COMPASS DIRECT NEWS
COMPASS DIRECT NEWS
News from the Frontlines of Persecution
February 2007
(Released March 1, 2007)
Compass Direct is distributed to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted or edited by active subscribers for use in other media, provided Compass Direct News is acknowledged as the source of the material.
Copyright 2007 Compass Direct News
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IN THIS ISSUE
EGYPT
Police Detain Copts after Anti-Christian Attack
Believers forced to declare they set their own homes on fire.
ERITREA
Government Arrests Founder of Full Gospel Church
Three jailed Protestant leaders released on bail; Muslims also detained.
Christian Dies in Military Jail
Torture, illness claim life of believer denied medical treatment unless he recanted.
INDIA
Briefs 2/2/07: Recent Incidents of Persecution
Hindu Extremists Attack Pastors’ Conference in India
Dharam Sena members injure 10 Christians, confiscate mobile phones and cash.
Briefs 2/9/07: Recent Incidents of Persecution***
Government Proposes Clampdown on Social Services
Christians say amendment to law on foreign-funded agencies could jeopardize charity work.
Panel Denies Christian Persecution
Madhya Pradesh commission claims reports of attacks on Christians are ‘baseless.’
Briefs 2/16/07: Recent Incidents of Persecution ***
Hindu Extremist Youth Beats Pastor’s Wife
Young man was part of mob attack on pastor and others in December 2005.
State Government Takes Aim at Christian Property
District files 271 land-related cases against Catholic institutions in Chhattisgarh.
Young Pastor Found Dead in Andhra Pradesh
Police investigate state’s fourth known murder of a Christian worker.
‘Anti-Conversion’ Laws Linked to Higher Persecution
Himachal Pradesh state approves the latest so-called ‘Freedom of Religion’ law.
MEXICO
Persecution of Christians in Chiapas Accelerates
Syncretistic Catholics shoot at, expel, imprison and cut off water of evangelicals.
PAKISTAN
Woman Stands Trial for Insulting Muhammad ***
Court hearing relocated to deter mob violence.
SRI LANKA
Churches Increasingly Targeted in Civil War
Christians report shelling of churches, deaths and disappearance of priests.
TURKEY
Slain Priest’s Memorial Opens Way to Reconciliation ***
Killer’s parents show up before service for murdered clergyman.
UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan Admits Arrest of Protestant Pastor ***
Indictment equates ‘Charismatic Pentecostals’ with Islamist extremists.
*** Indicates an article-related photo is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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Egypt Detains Copts after Anti-Christian Attack
Believers forced to declare they set their own homes on fire.
by Peter Lamprecht
ISTANBUL, February 22 (Compass Direct News) – Police detained Christian families in Upper Egypt and forced them to deny arson attacks on their homes during a spate of anti-Christian violence last week, the families said.
Two Coptic Orthodox families said police detained them for 36 hours when they attempted to report a February 13 assault on their homes in Armant, 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of Cairo.
The fires came five days after Muslim groups set four Christian-owned shops alight on February 9.
International media reported that rumors of a love affair between a Christian man and Muslim woman sparked the violence, but local papers said hostilities began over accusations that Christians were blackmailing Muslim women to convert.
In the wake of the violence, police detained eight Muslim young men and Copt Ramy Ishaq, whose relationship with a 19-year-old Muslim woman was the basis for the romance rumors, sources in Armant told Compass.
According to the sources, Ishaq and seven of the Muslims remain in police custody.
Two Copts said that on the evening of February 13 unknown assailants threw burning, kerosene-soaked cotton onto their houses on the outskirts of Armant.
The Christians, who requested anonymity, said that they were able to quickly put out the fires and then went with a group of six family members to report the attack at the police station. Upon their arrival, officials refused to investigate the report, saying that there was no evidence and the damage was minimal.
“Police asked them to sign statements that they had attempted to set their own homes on fire to claim that they were being attacked by Muslims and to demand police protection,” one source told Compass.
Officials detained the six Copts until Thursday morning (February 15), when the Christians finally agreed to sign statements that they had burned their own homes. According to local sources, Makram Gerguis, a Christian member of the governorate council, helped negotiate for the Copts by vouching that the statements would not be used against them.
Rumors of Blackmail
Cairo weekly Sawt al-Umma claimed that Armant hostilities began over accusations that Christians were forcing Muslim women to convert to Christianity. The February 19 article printed rumors that photography studio owner Ashraf Narouz, a Copt, had been taking pictures of naked Muslim women to blackmail them to convert.
