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4 Churches bombed in Indonesia
1 Person killed in Jakarta
Zenit (29.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (29.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net C Explosions rocked four churches in the volatile central Sulawesi province, while a separate blast hit Jakarta today killing one person, shattering what had been relative calm during recent religious festivals, Reuters reported.
Deputy national police spokesman Edward Aritonang told Reuters a grenade was either thrown at or exploded in the hands of a man standing outside a restaurant in Jakarta a couple of hours before dawn, killing him.
Police in the central Sulawesi capital of Palu in eastern Indonesia said four blasts outside churches in the city -- three hit simultaneously as the New Year began -- wounded at least one policeman. The province has seen savage clashes between Muslims and Christians in the past three years.
Aritonang said he did not believe the explosions in Sulawesi and the national capital, Jakarta, were related. They occurred despite the presence of tens of thousands of police and soldiers on patrol to keep New Year's Eve celebrations in check.
The Palu blasts were caused by unidentified devices. Some 200 people were in one of the churches when the midnight blasts occurred, a local priest said. No worshippers were hurt. It wasn't immediately reported whether all the churches were Catholic facilities.
Much of the religious and communal violence occurring in the world's most populous Muslim nation stems from political and economic grievances that were forcibly suppressed during the three-decade iron rule of President Suharto.
Those grievances burst open when Suharto fell from power in 1998, especially in outlying eastern regions where Muslims and Christians are roughly equally represented. Overall, Muslims make up 85-90% of the country's 210 million people.
The Palu incidents occurred less than two weeks after a peace deal was struck by Christians and Muslims in an area around Poso, a town 60 miles from Palu. More than 1,000 people have been killed in three years of clashes around Poso.
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.
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.
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.
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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Eight die in violence in Indonesia's spice islands
WRNS (22.05.2001) / HRWF International Secretariat (23.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - At least eight people were killed in religious fighting which broke out in Indonesia's ravaged spice islands after a bomb exploded in the main city of Ambon, a church official said on Monday.
The fighting erupted on Sunday in a predominantly Christian area of Ambon, some 2,400 km (1,300 miles) east of Jakarta and one of the focal points of the religious violence which has plagued the islands for more than two years.
"Eight people were killed in the fighting," Semmy Wailerunny, a lawyer for the Communion of Churches, an umbrella group of non-Catholic Christian organisations, told Reuters.
An official from the Al Fatah foundation, a major Muslim organisation in the spice islands, denied Muslims provoked the clash.
"We also heard the explosion so we came out to guard our areas," said the official, who did not want to be named.
The long-running conflict in the islands, also called the Moluccas, erupted over a petty squabble between a public transport driver and a passenger in January 1999.
The conflict has killed thousands of people and forced tens of thousands to flee to neighbouring parts of Indonesia.
A south Jakarta court on Monday declared illegal the arrest of Jafar Umar Thalib, a leader of a militant Muslim group.
The court also ordered the police to pay a fine of one million rupiah.
Large numbers of militants under Thalib's command sailed to the Moluccas last year and have been accused by church groups of fomenting violence in Christian strongholds.
It is unclear how many remain in the Moluccas.
The Moluccas is home to roughly equal numbers of Christians and Muslims.
Around 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim.
Violence in Indonesia
by Jan Karski Wellspring
Institute on Religion and Public Policy (15.03.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (27.03.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The past several years have witnessed a dangerous rise in inter-religious violence and atrocities committed against religious minorities in Indonesia, as thousands have died and tens of thousands have been displaced. There have been several reports of bombings, beheadings and forced conversions. The World Bank has warned that Indonesia also might face economic collapse unless order is restored. The Institute on Religion and Public Policy is deeply concerned about the violence in Indonesia. Ethnic and religious tension in Indonesia has been present for several years, and might escalate if proper actions are not taken. We also believe that it is critically important for the international community to be unhindered to monitor violations of human rights and religious freedom.
