imposing a state of emergency in Sulawesi as fierce clashes between Muslims and Christians spark fears of widespread religious violence.
Authorities plan to dispatch 2,000 extra soldiers and police to the restive province.
On Monday, police shot to death a rioter and wounded five others after a Muslim mob staged an attack on a church in Poso, the Associated Press reported.
More than 1,000 people have been killed on the island, about 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta, in the past two years with ethnic fighting flaring up in the last few weeks.
Top military and police officials are scheduled to visit the region this week in order to assess the situation.
Security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quoted by The Jakarta Post newspaper as saying the government would decide after their return from Sulawesi whether it would declare a state of civil emergency around Poso.
The area around Poso, where similar numbers of Muslims and Christians live, has been relatively quiet for months until recently when the largest church in the town was bombed.
At least eight people have been killed in the past week but there are concerns the death toll could escalate rapidly if the violence is not contained.
Many villagers were fleeing the town of Tentena or making preparations for the onslaught from Muslim militiamen who are believed to be members of the extremist Laskar Jihad group.
'Links to bin Laden'
A report from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said that Laskar Jihad members manned road blocks near the predominantly Christian town of Tentena and were flying flags depicting Osama bin Laden as their leader.
The group has been accused of invoking the latest violence in Sulawesi and some of its commanders are believed to have received training in Afghanistan.
The Indonesian government is preparing to send in thousands of troops in an effort to quell the violence and stabilize the area.
Thousands of Muslims and Christians have fled several towns and sought refuge in police stations, churches and military barracks, local news reports said.
Asmara Nababan, a member of the government's National Human Rights Commission, said the situation in central Sulawesi was quickly deteriorating and that violence was continuing despite patrols by soldiers.
"The situation is critical," Nababan told the Associated Press news agency. "We are afraid that there is going to be a lot of violence."
Nababan said Tentena was surrounded by Muslim fighters, who were threatening to attack any time.
Nababan said three human rights investigators were dispatched to the region on Monday to investigate why the "police and military seemed unable to stop the conflict."
Earlier this year in the province of Central Kalimantan, around 500 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced after ethnic clashes between native Dayaks and Madurese.
Attacks on Christians in India on the rise
Violence by Hindu extremists a way of life under the ruling BJP
Zenit (01.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (03.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Christians continue to face frequent harassment and hostility in India, a country that is 81% Hindu and only 2.3% Christian.
Many international human rights organizations have expressed their concern about the lack of respect for Christians in India. Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2001, noted that attacks against Christians have increased significantly since the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) came to power in March 1998.
In the first half of last year, over 35 anti-Christian attacks had been reported throughout the country, with the states of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh -- both under BJP control -- particularly hard hit.
In October, International Christian Concern reported that Christians continue to be persecuted by radical Hindu groups, who accuse them of converting people through bribes and coercion.
The group gave details on some extremist organizations behind the anti-Christian hostilities.
--Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- the "National Volunteer Corp": a nationalist Hindu party which espouses a return to Hindu values and cultural norms. The group was responsible for the murder of Mahatma Ghandi.
--Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP): a Hindu religious organization affiliated with the RSS. On Sept. 30, 1998, the secretary of the VHP warned Christian missionaries to get out of India. In December 1998 the VHP announced that it would launch a campaign to stop missionaries from converting Hindus to Christianity.
--Bajrang Dal: a militant Hindu youth organization which boasts about half a million members, many of whom receive military training.
--Sangh Parivar: the extreme fanatical group that murdered missionary Graham Staines and his sons. It controls much of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh states.
There have been some attempts to resolve the differences between Christians and Hindus. On Sept. 1 the Times of India reported on encounters that have taken place between the RSS and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. The two met in Nagpur on Aug. 22, and further talks were scheduled.
Opinion is divided over whether the meetings will produce any positive results. The president of the Ecumenical Study and Dialogue Center, Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius, and the president of Dr. Paulose Mar Paulose Memorial Trust, Ninan Koshy, said the church leaders would be deceiving themselves if they thought that the RSS will change its ideology.
Bishop Mar Thoma Mathew II, Catholicos of the East, and Bishop Sam Matthew, chairman of the Kerala Council of Churches, have assured their support for the talks.
But attempts to lessen tensions between Christians and the RSS took a turn for the worse when RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan called on Muslims and Christians to reinterpret their scriptures and change their leadership.
The Catholic bishops' conference expressed "shock and surprise" at the statement made by Sudarshan in Nagpur, according to the Oct. 31 online edition of The Hindu.
The Church was also offended by Sudarshan's observation that the leadership of the Christian and Muslim communities has remained in the hands of "conflict-mongers." In the opinion of the bishops' conference secretary-general, Archbishop Oswald Gracias, these observations only strengthen the hands of forces opposed to dialogue.
The bishops' conference has also expressed its apprehension over Sudarshan's reported call to RSS cadres to "arm themselves against any threats."
Police complicity
A Hindustan Times report published Nov. 1 quoted a source from the Indian Minorities Commission on the situation concerning attacks against Christians.
Figures provided to the Minorities Commission by various state police departments indicate that the number of officially recorded attacks on Christians and Christian institutions rose sharply from 27 in 1997 to 86 the following year, 120 in 1999 and 216 in 2000. During the first three months of this year, 37 incidents were reported.
During 1997 and 1998, five individuals died on account of such incidents. The number of fatalities went up to 12 and 13, respectively, in the next two years. The number of those injured rose from 45 in 1998, to 91 and 132 in the next two years.
One recent attack took place in Puthkel, in the Bijapur district of the newly created state of Chhattisgarh. Leftist extremists killed a priest who participated in a mass awareness program against them, Reuters reported Oct. 13.
Another attack took place when around 100 activists of a Hindu fundamentalist group attacked the Philadelphia Church in Tichakiya village in Madhya Pradesh on Oct. 29 and demolished it, according to a SAR news report Nov. 17.
Samson Christian, a National Executive member of the All India Christian Council, wrote a letter to the president of India after the incident in which he reported that police authorities had refused to register a complaint against the attackers. He said that Pastor Bachubhai Vikabhai Bhuria, who works with about 150 Christian families of the village, approached the police, but they instead supported the Hindu attackers.