Narouz’ studio and a grocery store owned by Copt Mehareb Azer suffered heavy damage in the February 9 attacks, while shops owned by Christians Shenouda Farag and Mina Sawiris were only partially burned. Sawt al-Umma reported that a Christian-owned car was also set alight the following day.
The weekly went on to blame the Christian governor of Qena, Magdy Iskandar, with fomenting religious tension by favoring Christians in his governorate. The paper also faulted expatriate Coptic activists for “raising sectarian strife by writing that Christians are persecuted.”
But interviews with Armant’s Muslim residents published in Coptic-owned weekly Watani painted a more nuanced picture.
Mohamed Abdel-Qader, the Muslim father of one 16-year-old involved in the violence, told Watani that he was so angry with his son he would not visit him in jail. Abdel-Qader and other parents blamed radical Muslim groups who had indoctrinated the city’s youth in “extremist, fanatical thought,” since the late 1990s, the February 18 article said.
Ishaq was “probably hated by other young men because he had a successful business, whereas many young Muslims suffered unemployment and poverty,” one prominent Muslim who requested anonymity told Watani.
The Watani article noted that Christians and Muslims in Armant were well-integrated, unlike many other villages in Upper Egypt where each group lives in separate areas.
Local sources told Compass that the owners of the damaged shops had not been reimbursed by the government. But Watani reported that Member of Parliament Mohamed al-Nubi and village leaders discussed opening a private account to help with reconstruction.
Inter-religious romance, taboo in both Egypt’s Muslim and Christian communities, has often been blamed for tension between Christians and Muslims in recent years.
Copts maintain that Christian young women are regularly kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam. These claims are often difficult to prove, and skeptics counter that the women may leave of their own free will to escape poverty and bad family situations or for love.
But the debate surrounding motives at times obscures the reality that non-Muslims are discriminated against under Egyptian law. Christian men cannot legally marry Muslim women (though Muslim men can marry Christian women), and there is no legal provision for conversion from Islam to another religion.
In practice, Egyptian security forces often cooperate in anti-Christian violence that the government and local and foreign press sanitize with the label, “sectarian unrest.”
Last year, two Copts died and more than 20 were injured in attacks on churches in el-Udaysaat in January and Alexandria in April.
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Eritea Arrests Founder of Full Gospel Church
Three jailed Protestant leaders released on bail; Muslims also detained.
Special to Compass Direct News
LOS ANGELES, February 15 (Compass Direct News) – Just days after Eritrean security police arrested one of the founders of the Full Gospel Church last month, two Protestant pastors and another church leader jailed months ago have been released on bail without explanation.
In the latest arrest, Pastor Habtom Tesfamichel was taken into custody on January 23 in Asmara, capital of the East African nation.
Security officials interrupted a time of mourning at Tesfamichel’s home, where his family was grieving over the death of a Lutheran pastor in Sweden, to summon the pastor for questioning at a nearby police station, sources said.
The 57-year-old Tesfamichel had been pastoring the Full Gospel Church’s Asmara congregation since its previous pastor, Kidane Woldu, was arrested and jailed in March 2005.
Tesfamichel is now incarcerated in the capital’s Wongel Mermera prison, along with nearly two dozen other Christian pastors and priests known to remain jailed in the notorious investigation center.
In late January, two Kale Hiwot Church leaders were set free after posting bail. The two released Protestants, identified as Pastor Simon Tsegay and Gebremichel Yohannes, had been arrested last September in the town of Adi-Tezlezan, 20 miles north of Asmara. The pastor and Yohannes, administrator of the church’s central office, had been interrogated and then arrested by security officials over use of the local church building, which had been sealed four years earlier by government order.
Two trucks owned by the Kale Hiwot Church that had been confiscated by state security officers at the time of the men’s arrest remain in government hands.
Soon after the release of the Tsegay and Yohannes, Full Gospel Church Pastor Fanuel Mihreteab was freed from Sempel Prison in Asmara, two years after his arrest in January 2005 in the town of Dekemhare. Like Tsegay and Yohannes, Mihreteab was forced to surrender property deeds to guarantee his required bail.
First incarcerated in the Wongel Mermera investigation center, Mihreteab was one of three pastors brought before military commanders in extrajudicial hearings in September 2005. Married with two children, he was reportedly sentenced to two years in prison.
The Eritrean government has not made public any charges against the pastors and priests still held at Wongel Mermera, some of them jailed for nearly three years now. Most are held incommunicado, with police authorities refusing to even confirm their location.
