Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, who leads the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archdiocese in Orissa, claimed more than 80 priests and nuns from his diocese were among 50,000 refugees who fled "for their lives" since last weekend, when Hindu militants began attacking Christians.
"There’s a danger of [more] attacks and they are advised not to go home. They have gone into hiding into the forests," said Cheenath in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife. "Their houses have been totally destroyed," he added.
Earlier reports said 11 people died, but the influential advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians claimed at least 36 people were killed in Orissa’s worst communal violence in a decade. The different figures could not immediately be reconciled as investigations continued Saturday, August 30, in remote areas of Orissa.
CHRISTIANS BURNED
Some Christians, including a woman, were allegedly burned to death, in the violence, which also saw the destruction of possible thousands of Christian homes and at least dozens of churches and orphanages, according to church groups and rights investigators. Elsewhere, a nun was raped in Kandhamal, while a Catholic priest was seriously injured, Catholic sources said. Several Protestant churches and pastors were also targeted, Christian rights groups said.
Hindu militants began attacking Christians and Christian institutions after the deaths of a leader of the radical group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or ‘World Hindu Council’, Laxmanananda Saraswati, and four of his followers, last Saturday, August 23. Government and police officials blamed Maoist rebels for the killings, but Hindu militants said Christians were responsible.
A Christian delegation from various denominations met this week with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who called the Orissa violence a “national shame.” Orissa’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was to visit the area most affected by the clashes, Kandhamal District, Saturday August 30, amid mounting church pressure on local authorities to protect the Christian minority.
POPE CONCERNED
On Wednesday, August 27, Pope Benedict XVI "firmly condemned" the fighting and urged the state’s residents to re-establish peaceful cohabitation and harmony. In an attempt to reach reconciliation, churches held prayer services Friday, August 29, while Christian run schools were closed across India to protest against the Orissa clashes.
Bishop John Barwa of Orissa, told BosNewsLife that many Catholics were afraid and his parish was being guarded by young Christians, although his parish is located some 1,000 kilometers from the scene of the worst violence.
Yet he remained hopeful. “Thousands of people attended church services on Friday to mark the national day of peace,” he said, adding that “a peace march involving Hindus, Muslims and Christians” had also been held in his district. On September 7, Christians across India will pray and fast for peace, the Catholic Church said.
RELIGIOUS TENSIONS
The latest clashes have underscored religous tensions in Kandhamal, a primarily tribal area, where Christian missionaries have worked for decades and almost 20 percent of the people are Christians.
Christians in Orissa are still nursing their wounds from Christmas 2007 violence, with hundreds of them still living in a refugee camp. Most of the over 100 churches then destroyed remain in ruins, and many torched houses have not yet been rebuild, BosNewsLife established.
Orissa also made world headlines in 1999 when Australian missionary Graham Steines and his two sons Philip and Timothy were killed by an angry mob. They were burnt to death as they slept inside their station wagon in Manoharpur village of Orissa’s Keonjhar district, prosecutors said.
Anti-Christian violence has been linked to Hindus opposing the spread of Christianity in India, a predominantly Hindu nation. Christians comprise just over two percent of India’s over 1.1 billion people, according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