Secret surveys
Christians are also concerned about surveys being conducted by the police in the state of Gujarat. According to the Hindustan Times on Nov. 24, the police have again begun a clandestine survey of Christians, their assets and their funds.
In 1999 the High Court admonished the police over a similar move, so this time the orders for the survey were issued orally to the police stations. The Christian community became aware of the activity by authorities after the police went to various churches and sought information on priests and other details. Local Christian leaders told all churches and institutions not to divulge any information.
"The motive behind the survey could be to prepare a database on Christians and hand it over to Hindu fundamentalists," said All India Christian Council National Executive member Samson Christian.
Police sources insisted the survey was undertaken to provide security to the community during the Christmas festivities. Yet other communities were not required to furnish such information, Christians note.
Suspicions about the government's religious bias were confirmed in August when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made anti-Christian remarks to a meeting of Hindu extremists.
The prime minister presided a book release Aug. 15 in honor of the late Lakshman Madhav Inamdar, a distinguished volunteer of the RSS, according to the Christian agency Compass Direct in its September bulletin. The author of the book, Narendra Modi, is the ruling BJP's general secretary.
"There is a conversion motive behind the welfare activities being carried out by some Christian missionaries in the country's backward areas and it is not proper, though conversion is permissible under the law," Prime Minister Vajpayee said.
It is not surprising, noted Compass Direct, that the last 10 days of August saw unprecedented and unprovoked violence against Christian workers, even against helpless nuns in RSS-dominated areas.
The president of the country's Catholic bishops' conference, Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselius, said the prime minister's recent remarks "might have been borne out of his fear that Christianity posed a threat to Indian culture."
The archbishop added: "Christianity, especially Catholicism, posed no challenge or threat to Indian culture or ethos. On the contrary, it is an enriching factor. Over centuries, the Church has shown that it can coexist harmoniously with the Indian culture." Whether that coexistence continues remains to be seen.
Amendments end discriminatory law against
Christians in India
Zenit (25.11.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (26.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Catholic bishops' conference welcomed the Indian Cabinet's decision to make amendments to the Succession Act of 1925, which discriminated against Christians.
The Cabinet approved two amendments to the act, which the Christian community in India had long sought.
In a meeting with the Church delegation led by Archbishop Oswald Gracias, the conference's secretary-general, Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley discussed the discrepancies in the act introduced during the British rule.
Under the act, a Christian needed a probate court's approval before he or she could inherit an ancestral property, a process that often took years. The act also had a provision that allowed a husband's family to deny his widow her right to inherit her spouse's property.
"We are extremely pleased with the Cabinet decision to approve the said amendments, which the Christian community had long been waiting for," Archbishop Gracias said of the mid-November developments. "We hope that the amendment with regard to the law of adoption by Christians will also be enacted soon."
Indonesian Catholic Church compound under jihad militant attack
Prayer vigil in response to upsurge in violence brings Ambon city to a standstill
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (23.11.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (23.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net C Jihad militants and security forces have been fighting gun battles as the militants seek to control a Catholic diocesan training compound in Ambon city.
The complex, which is in the Karang Panjang area of the city in the Moluccas Islands, has been fought over in the past due to its position on a hill overlooking several Christian neighbourhoods.
The conflict has raged for the last week over the Catholic complex, as well as a disabled children's compound, according to Father B?hm of the Catholic Crisis Centre, a human rights information centre.
The strategically located Gonzalo Veloso compound overlooks several Christian neighbourhoods such as Belakang Soya and Batumeja and also allows easy access to surrounding Christian villages such as Soya.
The aims of the attack are reported to be to use the complex as a Jihad training centre and to use the strategic location of the compound to attack the surrounding Christian neighbourhoods.
Father B?hm added that if the complex fell into the hands of the militants, they would not only be able to attack the Christian areas but also to cut off the road to Soya village, the only escape route available for the Christians living in surrounding areas.
The Laskar Jihad's current training centre is situated close to the scene of the conflict.
Baroness Cox, CSW's President and a deputy speaker of the House of Lords, visited the scene of the attack in July 2001. She said: "We understand that the President Megawati and the Indonesian government are supportive of religious freedom and tolerance in Indonesia and are facing a sensitive internal situation.
"However, reconciliation efforts in the Moluccas have little chance of success if Laskar Jihad is allowed to continue its campaign of provoking violence between the Christian and Muslim communities. Delegations of both Muslims and Christians have approached the authorities to ask for their removal as a precondition to reconciliation."
In response to the renewed upsurge of violence, which flared up again at the beginning of November, Christians in Ambon have brought the city to a near standstill with a three-day prayer vigil, which began on November 20.
The prayer vigil, called Hari Perkabungan, meaning Days of Mourning, was organized in response to the escalating violence.
Thousands of people took part in the events, which included prayer gatherings at public offices, homes and churches.
Although people working in the hospital and security sectors were on duty, most other public and private offices were temporarily shut.
Leo Lohy, Deputy Chairman of the Maluku Protestant Church Synod told The Jakarta Post: "These prayers are a display of concern about all the violence that has taken place during a relatively calm period in Maluku. In this way we call on all people to assess themselves and completely put their fate in God's hands."
The Christian village of Waimulang in Buru was attacked on November 1 by Jihad militants who killed four villagers. More than a thousand residents and several hundred refugees managed to flee to the jungle, but their village was razed to the ground.
Since then, there have been a number of bombings and armed attacks on Ambon, including the bombing of an electrical appliance store on November 12, which left two people dead and about 20 wounded.
The recent violence is widely believed to the work of the militant Jihad organization, Laskar Jihad, which has about 3,000 militants in the Moluccas, including a number of foreign militia.
Jafar Umar Thalib, the leader of the organization, which is linked with international Jihad movements, visited the Moluccas region at the end of October.
He made a number of inflammatory speeches and called for the continuation of the violence against Christian communities, reportedly stating that the "war would not be over until Muslims could celebrate Idul Fitr [the feast at the end of Ramadan] in Kudamati, Passo, Saparua and other Christian locations". Since then, the violence has steadily escalated.