Since May 2002, Eritrea has closed down dozens of churches, forbidding its citizens to worship outside of the four government-approved religions: the Orthodox Church of Eritrea (Coptic Orthodox), Catholicism, the Evangelical Lutheran church, and Islam.
More than 2,000 Eritrean citizens in at least 14 cities and towns are known to be jailed in
police stations, military camps and prison solely for their religious beliefs.
Although the majority are Protestant Christians, a growing number of Coptic Orthodox members, Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of the Muslim community are also being jailed without charges by Ethiopian President Isaias Afwerki’s authoritative regime.
Quelling Open Protest
According to a local source, “ongoing complaints and dissatisfaction” began to surface in January from a number of priests and adherents of the Eritrean Orthodox Church inside the country. Historically, 40 percent of Eritreans consider themselves Coptic Orthodox by birth.
The open dissent represented a growing reaction to the government’s December 5, 2006 ultimatum, commandeering all the church’s tithes and offerings into state bank accounts as of January 1.
On January 17, 15 Orthodox priests openly opposing the new financial regulations received warning letters to “hold their tongue” on the issue. The orders were issued by the office of Yeftehe Dimetros, a government-installed lay administrator running the Eritrean Orthodox Church since August 2005.
Fears are running high, the source said, that the government will soon arrest these 15 priests.
On January 25, a group of dissident monks, priests and deacons of the Eritrean Orthodox Church wrote to the opposition Asmarino Independent News website, reporting that Patriarch Abune Antonios had been forcibly divested of his patriarchal robes and insignia by government order.
Reportedly Dimetros sent two priests and three security agents from his administrative office on January 20 to confiscate the patriarch’s vestments, two chains of St. Mark, shepherd’s scepter of Moses, a container of Myron oil used in confirmation ceremonies and other sacramental items.
Patriarch Antonios has been held under house arrest since August 2005, after he objected to the jailing of three of his priests.
In their letter to Asmarino, the unnamed Orthodox dissidents said they were “saddened” by the apparent compliance with government demands by Bishop Dioscoros, whom they indicated was “being groomed for his illegal and uncanonical consecration and enthronement” to the seat of the ordained patriarch.
“The deposing of the patriarch and the confiscation of the offerings of the church have become burning issues, both in the life of the Coptic church and the affairs of the state,” one local source stated this week.
Muslim Arrests
Eritrean Muslims also expressed growing resistance in January against the government’s arbitrary appointment of their mufti. In reaction to open protests in the town of Keren, 55 Muslims were arrested and jailed.
The official pretext, local Muslims said, was that the arrested individuals had been either dodging their obligatory military service or helping their children flee the country to avoid military duty.
Since then, Keren sources have confirmed that at least 35 more Muslims have disappeared in the city and are presumed to be under arrest.
For more than a year, 69 Muslims have been incarcerated in Wongel Mermera for opposing the government-appointed mufti.
They include Taha Mohammed Noor, a prominent national figure arrested in November 2005 for protesting government interference in the religious affairs of Eritrea’s Muslim community, constituting nearly half the national population.
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Christian Dies in Eritrean Military Jail
Torture, illness claim life of believer denied medical treatment unless he recanted.
Special to Compass Direct
LOS ANGELES, February 22 (Compass Direct News) – An Eritrean Christian died in prison last week, four and a half years after the Eritrean regime jailed him for worshipping in a banned Protestant church.
From the southern port city of Assab, local Christians confirmed the death of Magos Solomon Semere on Thursday (February 15) at the Adi-Nefase Military Confinement facility just outside Assab.
According to one source, Semere, 30, died “due to physical torture and persistent pneumonia, for which he was forbidden proper medical treatment.” He had reportedly endured a long period of severe illness in the months prior to his death.
A member of the Rema Church, Semere had first been jailed in the fall of 2001, when he was arrested for evangelizing and starting meetings for worship with six other Christians.
“The government gave hard-labor work punishment to believers for preaching the gospel and starting fellowships,” a Christian once jailed in Assab with Semere told Compass. “If they persisted, they would be kept imprisoned for ‘violating’ the government law.”
Semere had been released after 18 months in prison, only to be re-arrested three months later with a large group of Protestants caught worshipping together in July 2002.
When Semere became seriously ill, the source said, he was told to sign a statement renouncing his faith in order to get medical treatment. “He refused to do so,” his former jailmate said, “but three other people signed, and they got released.”