The speakers were:
- PATRICIA CARLEY from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
- After reiterating the purpose of the Commission, Ms. Carley noted that countries of particular concern in the Commissions Report are not necessarily the worst violators of religious freedom. In some cases, it may simply be that there is a disturbing trend in a country which has historically upheld religious freedom. The Commissions Report, which will be released on May 1, will very likely address the ongoing religious violence in Indonesia.
- LYNN FREDRICKSSON from the Indonesia Human Rights Network.
- Ms. Fredricksson noted that there are common threads running through the various crises which have arisen in Indonesia. They are natural resources; indigenous minorities; religious and ethnic conflict; transmigration programs; massive police, military (TNI) and militia operations; large-scale human rights abuses; military-business interests; instability; impunity; political prisoners; poverty;internally displaced people and refugees; environmental degradation; and isolation from international observers. Foreign business operations in Indonesia also interrupt the social order and stability of the region.The Indonesian armed forces have been invested and reaping profits from businesses throughout the country, as well as providing security to protect those interests.
- The local political and NGO leaders in Indonesia who seek to achieve their rights through nonviolent struggle, negotiation, and cooperation among all involved, ask the United States for three means of support. They are: (1) That the U.S. stand firm in its suspension of ties with the Indonesian military, as long as that military continues to terrorize its own people. (2) U.S. support for an international tribunal for military and militia leaders guilty of atrocities committed in occupied East Timor. Also, the U.S. administration should provide technical support to the Indonesian government to reform its own judicial system. (3) Active support for their own efforts to build civil society and democratization. This includes not only financial assistance, but also international presence to help mediate, monitor, and prevent further conflict.
- T. KUMAR is the Advocacy of Asia & Pacific, from Amnesty International USA.
- He informed us that the Indonesian police and military are taking sides. This is based upon an ethic/religious identity of extremist Muslims. The local community distrusts the Indonesian government, as injustices are committed upon Christians. Exxon-Mobil threatened to leave. After this, the military moved in to the secure the area. This will likely lead to further human rights violations. Exxon-Mobil should send the Indonesian government the message that they wont tolerate human rights violations.
- It was his recommendations that there is a need for U.S. cooperation. The U.S. has some responsibility to make sure that the military in Indonesia is not abusing its power over its citizens. Since 1965, various atrocities committed in Indonesia have gone unpunished. Since the government of Indonesia does not seem to be capable of holding the military responsible for its actions, Kumar recommends in international tribunal to take up the cases and make the military accountable for their actions.
- MARIA SLIWA is the Project Coordinator from the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights Indonesia Project.
- In her statement, "I dont believe it is just ethnic violence [in Indonesia] arranged and orchestrated by those in power to keep or extend their power. I believe this is driven by an ideology that drives people to act. We should make no mistake: this is a religious conflict. The first reason for seeing this as a religious conflict is because it is true --- and it is religion that motivates murder. But the second reason is just as important. We know that the majority of the worlds Muslims do not support this sort of activity [violence] in the name of their religion."
- She believed that there is a threefold task: "To scream to the heavens that the world must protect the Christians; to bring direct aid to them; to ask the Muslims of this world to speak up."
- STEVE SNYDER is the Director of International Christian Concern.
- He clearly stated that "the advancement of the Jihad movement, which took on the popular name Laskar Jihad (simply meaning warriors of the holy war), received help from Omar Jafar Thalib, who is said to be the Field Commander of the Laskar Jihad. In August 2000, in the Malukan city of Ambon, it was proclaimed in a mosque that all Christians should be given two choices: "The first is to beg the Muslims forgiveness and to leave Maluku and the second is to die." He went on to say, "the later is the preferred choice."
- He added his personal recommendations: "I would ask President Bush and Congress, and I would ask every American, as well as any human being with a conscious, how many more Christians will be left with their memories of horror to hunt them? How many more innocent women will have to be disfigured? How many more pastors will have to die a gruesome death by beheading? How many more before we care enough to get involved?"
"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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