Indonesian military warns of forced adoption
of Islamic law
AFP (02.11.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (02.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Indonesia's military warned Friday against any "coercive attempts" by Islamic groups to force the national assembly to adopt a law obliging Muslims to adhere to strict Islamic law, or Sharia.
"We are opposed to any coercive attempts by any party. But if the process (of inclusion into the constitution) is democratic, we will accept it," armed forces spokesman, Air Vice Marshall Graito Usodo, told AFP.
Usodo said the military would comply with whatever decision the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) reached on whether to amend the constitution and require Muslims to follow Sharia, a puritanical interpretation of Islamic law.
"We leave the matter entirely to the MPR. They are in charge of it," he said.
The MPR, the nation's highest legislative body, began its annual 10-day session on Thursday, during which it is expected to set up a constitutional commission charged with amending the 1945 constitution.
A proposal to insert a clause, known as the 'Jakarta Chapter', that requires the country's mostly moderate 180 million Muslims to follow Sharia law is a key agenda item.
On Thursday hundreds of Muslim protestors rallied in front of the MPR complex calling for the inclusion of the Sharia clause.
They also demanded that legislators work on an anti-vice law.
Indonesia, although the world's most populous Muslim nation, has always been a secular state. About 85 percent of its population of 210 million are Muslim, with Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus making up the rest.
The state ideology Pancasila gives equal recognition to all monotheistic religions with the tenet "belief in one God".
Several Muslim parties, including the United Development Party led by Vice President Hamzah Haz, have been fighting for years to make Sharia an integral part of the constitution.
Indonesia's two largest Muslim organizations however have objected to the moves, as have the assembly's two largest parties, President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and the former ruling party Golkar.
Indian Christians form political party
It is the first time Christians have formed a party with the
Church's blessing
By Asit Jolly in Chandigarh
BBC (16.11.2001)/HRWF International Secretariat (21.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Christians in the north Indian state of Punjab, where Sikhs form the majority, have created their own political party, the Punjab Masihi Lok Dal.
Party chairman, Father Roby Kollenchery, said the party aimed to give Punjab's minority Christian population an independent voice through political representation.
It is the first time Christians have organised themselves into a political party with the blessings of the Church.
The party will contest the state legislative assembly elections which will be held in February next year.
Christians disillusioned
Party members said they were greatly disillusioned by Punjab's ruling coalition.
Father Kollenchery said the Vatican has withdrawn earlier restrictions on priests getting involved in politics, in view of the increasing attacks on Christians in India in recent years.
He said the Punjab Masihi Lok Dal party was the first Christian party to be constituted since the relaxation.
Besides Catholics, the party includes representatives from the Church of North India, the Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, Anglicans, the Salvation Army, and Pentecostals.
Election plans
The party plans to field candidates in all constituencies which have a substantial number of Christian voters.
In areas where there are fewer Christians, Father Kollenchery said the party will tie up with the Panthic Morcha, a joint front of Sikh groups opposed to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal party.
Analysts said the emergence of the new Christian party was particularly significant because the party has the blessings of churches of various denominations.
The move could go a long way to organising the largely poor Christian voters of Punjab.
Thousands convert to Buddhism in India
by Ashok Sharma
AP (04.11.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (06.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Defying police restrictions, thousands of low-caste Hindus on Sunday converted to Buddhism, shaking off centuries-old social shackles that condemn them to lives marked by discrimination.
Facing a bronze idol of Buddha flanked by monks in saffron-colored robes, new converts chanted religious hymns and lighted candles during a simple ceremony held in an open field in the Indian capital.
``We will no longer pray to Hindu gods and goddesses,'' they chanted.
``The message of Buddhism is that all human beings are equal,'' said Harish Khare, a 36-year-old government employee who traveled from the western state of Maharashtra to participate in the ceremony.
Nearly one-fourth of India's more than one billion people are low-caste Hindus or ``dalits.'' Also known as untouchables, they occupy the lowest rank in the caste system that is dominated by the once-priestly class of Brahmins.
India's constitution outlaws discrimination on the basis of caste. But age-old practices persist in rural areas, where untouchables often are barred from sharing public facilities or temples with upper-caste Hindus. Many low-caste Hindus have chosen to convert to other religions to protest continued exploitation by upper-caste Hindus.
Hindu activists closely allied to governing nationalists in the Bharatiya Janata Party have often opposed such conversions.
About 1 million Hindus from across India were expected to convert to Buddhism on Sunday, organizers said. But police on Saturday asked them to scale down the event or move it from the sprawling Ram Lila grounds in the heart of the city as a precaution against religious clashes.
An estimated 20,000 people converted on Sunday, but organizers said police prevented many more from participating by blocking roads leading to the venue.
``Police blocked more than 80 percent of one million people expected in New Delhi by stopping their buses in neighboring states,'' said Ram Raj, the chief organizer who was among those converted.
Raj heads the All India Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Organizations, which aims to help low-caste Hindus and untouchable. He shaved his head for the conversion, which he described as his rebirth.
Mob burns church in Indonesia's Sumatra island
AFP (17.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (22.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - A mob ransacked and torched a church in the south of Indonesia's Sumatra island, a report said Wednesday.
About a dozen men attacked the small church at Kampung Tanjung in Lampung province early Monday, the Media Indonesia daily said.
They ransacked it and stole clothes and jewels belonging to the churchwarden before setting it alight, the paper said.
Local police could not immediately be reached for confirmation.
The paper said the motive for the attack was being investigated. The attackers were believed to have come from the area.
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-populated nation with over 80 percent of its more than 210 million people following Islam.
The state, however, provides equal footing for the five religions it recognizes -- Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
In September, 23 houses and at least one church were torched in an attack by a 200-strong mob on a village in Indonesia's West Java province.
Sikhs protest religious book burning in Northern India
AP (06.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (09.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Police said thousands of Sikhs blocked highways and shut down schools, shops and businesses across northern Punjab state on Saturday, protesting the burning of copies of their religious book.
The protesters didn't allow any intercity bus to enter the state capital, Chandigarh, for nearly six hours.