Semere had been engaged to marry shortly before his July 2002 arrest, but he was refused permission to see his fiancée again during his years in prison.
Despite all the government warnings delivered to Semere, his former fellow prisoner said, “Magos was determined to obey the Lord rather than men.”
Semere’s death is the third known killing of a Christian for his faith since last October. On October 17, 2006, Eritrean security police tortured two Christians to death, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara. Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala,
Crackdown in Assab
Assab, near the facility where Semere died, was targeted for one of the first major crackdowns against Protestant Christians by Eritrean security forces five years ago.
Three months later, in May 2002, the government categorically outlawed all churches not under the umbrella of the Orthodox, Catholic or Evangelical Lutheran denominations.
In the initial police raids in Assab on February 17, 2002, 133 congregants attending Sunday morning worship services at the city’s Full Gospel, Rema and Word of Life churches were arrested. Although all were released the next day, the 74 soldiers among them were rearrested two weeks later.
Refused contact with their families, the soldiers were punished with severe floggings and other forms of extreme torture for months, often kept in tiny dark cells. Most still remain jailed without charges, subjected to hard labor without any hope of release.
Since then, dozens more soldiers and other Christians from Pentecostal and charismatic churches caught worshipping in homes or small groups in and around Assab have been jailed. At least 130 Christians are believed to be imprisoned now in Assab’s military and civil prisons for refusing to sign documents recanting their faith.
Ten More Arrested
On Sunday (February 18) afternoon security police in Asmara arrested 10 Eritrean Christians who were visiting a private home in the Teravelo district of Asmara to congratulate a new bride and groom after their wedding.
Seven members of the Medhan Alem renewal movement, a Sunday school ministry within the Eritrea Orthodox Church, and three members of the Full Gospel Church were taken into custody. The newly married couple, who were just concluding their honeymoon, were not jailed.
The occasion was described by Christians in the capital as “a normal social visit of friends, not for the purpose of having worship or other church activities.” Six of the 10 new prisoners are women.
More than 2,000 Eritrean citizens are known to be jailed under severe mistreatment in police stations, military camps and prisons in at least 14 cities and towns solely for their religious beliefs.
Although most of those jailed are Christians, a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses and leaders of the Muslim community have also been imprisoned incommunicado for a year or more without judicial charges.
For the past 18 months, the regime of President Isaias Afwerki has extended its religious repression to interfere openly in the internal affairs of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, deposing its patriarch and taking over the church’s administrative and financial controls.
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India Briefs: Recent Incidents of Persecution
by Nirmala Carvalho and Vishal Arora
Karnataka, February 2 (Compass Direct News) – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal on January 11 beat Pastor David Paul, 29, and his wife Prasanna Kumari, 25, and drove them from their home in J.P. Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka state. Local Christians were too terrified to offer the couple any assistance. The next day, Paul and his wife, who lead an independent church with 40 members, rented a small room in a slum colony in a neighboring locality. On January 15, a Hindu mob kicked open the door, ransacked the house and thrashed them again, accusing them of forcible conversions. Paul staunchly denied the allegations and demanded to be taken to the police station. Infuriated, the extremists verbally abused them for nearly an hour and then marched them off to the police station, where the pastor and his wife were questioned for nearly two hours before being released. – NC
Himachal Pradesh – A large number of Hindu extremists allegedly belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on January 21 gathered outside the house of Pastor Timuhias Behal in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district and demanded that he close down his Peniel Prarthana Bhawan prayer hall and orphanage and move out of the area. “The mob shouted anti-Christian slogans against the Peniel Prarthana Bhawan and accused me of converting Hindus, of asking them to throw away idols of Hindu gods, of spoiling local culture and of indulging in flesh trade,” Behal told Compass. The mob also submitted a memorandum to district authorities stating the allegations against him. Behal said the allegations were false and that all the children at the orphanage were from Christian families. Behal added that the police had lodged a complaint against the mob and were investigating it. – VA
Karnataka – Hindu extremists with saffron flags on January 19 caused a commotion outside a house where two pastors – the Raj Shekhar, 42, and Raja Naik, 46 – were holding a prayer service in Gokul village, near Hubli in north Karnataka state. They hurled loud, angry insults at Shekhar and called the police, accusing the pastors of forcible conversions. They then entered the house and attacked the pastors and others. Police arrived during the assault, and instead of apprehending the extremists took the pastors and two Christian women to the police station. Police released Naik immediately but freed Shekhar and the two women five hours later. – NC
