And as Bernardo Cervellera reports in this brief article in Asia News, the world's governments and even humanitarian and human rights organizations are largely silent.Mahatma Gandhi’s India, a land of tolerance and democracy, has been shamed. “It is a disgrace for our country,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a view seconded by Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai. Both agree that what is happening to Christians in the state of Orissa since 23 August is a pogrom.
The toll so far is a heavy one and bound to rise. Tens of people have died (some estimates put the number at around 100). At least 52 churches (both Catholic and Protestant) have been destroyed. Hundreds of homes have been damaged. Four convents and five hostels and youth residences have fared no better. Six Catholic volunteer and social institutes have been devastated. Last but not least hundreds of cars have been set on fire and countless personal belongings have been lost.
Even now thousands of Christians are still in flight, running from slaughter, living in forests, terrorised, without food or clothing.
Orissa, a state located in north-eastern India, has seen such waves of persecution before. Last December on Christmas Eve, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu fundamentalist organisation, attacked and destroyed 13 churches and chapels, killed three people and wounded scores of Christians in Kadhamal district, leaving many people homeless.
One of those who drove Hindu mobs against Christians was Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a VHP leader. The latest wave of persecution came right after the Swami met his maker at the hands of a Maoist terrorist group on the evening of 23 August. Even though law enforcement authorities were quite clear about who was behind the Swami’s assassination, some VHP leaders immediately blamed Christians for his death. During the guru’s funeral thousands of radical Hindus began the pogrom shouting “Kill Christians! Destroy their institutions!” Ultimately, by relentlessly attacking Christians and their institutions they can wipe out their mission...
Here's the rest of Cervellera's alarming report.