Most shops near the Golden Temple, the Sikh community's holiest shrine, in northern Amritsar city downed their shutters. Hundreds of policemen took positions to avoid any violence.
Sikh leaders, including Jagdev Singh Talwandi, demanded the arrest of Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara, a rival Sekh leader whom they accused of burning a dozen copies of the religious book, "Guru Granth Sahib," two weeks ago.
Talwandi is the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee, a religious body that runs Sikh shrines in India and abroad.
Bhaniara has annoyed the Sikh community by launching a rival sect and writing a religious book in Trakhan Majra, a village in Ropar district, 115 miles southeast of Amritsar, the Sikhs' sacred city.
Sikhs comprise less than 2 percent of India's more than 1 billion people.
Indonesia clerics threaten jihad
The statement will worry the government considerably
By BBC Jakarta correspondent Richard Galpin
BBC (25.09.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (26.09.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Indonesia's top Islamic organisation, the Council of Ulemas, has warned it will call for a jihad or holy war if the United States attacks Afghanistan.
The council called on Muslims worldwide to unite and mobilise against any US aggression in response to the suicide attacks in New York and Washington.
The call came in a strongly worded statement by the secretary-general of the council, which represents mainstream Islamic scholars and clerics across the country.
The statement condemned the recent suicide attacks, but criticised the arrogance of US plans to retaliate against Afghanistan.
Attack on Islam
The Council of Ulemas, a respected organisation which the government listens to, said any military strikes would be seen as an attack on Islam itself.
The statement follows warnings last week by radical Islamic organisations in Indonesia that they would attack US facilities in the country in the event of a military strike on Afghanistan.
Since then, there has been a series of small anti-American demonstrations in Jakarta, some outside the U.S. embassy.
The ambassador has called on the police to provide extra security for all American citizens and organisations.
Backlash
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri met President George W Bush in Washington last week, pledging to join the global coalition against terrorism.
But this latest statement by the Council of Ulemas will be particularly worrying for her government.
It is confident it can use the security forces to control any backlash from the radical fringe groups.
But if large numbers of ordinary Muslims take to the streets in response to a call from the Council of Ulemas, the situation could become much more volatile.
Interview with a Muslim professor of theology
By Mark Albrecht (World Evangelical Federation)
WEF (25.09.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (26.09.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation, with some 90% of its 210 million people identifying themselves as Muslim (*). In many ways, it also reflects the wide divergence of belief found within the Islamic world, which makes it an important case study in Muslim attitudes and opinion.
In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attack on the U.S., there has been a vigorous debate over the question of whether Islam is inherently militant, or if it is a largely peaceable religion that has itself been hijacked by extremists, terrorists and their sympathizers. Indonesia provides us with at least some partial answers.
In the past two years, there has been a fierce Muslim-Christian civil war in the Molucca Islands of northern Indonesia. A radical army of over 3,000 armed Muslim thugs called the Laskar Jihad was formed in 1999 and dispatched to the Moluccas to drive the Christians out. (Laskar Jihad is widely reported to have connections with the larger international Islamic terror networks.) Thousands have been killed in the war, including large numbers of Muslims. This civil conflict has affected Christian-Muslim relations throughout Indonesia, a huge nation of islands spreading across the equator between Southeast Asia and Australia.
However, this eruption of violence between Indonesia's Muslims and Christians is unprecedented in size and ferocity. While there has been sporadic religious violence in Indonesia over the years (such as church burnings), for the most part Christians and Muslims have gotten along quite well, often living peaceably in the same villages throughout the Moluccas and the main island of Java, as well as other population centers.
This tolerant attitude has generally been reflected by the government and official Islamic organizations. Today I talked with our chief Indonesian correspondent, a professor of theology (who prefers not to be identified because of the current crisis). I asked him about the situation in his country in light of the BBC story below, which says that the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) "which represents mainstream Islamic scholars and clerics across the country" has issued a statement warning that it will "call for a jihad or holy war if the United States attacks Afghanistan... The council called on Muslims worldwide to unite and mobilise against any US aggression in response to the suicide attacks in New York and Washington" (see the full text below).
(*) The official government figure has always been 90% Muslim, but most Christians agree that 80% is much more accurate, with 15% being Christian and the remaining 5% Hindu, Buddhist and animist.)
Question: The story from today's BBC titled "Indonesia clerics threaten jihad" would seem to represent a significant development in Indonesian Islam, and a break with most of the countries that have so far supported the United States. According to the story, a large group of mainstream Muslim clerics, the MUI, have issued a strong statement of radical opposition to the U.S., which could take the country in a much more extremist direction before any military conflict has even begun.
Answer: That would be true if the MUI were actually "mainstream Islamic scholars and clerics across the country" as the article says. In reality, the MUI is a relatively small Muslim organization with little popular following. They had strong ties to the old Suharto regime, which is why the press sometimes still thinks they are "mainstream."
In fact they are a very conservative right-wing group with extremist views, and would support the Laskar Jihad army in their armed fight against the Christians in the Moluccas. Just to give you an example of their mindset, several years ago they issued an order forbidding Indonesian Muslims from saying "Merry Christmas" to their Christian friends. This caused a great controversy and most Muslims disobeyed them and went out of their way to convey Christmas greetings to Christian friends and acquaintances.
Q: How would you characterize the overall attitude of Muslims in Indonesia concerning Christianity and religious pluralism?
A: The Indonesian constitution established the concept of "Pancasila," in which all Indonesians must have a religion. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism are the acceptable choices, but the old animistic mysticism that underlies Indonesian culture, especially in Java, is the real religion of most people, and so Indonesian Islam generally has a more mellow and tolerant demeanor than in the Middle East.
Q: When you say "more mellow and tolerant," what do you mean?
A: For example, most Indonesian Muslims would probably say that it is God's will that there is more than one religion, and that salvation is not exclusive to Islam. They would likely argue that Islam is the most refined and accurate religion, but that Muslims must live in peace with other religions. This is certainly the case in Java, where I live.