Uttar Pradesh – From 25 to 30 Hindu extremists of the VHP and Bajrang Dal disrupted an inter-faith meeting in Chakeri district, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh state on January 21, presuming it to be a Christian prayer gathering. Local sources told Compass that the presence of two white-skinned believers from the United States caused the extremists to believe that it was a Christian assembly. The extremists barged into the hall shouting “Jai Shree Ram [Hail God Ram],” kicked the lectern, damaged microphones, and verbally abused the speakers and foreigners in the hall as they accused them of attempting forcible conversions. – NC
Karnataka – A group of Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on January 24 surrounded and accused evangelist Subba Rao of forcible conversion in Harippana Halli, in Davangere district, Karnataka state. They accused him of luring innocent Hindu villagers to follow Jesus by inviting them to prayer meetings. When Rao denied their allegations, one of the RSS members slapped him. They then took him to the local police station, where they vehemently accused him of converting Hindu villagers. A policeman was a mute spectator to the incident. The extremists warned the 48-year-old Rao, of the Church of Christ, that they would force his wife Mary to mark her forehead with the tilak (red dot) if he did not stop his evangelical work. After these threats, they allowed Rao to leave. On January 22, a group of RSS members warned Pastor Neil Armstrong of Full Gospel Assembly that they had been keeping surveillance on him and his activities. They warned him not to preach about Christ and stop his prayer meetings in Haripanna Halli. – NC
Bihar – A group of about 50 RSS extremists on January 28 barged into a prayer hall and attacked Pastor Bharat Kumar of Manav Mukti Mission during worship at Sasaram town, Rohtas district, in Bihar state. Shouting slogans and Hindu devotional chants, the mob began assaulting the 35 believers present. Ten Christians sustained injuries, including deep gashes to the head and swollen arms and legs. They were admitted to the local village hospital for treatment and discharged. The extremists burned Bibles, chairs, a table, songbooks, and other property. Pastor Kumar has filed a police complaint. – NC
Himachal Pradesh – Hindu extremists in Himachal Pradesh state on January 18 allegedly pressured two residents of the Last Resort drug-rehabilitation center to file false complaints against a pastor and three Christian workers. The center is situated in Khokhan village, Kullu district. Police arrested Pastor Rajesh Toppo and three counselors – Zamlianthang Singsit, Gopal Singh Bhatia and Thangkholal Haokip – the same day on charges of illegally confining and hurting the religious feelings of the two residents, identified only as Vinod Saini and Amos. The four Christians were released on bail the following day. The complainants, who fled from the center on January 16, told the Christian Legal Association of India that a member of the VHP had forced then to approach the police and that they wished to withdraw the complaint, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India. – VA
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Hindu Extremists Attack Pastors’ Conference in India
Dharam Sena members injure 10 Christians, confiscate mobile phones and cash.
by Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, February 5 (Compass Direct News) – About 25 members of the Hindu extremist group Dharam Sena (Religion Army) attacked a pastors’ conference in Raipur, Chhattisgarh state, on Friday (February 2), injuring at least 10 Christians.
The attack took place at about 3:30 p.m. as organizers were preparing the opening session at the Singh Palace banquet hall in Pandri, a sub-district of Raipur.
“When the Dharam Sena barged into the hall, my female manager tried to stop them, but they manhandled her and then proceeded to attack the participants,” Jay Prakash, the Christian owner of Singh Palace, told Compass.
The extremists shouted “Jai Shri Ram! [Hail god Rama]” as they beat the Christians with sticks, verbally insulted them and accused them of forcibly converting Hindus.
Participants searched in vain for hiding places. “My staff locked one elderly Christian couple into a room for their safety,” Prakash said.
About 100 Christian leaders were present at the meeting, according to Prakash. Of those, at least 10 received injuries. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) later reported that local believer Sakha Ram was the most seriously injured.
The mob also beat two foreigners, identified only as Jack and Coli. “The extremists dragged them at least one kilometer away, beating them all along the way,” EFI said in a press statement. Two other foreign guests managed to escape.
The mob also damaged chairs on the property and took a laptop, two mobile phones, digital cameras and 10,000 rupees (US$227) in cash from the participants.
Not Naming Names
Police registered a complaint against “unidentified” people in the mob, citing several violations of the Indian Penal Code including rioting, the use of deadly weapons, unlawful assembly and criminal intimidation.
But a local Christian who requested anonymity said he suspected the police were trying to shield the attackers.