This is not just my opinion. These sentiments are actually part of the official teaching of the Nahdatul Ulama (NU), which is Indonesia's largest Islamic organization. The NU is headed by former president Wahid, who was just ousted, and has about 40 million members. The Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Muslim organization with 30 million members, is much more conservative, but also embraces this teaching.
Q: What causes this confusion and tension about Islam and its "true teachings?"
A: It's rather complex, but many think that much of it has to do with seemingly contradictory sentiments within the Koran itself. Islamic scholars often point to the chronologically earlier sections of the Koran as being more peaceable, but then there is a shift in mood in the later writings, thought to be from the time the Prophet Muhammad spent in Medina[where he became a political figure and his enemies began to oppose him
more vigorously]. In these "Medina writings" we see more combative and warlike statements. Of course this view is not universally accepted in Islam, and this is a topic of sharp debate among Muslims.
Indonesia's West Java hit by rioting
Kyodo News Service (19.09.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (19.09.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Rioting by Muslims in Indonesia's West Java in Monday left two Christian churches and dozens of houses burned down and caused 188 people to seek refuge, a local official said Wednesday.
The incident took place in Cipatujah district of the Tasikmalaya regency, according to district chief Iin Aminuddin.
Aminuddin said the mob burned 36 homes and two churches in the district, but no casualties were reported.
''The refugees are staying at a local sports hall and will be transferred to a school building later today,'' he said.
According to Aminuddin, the incident was triggered by distribution of leaflets reporting a past alleged incident in which a non-Muslim was said to have offended Muslims by putting Arabic characters on a tag for his dog.
Islam regards dogs as unclean, while Arabic is used by Muslims in Indonesia to study Islamic scriptures.
Tasikmalaya, located some 380 kilometers from Jakarta, is known as a stronghold of traditionalist Muslims.
The town was hit by major religious and ethnic unrest in December 1996 when widespread rioting was directed against Christians and Chinese-Indonesians, leaving several people dead and 12 churches burned down.
Almost 90% of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims.
Christian Converts Forced to Return to Hinduism in India
by Abhijeet Prabhu
Compass Direct (22.08.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (22.08.2001) C Website : http://www.hrwf.net C Email :info@hrwf.net - Nineteen villagers who recently embraced Christianity have been forced to re-convert to Hinduism in the Korua village of Kendrapada district in India's Orissa state after undergoing sustained social ostracism from their fellow villagers. They are also facing prosecution by the district administration for violating provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act OFRA).
At the re-conversion ceremony, which took place on the evening of July 26, the villagers were forced to undergo the ritual of "shuddhikaran"(cleansing ceremony) and to pay obeisance to the village deity. The villagers have also been ordered to visit the shrine of Puri to fulfill added rituals necessary for returning to the Hindu religion, official sources said.
While one of the converts earlier admitted that there was no other alternative but to return to Hinduism if they were to survive, others maintained that they took the step voluntarily with the help of their fellow villagers.
Meanwhile, the Kendrapara district administration has started preparing a prosecution report against the 19 converts on charges of violating provisions of the OFRA, which makes it mandatory for people who want to change their religion to inform the district magistrate, who will then have the matter examined by police.
While the police claim that the villagers failed to inform the authorities of their desire to convert to Christianity, the All India Christian Council (AICC) has maintained that the police were informed.
The AICC statement alleges that the police have used the Freedom of Religion Act selectively against the Christians but not against the Hindu fundamentalists who forced them to re-convert. Ironically, conversion from Christianity to Hinduism is exempted from the bill. The AICC has also accused the district administration of tacitly supporting the re-conversions.
In February, the Orissa police invoked the same act to prevent a family of six tribals from becoming Christians. The Rev. Rameswar Mundu, pastor of a local church, was asked by the police to desist from baptizing Karuna Singh and five members of his family in Jamabani village for allegedly not obtaining the required permit.
The re-conversion incident took place not far from the area where Australian missionary Graham Staines and his family ministered. Staines and his two sons were burned alive by Hindu extremists in January 1999.
Due to periodic delays, only 15 of the 117 witnesses have so far been examined in the murder trial of Dara Singh, the prime suspect in the Staines' murder. District Judge Mahendranath Patnaik, who is presiding over the case, says he cannot prevent the case from being delayed by "some pretext or the other." He adjourned the trial until September 3 after a lawyer for two of the accused said that they were sick, giving no explanation of their illnesses.
Earlier the judge had said that "no fake illnesses" would be tolerated when he postponed the case in July because of the defendant's illnesses.
However, when Prosecutor Sudhakar Rao urged the court to schedule more hearing days so the trial could continue speedily, the judge responded, "What can I do if the trial is not being allowed to proceed on some pretext or the other?"
Nun shot in face as threats to Indian Christians grow
A nun from Madya Pradesh has been shot in the face
at point blank range by four men believed to be militant Hindus
CSW (10.08.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (10.08.2001) C Website : http://www.hrwf.net C Email :info@hrwf.net - Leena Vellampuniyel, 30, who worked at Nirmala Hospital in the village of Chandera, is now in hospital in a critical condition after the shooting which happened on August 7.
he incident happened just a day after a priest was attacked in Thane near Bombay.
Father Mendonca was attacked by more than 40 activists believed to be from the Sangh Parivar militant group and suffered serious injuries.
The Sangh Parivar is the main militant Hindu group in India and activists from this group are suspected of being involved in the murders of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons in Orissa in January 1999.
These militant activists are believed to be behind an increasing number of incidents against Christians in India, including threats to orphanages, church groups and travelling evangelists.
The All India Christian Council (AICC) has urged Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to recognise these attacks as being not just isolated incidents, but part of a deliberate targeting of Christians.
Two recent bills introduced to the national Parliament have also caused concern not only to Christians, but also to Muslims in India.
The first, an anti-conversion bill, was introduced on July 27 by an MP from the militant Hindu party Shiv Sena.
If passed, this bill would make it easier for opponents of Christianity to accuse Christians of forcing people to change their faith from Hinduism.
The second bill, which is believed to be much more likely to be passed, is set to tighten up the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
This Act purports to control all foreign charitable donations, but in reality has been used to restrict Christian giving from abroad.