“The police accepted a complaint from the owner of the banquet hall, but they did not register the complaint of the local pastor, Harish Patel,” he said. “By doing this, they’ve ensured there is no religious angle to the complaint.”
Although participants later identified the leader of the mob as Kishore Kothari, the district president of the Dharam Sena, police did not append Kothari’s name to the complaint.
When Compass spoke to Head Constable Pankuram Urao, he acknowledged that Kothari and other members of the Dharam Sena had been named as members of the mob but said he did not know why their names were not added to the complaint.
Singh Palace owner Prakash said the attack could be linked to his friendship with Pastor Philip Jagdalla, who was beaten by the Dharam Sena and accused of “forcible conversions” in December 2006. (See Compass Direct News, “Hindu Extremists in India Beat Christian Couple, Pastor,” December 21, 2006.)
“I helped Pastor Jagdalla to get bail, and I suspect that I have been a Dharam Sena target ever since,” he explained.
The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum has condemned the attack and urged the local police to ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.
Chhattisgarh has a population of about 21 million, of which only 401,000 are Christian.
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India Briefs: Recent Incidents of Persecution
by Vishal Arora and Nirmala Carvalho
Chhattisgarh, February 9 (Compass Direct News) – A small group of people allegedly belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on February 8 beat an evangelist of the Friends Missionary Prayer Band and forced him to the police station in Devasari village in Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja district. Anil Khakkar had gone to Devasari to conduct a meeting in a house church when a jeep full of Hindu extremists arrived; they beat him and took him away. The extremists took him to the Kusmi police station and filed a complaint against him for forcibly converting Hindus. Police said Khakkar had been remanded in custody. No complaint was filed against the extremists for attacking the evangelist. The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum today held a rally along with the local Communist Party of India-Marxist in Raipur, the state capital, to protest the increasing number of anti-Christian attacks in the state. They also submitted a memorandum to the state governor, requesting him to ensure protection of the Christian community. – VA
Maharashtra – Unidentified people attacked three Christian workers of the Church of Nazarene and damaged their film projector and sound equipment the night of February 8 in Maharashtra state’s Nagpur city. The victims – the Rev. Ravi Shambhakar, Ramprakash Sahu and one identified only as Satpute – were attacked as they showed the “Jesus Film” in the Gulmohar area, under the Kalamna police station. Satpute was immediately rushed to the hospital, where four of his teeth were extracted due to mouth injuries. The others received minor injuries. A church leader told Compass that Hindu extremists in another area in the city had threatened the three Christians. The leader said the incident had been reported to the police, but that he was not sure if they had registered the complaint. On the contrary, he said, the extremists were threatening to lodge a counter complaint against the victims. – VA
Assam – Hindu villagers beat and vandalized the thatched house of a Christian convert, Rahbindra Narzaree, for refusing to “reconvert” to Hinduism on February 6 in Bashbari village, under the Beshmuri police sub-station in Kokrajhar district in Assam state. The Christian Legal Association of India quoted police as saying that Narzaree had converted to Christianity after marrying a Christian woman from the Bodo tribe two years ago. The family has since faced social ostracism, and Narzaree reconverted to Hinduism under pressure from the villagers – but later declared that he remained a Christian. As a result the villagers called him to a village council meeting on February 6 and pressured him to return to Hinduism. When he refused, they denounced him and attacked the couple with sticks. To save their lives, Narzaree and his wife took refuge in the police sub-station and then moved to Narzaree’s brother’s house. The culprits have thus far evaded police. – VA
Karnataka – RSS and Bajrang Dal Hindu extremists stopped four Christians as they returned home from a prayer meeting on February 4 and assaulted them with wooden clubs. Pastor T. Surendra and three members of his congregation, identified only as Ananda, Raghwa and Harish, were on an isolated stretch of road after meeting in a house in Uppalli Village, in Chikmangalore district of Karnataka. The Hindu extremists questioned them about their prayer and singing in the house, cursed and beat them, and forced them to a police station where they were arrested for forcible conversion. On February 6 four pastors went to the jail to secure their release, but a large number of extremists attacked them with sticks in plain view of a police officer who did nothing to stop them, sources said. Pastor Santosh George and Pastor Sunder Baby managed to escape, but Pastor V.P. Ranga and P.A. Johnson were detained. At press time, pastors Ranga, Johnson and Surendra were still in jail, as were the other three Christians originally arrested. – NC