Christians fear a stronger bill will hamper aid and charity organisations yet further. A spokesman for the AICC said: This bill is without doubt aimed at cutting the social involvement of Christian groups among the weak and marginalized and thus reduce the impact of the gospel.
Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of CSW said: These horrific and violent incidents represent further proof that Christians are being singled out for mistreatment in India. If these two bills become law, life will become even harder for believers and give yet more power to militant Hindus.
CSW is calling on the Indian Government to clamp down on those who single out Christians for mistreatment and to reject any legislation which threatens the fundamental right, outlined in the Constitution of India, for the freedom of individuals to choose their own religion.
Hindu group says proselytisers can expect attacks
Reuters (10.08.2001) / HRWF International Secretariat (10.08.2001) C Website : http://www.hrwf.net C Email :info@hrwf.net - A militant Hindu group said on Friday recent attacks on Christian clerics and institutions in India were a reaction to conversions of Hindus, and warned that there would be more.
Police blamed two groups, including the Bajrang Dal, an organisation affiliated to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for an attack on a Catholic priest near Bombay earlier this week.
"Conversions are the root cause of violence," Milind Parande, National Co-Convener of Bajrang Dal, told reporters on Friday.
"If this continues there will be violence... they should expect it," he said, adding that the Bajrang Dal was not itself responsible for Monday's attack.
On the same day in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, a nun survived after being shot at point-blank range.
Christians, who account for just 2.3 percent of India's mainly-Hindu population of one billion, and Hindu revivalist groups have been at odds over the question of conversions in recent years.
Tension reached a peak in late 1998-early 1999 when prayer halls were torched in the BJP-ruled western state of Gujarat and an Australian missionary and his two young sons were burnt to death in their car in the eastern state of Orissa.
"The federal and state government should immediately stop conversions. The Hindu society will not take this lying down," Parande said.
Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Catholic Archbishop of Bombay, condemned the attack on the priest as "senseless and barbaric" and asked all Catholic Schools in the city's archdiocese to close on Monday as a mark of protest.
In a statement the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India quoted its secretary general, Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Agra, as saying the latest incidents were cause for serious concern.
"I was beginning to think that attacks on Christians were becoming a thing of the past, but these attacks on the same day in two different states have sent distressing signals to the Christian community in the country," he said.
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'Hit list' of Christian Evangelists on Hindu extremist website
by Abhijeet Prabhu
Compass Direct (09.07.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (10.07.2001) C Website : http://www.hrwf.net C Email :info@hrwf.net - A militant Hindu hate website displaying the names of international evangelists, secular and Christian scholars from India, and other "enemies of Hinduism" on its "hit-list" was back on-line after it was salvaged by a radical Jewish organization in Brooklyn, New York. The website calls on militant Hindus to commit violence against the men and women listed.
Earlier in June, its service provider, Addr.com of Greenwood Village, Colorado, had pulled the plug on "hinduunity.org" after receiving complaints that it instigated violence and hatred towards Muslims and Christians.
The Hatikva Jewish Identity Center intervened and helped put the website back on the Internet. The Hindu website is advertised as the official site of the Bajrang Dal, the militant wing of the Sangh Parivar (Pro-Hindu Family) whose members have been accused of the gruesome January 1999 killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons in India.
The website's hit-list page (hinduunity.org/hitlist.html) opens with an image of lynching and goes on to display a graphic of blood dripping below the caption, "Enemies of Hindutva Exposed."
It then lists well-known evangelists like Benny Hinn, who is described as "a Baptist evangelist who goes to countries around the world, especially those with large Hindu populations and preaches about 'the evil of Hindus and Hinduism.'" It goes on to exhort all self-respecting Hindu soldiers "to stop his gathering by all means possible."
Pat Robertson "cannot be forgiven nor can his speeches be forgotten. He is truly a devil out to destroy something as pure as Hinduism," the site says.
Even a highly respected secular Indian historian is not spared. Romila Thapar is mentioned for her "crime" of "distorting the true history of India."
Fr. Vincent Kunudukulam's "crime," according to the site, is his doctoral dissertation from Paris's Sorbonne University: "RSS -- Enthe? Engott?" . This priest from the St. Thomas Pontifical Seminary in Kerala is called "scum of the earth (who) needs an attitude adjustment."
The Jewish extremists who resurrected the site are followers of Rabbi David Kahane, the assassinated Israeli politician whose teachings advocated the expulsion of all Arabs from Israel, most of whom are Muslim. Their headquarters in Brooklyn was raided in January by the FBI. The Kahane Jews believe that all Jews belong in Israel, making any Jew in the United States a temporary resident.
Their website, "Kahane.org," also has hinduunity.org on its list of "Friendly Websites."
Meanwhile, there is growing concern over the alliance between the militant Hindus and radical Jews whose common hatred of Muslims bring them together. Some of the Hindus are reported to have marched alongside the radical Jews in the annual "Salute to Israel" parade on New York's Fifth Avenue in May. In June, the radical Jewish organization reciprocated by joining a protest outside the United Nations against the treatment of Hindus in Afghanistan.
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Ethnic insurgents massacre three Catholic priests
by Abhijeet Prabhu
Compass (17.05.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (18.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Three Salesian Catholic priests were gunned down on the night of May 15 in Ngarian, Manipur state, northeastern India, by ethnic separatist fighters who were demanding protection money from the Catholic school.
Official sources from the Catholic Bishop's Conference said that three armed militants drove into the Don Bosco Training Center at Ngarian, in Manipur's Thoubal district, between 8 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. The armed men called out the director, Father Pali Akara Raphael (43), and reportedly demanded protection money. Later, Father Andreas Kindo (31) and Brother Shinu Joseph Valliparampil (23) approached them, and gunshots were heard. When other inmates of the center arrived, the three Salesian priests were found lying dead in a pool of blood with multiple bullet injuries. The assailants, who fled the scene, are suspected of belonging to a local insurgency movement called the "People's Liberation Army." They are not connected to Hind extremists.
The tragedy comes at a critical time when Christians in northeastern India are being blamed by Hindu fundamentalist groups for supporting ethnic insurgency in the region. Countering this allegation, Archbishop Oswald Gracias, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, condemned the killings. Gracias said, "While Christians are being blamed by some for supporting insurgency in the northeast, the tragedy is that it is at the hands of the insurgents that Christian workers are being brutally murdered."
The militants had come to the school and asked for a dialogue with the head of the school, Father Raphael Paliakara, who went to the courtyard to speak with them, followed by two other priests. All three were shot dead at point blank range by AK 47 assault rifles, according to George Plathottam, a spokesman of the Catholic Church in northeastern India.
According to Manipur police, the outlawed People's Liberation Army had demanded Rs 500,000 (about U.S. $10,600) from all eight schools run by the Catholic Church in Imphal, the capital of Manipur. The militants had threatened to bomb these schools if they failed to pay them 'taxes.' Over the last 10 years, three Catholic priests, including two school principals, have been shot dead by insurgents, while two others survived assassination bids.
In February, rebels fired on Father Tomy Manjaly, parish priest and principal of the Catholic school at Canchipur, in Chandel district. He survived bullet wounds on his abdomen and is currently recovering at a hospital in Imphal.
A three-member delegation from the Catholic Church reportedly met some rebel leaders in April last year. They urged the rebels to exempt the Catholic schools from paying 'taxes' because the schools they run are non-profit institutions which are trying to educate all children in the state. "However, the rebels rejected their plea," said a church leader who requested anonymity.
The Catholic Church runs more than 80 educational institutions in Manipur,with an estimated 30,000 students on its rolls. Manipur has a population of two million; about 70,000 are Catholics. There are more evangelical Christians than Catholics in the state, and many evangelicals benefit from Catholic-run schools.
Meanwhile, in a statement on May 16, Archbishop Gracias appealed to the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Manipur Chief Minister to "come to the rescue of Christians" so that they could "carry on their work of love and service to humanity."
"Due to the increasing instances of kidnapping and demands for ransom money from the church institutions, the church authorities had earlier decided to close down all the church-run schools and not give in to terrorists' pressure," the statement added.
The People's Liberation Army established in 1978 is among 17 major guerrilla groups that are active in Manipur, a state that shares a border with Burma. Their stated objective is to organize a revolutionary front uniting all ethnic groups in northeastern India to liberate Manipur.
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Cathedral bombed by suspected Hindu militants
by Abhijeet Prabhu
Compass (11.05.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -- Crude bombs exploded on May 8 in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Francis in Muzaffarpur in India's northern Bihar state. Panicked congregants were forced to run for cover, but no injuries were reported.
Benedict J. Osta, Archbishop of Patna, said two blasts rocked the Catholic cathedral at around 7:20 in the evening. When a local priest rushed to find out what had happened, he saw smoke and smelled gun powder. A statue of the infant Jesus was broken and a Hindi-language Bible was lying on the floor with some of its pages torn. As the priest bent over to pick up some of the pages, two more thundering blasts occurred.
A threatening note found at the scene suggested the bombs were planted by Hindu extremists upset at the number of tribals becoming Christians in the neighboring district of Patna, church sources reported. Handwritten in Hindi in saffron-colored ink, the note said, "Stop conversions under the pretext of social service. India is a Hindu rashtra (nation). Christians leave India."
Police arrested two men, Dharmender Kumar and Santosh Kumar, for the church bombing. Director general of police, R.R. Prasad, said both are residents of Muzaffarpur. Their political connections are not known. All churches in Muzaffarpur have been brought under tight security.
Allen R. Johannes, press secretary to Archbishop Osta, said bombings have become a trend in the country against the Christians, but it was the first bombing in Bihar state.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Society) leader, Ashok Singhal, who has made inflammatory statements against Christians, is scheduled to visit Muzaffarpur on May 22.
In a separate incident also occurring on May 8, a "madrasa" (Muslim religious school) was burned in Navangar village.
Maulana Zafrul Hasan Qadari, assistant principal of Madrasa Moinia Azmatul Islam school said copies of the Qur'an were also burned. "The incident
smacks of some larger conspiracy and someone else is certainly behind it," said Qadari, who filed a report with Sahebgunj police under Section 436 of the Indian Penal Code. A suspect has been accused in the school burning.
Christian and Muslim leaders attributed the incidents to a conspiracy to create fear among the minorities. The incidents follow a pattern similar to that of eight explosions in churches in the southern Indian states of Goa, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh earlier this year.
Church authorities had blamed the Hindu nationalist Sangh Parivar for the earlier blasts. Later, investigations allegedly revealed the involvement of ISI-Pakistani Intelligence and an allied organization, the Deendar Anjuman. The Indian government banned the Deendar Anjuman in April, claiming it was responsible for more than one dozen explosions in different churches throughout India.
Church leaders were not convinced of the accuracy of these findings, although the government tried to embarrass them for accusing Hindu extremists without proof.
Meanwhile, a new development in the Dara Singh murder trial occurred in early May when two eyewitnesses claimed Singh had admitted his role in orchestrating the deaths of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in January 1999. It had been feared the case against Singh would collapse because of insufficient evidence.
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"Missionary awaits President's nod "
by M.B. Maramkal
WRNS (28.02.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (01.03.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - MYSORE: A 75-year-old French missionary based in Kollegal will soon be deported from this land, which had been his home for 53 years, unless the President of India intervenes to help him out.
An order issued by the Centre in September 1999, which directs all foreign missionaries who have come into India after 1984, to return to their countries of origin, is behind his social affliction.
Francois Marie Godest, a missionery, had come to live in Vadkehalla, a remote village of Kollegal taluk in 1948. Once in three or four years, he would go to visit his relatives in France and return to India soon after.
The unfortunate element in his saga is that each time he returned, he came on an entry visa, which did not recognise his previous years of stay. His last trip was in 1993 which has now become the cut-off date of his entry into India. Consequently, as per the 1999 order, he is faced with deportation.
Godest also committed the mistake of not applying for Indian citizenship, an oversight which is now costing him dear. For Godest, who came to India as a young 22-year-old, identifies Vakehalla as his home.