Haryana – On February 4, a mob of Hindu extremists and local police inspector Virendra Singh manhandled four woman Christian workers, identified only as Sarita, Geeta, Rosha and Meera, and beat two pastors, identified as Vijaya K.P. and Raj Kumar, in the Thosam area of Bhiwani district, Haryana state. According to the Christian Legal Association of India, all the victims work with Gospel for Asia. Pastor Vijaya sustained a head injury while the others received minor injuries. The extremists, allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) and similar organizations, launched the attack after the Christian women refused to move out of the area. The two pastors were visiting the women to give them prayer and moral support, as they had faced opposition to their work in the area for at least a year. The police had not registered a complaint against the extremists at press time. – VA
Karnataka – A retired sub-inspector and eight other men on February 1 entered the compound of Compassionate Mission, in Belamanahallil-Kolar district of Karnataka state, locked missionary Phillip Abraham in the bathroom and took the manager of the mission, Santosh KJ (he has no surname), 25 kilometers (15 miles) away and beat him. The men tortured the manager as they interrogated him about the mission’s social ministry, leaving him semi-conscious and bleeding on the Old Madras Road in the early hours of February 2. Santosh KJ and the Rev. Alexander Tharakan filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the Vemekal police station. The sub-inspector later claimed that he was searching for his young daughter who had not returned home. He and his men barged into every room of the mission residence as women and children were sleeping, Rev. Thakaran told Compass. – NC
Madhya Pradesh – Hindu extremists reportedly belonging to the RSS and the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the VHP, ransacked the shop of a Christian convert, Mukesh Badehi, on February 5 in Neelganga area of Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district. The Christian Legal Association of India confirmed the attack, but police told the organization that the Christian was attacked only because he had not closed his shop despite a strike called by the Bajrang Dal to protest the killing of cows, considered holy by Hindus. According to reports, the extremists, including other shopkeepers of the area, accused the Christian of killing the cows and assaulting Hindu shop owners. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians, extremist organizations plan to hold a rally against the killing on cows on February 11, which could lead to tensions. – VA
Karnataka – Hindu extremists in the town of Bhadravathy, in Shimoga district in Karnataka, have erected a temple on a site where Church of South India leaders were planning to run a center for humanitarian work next to their church compound. Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, said the extremists on January 6 erected an idol of a Hindu god on land beside the church compound. The land had earlier been used as a garbage dump, but the church cleaned up the area and was about to start work on the social center when extremists erected the idol. The police did not take any action against the intruders, George said, adding that Christians were concerned over growing tensions in the area. Church authorities could not be contacted to ascertain if the land belonged to the government or the church. – VA
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Indian Government Proposes Clampdown on Social Services
Christians say amendment to law on foreign-funded agencies could jeopardize charity work.
by Satya Kumar
NEW DELHI, February 12 (Compass Direct News) – The Indian government has proposed an amendment to a law on foreign funding of social service organizations that could seriously hinder the work of an estimated 20,000 development organizations – 50 percent of which are Christian.
The amendment would enable authorities to revoke registration at any time.
At present, registration to receive foreign funding is granted indefinitely, but the Foreign Contributions Regulation Bill introduced last year would obligate social service organizations receiving foreign funding to re-register every five years.
The provision expanding authorities’ power to revoke registration could prove crippling to some organizations. For example, Christian charity Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) is still fighting a long-standing legal battle with the government of Rajasthan state after the state registrar arbitrarily dismissed registrations for five EMI social institutions in February 2006 and froze EMI’s bank accounts for several weeks.
The state revoked the EMI registrations due to two alleged minor infractions of society procedural regulations (such as not holding enough board meetings), an indication of how even the existing law can be abused, as these actions severely disrupted charity work in EMI’s orphanages and hospitals. (See Compass Direct News, “Court in India Extends Bail of EMI Founder, President,” August 7, 2006.)
The proposed amendment to the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) would discourage non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from establishing long-term projects such as school and hospitals, since approval for foreign funding for these projects could be revoked after, or even before, the five-year period expired.
The government, however, claims the amendment is needed to keep a check on militant and separatist organizations that raise funds abroad for “anti-national” activities.
Amendment an ‘Insult’
Representatives of NGOs said the amendment was an insult to their work.
“The government is criminalizing the social sector,” John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, told Compass. “Groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS, a Hindu nationalist organization] get their funds through undeclared channels. The amendment won’t affect them.”