''I am now being forced to leave the country I love and where I have lived in the service of the local people for more than half a century," he rued. Godest and his friends in India are making an all-out last-minute efforts to get him the citizenship now.'' But the response from the authorities is not enthusiastic and essentially negative," one of Godest's friends regretted.
Godest had written to Bishop of Mysore Joseph Roy seeking his intervention, but there was no response from him. However, Father S.D. Joseph, chief of the Ambrosian Associates in Pastoral Counselling (USA Distress Cell and Director of Indian Affairs) wrote back a letter to President K. R. Narayanan, urging him to intervene and grant permanent Indian citizenship to Godest.
'' I am of the opinion that such a noble soul should stay in India and make the Indian people prosper in all respects. I hope that Your Excellency will be pleased to issue a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to reconsider the stay of Rev. Fr. Godest," he pleaded in his letter.
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"Christian Fears On Controversial Conversion Act Come True in India"
WRNS (28.02.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (01.03.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - NEW DELHI, (CWNews.com) - Fears by Christian groups in eastern Orissa state over the enactment of a controversial law-- that requires prior government permission before religious conversion-- have been realized this week.
Police in Balasore district in the state are reported to have prevented the six-member tribal family of Channa Singh from embracing Christianity, invoking the provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act enacted in November 1999. Following the silence of government officials even three weeks after Singh's family applied to the District Collector in the prescribed form for permission to convert, Singh and Protestant pastor Rameshar Mundu decided to go ahead with the conversion ceremony. However, police stopped them on the grounds that the investigation into their causes leading to their conversion was not yet complete.
Under the controversial act, those seeking to convert have to apply to the District Collector who would then ask the police to investigate the matter and report to him. If he is satisfied with the reasons for which the person intended to convert, permission would be granted for it. However reports say that government officials are holding back the permission for the tribal family to convert under pressure from Hindu fundamentalist outfits.
Churches had expressed the same concern last March when they jointly petitioned the state high court challenging the validity of the law, saying that it violates the fundamental right "to profess, practice, and propagate the religion of one's choice" under the Indian constitution and is likely to be misused against Christians.
While dozens of tribal Christian families were "reconverted" under threat amid much fanfare by Hindu fundamentalists several months ago, Christian calls for invocation of the act went unheeded in the state ruled by a coalition government in which the pro-Hindu BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)is a partner.
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Concern over expulsion order against French missionary in India
The Catholic Report (19.02.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (21.02.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net Catholics in southern Karnataka state have been stunned by the decision of the Indian government to ask a 79-year-old French missionary priest to leave India after he has spent two-thirds of his life in India serving the poor.
Father Francois Marie Godset, belonging to the Paris Mission Society who came to India 55 years ago at the age of 24 years, got the shock of his life recently when the federal government refused to renew his resident permit.
The missionary is now at his wits end as he has visited his home country only three times in half a century, and "is now asked to return to a place about which he has the least idea at the age of 79 years," said the Global Council of Indian Christians in an appeal on Saturday on behalf of the priest facing imminent expulsion from India.
"In fact, the (Karnataka) state registration officer has recommended Father Godset's stay up to year 2005 but the central (federal) government wants him to return to France," pointed out the forum. The expulsion of the missionary, the statement said, is "clear demonstration of anti-Christian sentiments of the present government and also sheer indifference towards the services rendered by the 'good old man' who cared for the faceless and voiceless people of our country."
Under the Indian immigration laws concerning foreigners, those who came to India before 1984 need not go back to their home countries to obtain fresh visa from the Indian embassy in their home country.
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Hindu extremists ask boycott of Christian aid in India
Despite Tragedy, Solidarity Suffers
Zenit (07.02.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (12.02.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - In the wake of the Jan. 26 earthquake, Vishnu Hindu Parishad, the World Hindu Council, has appealed to the population to boycott aid from Christian organizations.
A few days ago, news leaked that some Hindu groups were rejecting aid from priests and Christian volunteers. Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios of Trivandrum, president of the Indian bishops' conference, confirmed the reports in today's edition of the Italian newspaper Avvenire. (http://www.avvenire.it)
Likewise, the Vatican agency Fides (http://www.fides.org) reported that tensions between Christians and Hindus are hampering solidarity with the victims. According to Father Cedric Prakash, coordinator of Earthquake Affected Relief and Rehabilitation Services, a forum of 40 Catholic nongovernmental organizations, "some Hindu groups try to monopolize the aid."
The priest said that he himself was expelled from a hospital in Ahmedaban, where he had gone to take aid. "In a situation such as this one, there should be room for everyone in solidarity, but it is not like this," he said.
Now that the search for survivors has ended, attention is being concentrated on the displaced and on the need to avoid epidemics. The government has entrusted the coordination of aid to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, the National Volunteer Corps), an Indian organization made up of Hindu fundamentalists.
"Over the last few years, RSS members have been accused of violence against Christians in Gujarat," Fides reported.
Father Prakash stressed that aid has not reached areas inhabited by poor Muslims and Hindus. Latest estimates put the death toll at more than 39,000, with 700,000 displaced. UNICEF said that more than 2.5 million children are injured or traumatized, orphaned, homeless, or without schools.
The Indian government is negotiating with the World Bank and the Bank for Asian Development to obtain loans of $1 billion and $500 million, respectively, for the reconstruction of Gujarat.
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Reuters (05.01.2001) / HRWF International Secretariat (09.01.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Two Christian priests were recovering in hospital on Friday after being abducted and beaten in a tribal village in western India, police said.
They said the priests, identified only as Simon and David, were abducted from Zer, a village in Rajasthan's Udaipur district, on Thursday and forcibly taken to the neighbouring state of Gujarat where they were beaten.
Anand Shukla, an Udaipur police chief, told Reuters the two abductors had been identified. One was a Zer villager and the other a resident of Gujarat.
The priests suffered minor injuries and were admitted to a hospital in Bijaynagar in Gujarat, Shukla said.
No motive was given for the attack, but Gujarat has in the past been the scene of violent attacks on Christians, who make up about two percent of India's billion-strong population. Right-wing Hindu organisations have been blamed for the attacks.
Hindu leaders deny the charge. They say forced religious conversions by Christian missionaries are responsible for unrest in tribal areas.
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