If the amendment becomes law, “thousands of organizations working among the needy, especially in rural areas, will shut down, because this law will prevent them from planning any long-term activity,” Dayal added.
Dayal and other pressure groups will take up the issue with a parliamentary committee before the bill is introduced to Parliament at the end of February.
The Politics of Charity
In the 1980s, the FCRA was used indiscriminately by successive Congress Party governments as a “political weapon” to settle scores with their political opponents. Many vocal critics of the government were booked under the FCRA, with or without evidence. Organizations run by political opponents often met the same fate.
Critics say the bill to amend the FCRA was the brainchild of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which introduced it in order to restrict Christian charity work, but that the ruling Congress-led coalition has accepted it without question.
Professor Babu Mathew, director of ActionAid – which has worked among some of India’s poorest communities since 1972 – said the amendment was a move to replace healthy regulation with unhealthy control.
“It’s still not clear why the government thinks the changes are necessary,” Mathew said. “India already has a framework that is more than adequate, under which NGOs have been doing very constructive work. This new bill doesn’t show its teeth until carefully examined. When you look closely, it’s about reducing democratic space and dampening the voice of civil society.”
Under the new terms, civil servants would decide what type of social service was unacceptable and “political” in nature.
“The guidelines are far from clear, dramatically increasing the risk of that power being misused,” Mathew said. He also pointed out that government organizations would be exempt from the new regulations.
Contradictory, Potentially Abusive
The Voluntary Action Network of India (VANI), a network of more than 2,000 Indian NGOs, describes the government’s proposed move as a strategy for social control.
“Ironically, the FCR Bill also appears to run counter to the government’s own 2006 Draft National Policy on the voluntary sector, which supports the creation of an ‘enabling environment for Voluntary Organisations,’” VANI said in a statement.
VANI also said a clause in the bill prohibiting the acceptance and use of foreign funding for “any activities detrimental to the national interest” was too vague and could be abused.
The bill extends the categories of persons and organizations that are prohibited from receiving foreign contributions. It also imposes more stringent penalties for violations, while failing to provide a clear mechanism for appealing government decisions.
“Under the guise of protecting India’s national interest, the bill’s only accomplishment will be to empower the government to interfere in the inner workings of NGOs,” VANI said.
Many social service organizations hope to pressure the Indian Parliament to drop the bill in its upcoming budget session in late February.
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Panel Denies Christian Persecution in State in India
Madhya Pradesh commission claims reports of attacks on Christians are ‘baseless.’
by Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, February 13 (Compass Direct News) – The Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission claims that reports of Hindu extremists persecuting Christians in the state are “baseless,” angering the small Christian community.
The state commission’s claim contradicts a report by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in June 2006. The NCM fact-finding team found that Hindu extremists had frequently invoked the state’s anti-conversion law as a means to incite mobs against Christians and have Christians arrested without evidence.
“The life of Christians has become miserable at the hands of miscreants in connivance with the police,” the NCM noted in its report. “There are allegations that when atrocities were committed on Christians, police remained mere spectators, and in certain cases they did not even register complaints.”
In contrast, Anwar Mohammed Khan, chairman of the state minorities commission, told Compass that there have been complaints about attacks against members of the Christian community, but that extremists have not targeted Christians.
“Under Section 9(2) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, we have the power to investigate any complaint concerning minorities, and we have done that,” Khan said. “But we don’t think any special mention should be made about attacks against Christians.”
Khan also told Indo-Asian News Service on January 31 that after visiting places where incidents were reported and talking to witnesses, “we found that the allegations made by the Christians were baseless.”
Asked if the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was responsible for any escalation of anti-Christian attacks in the state, Khan told Compass, “No incident has taken place recently. If you know of any incident in which the government has failed to do its duty, bring it to my notice.”
Christians Cry Foul
Indira Iyengar, president of the Madhya Pradesh Christian Association and until recently a member of the Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission, said the Hindu nationalist BJP government wanted to give the impression that everything was “calm and quiet” in the state.
“About two weeks ago, Maya Singh, a BJP member of Parliament, told a local Hindi newspaper that I was lying when I wrote to the commission and the federal government about the victimization of Christians in the state,” Iyengar told Compass.
During her three-year term, Iyengar wrote to the NCM and several other authorities about the high incidence of attacks on Christians in Madhya Pradesh, but none responded.
Iyengar has since demanded that the state commission release its report – if indeed such a report exists – for public scrutiny.
‘Failed Mandate’
In June 2006, an article in the Frontline national newspaper criticized the state minorities commission for speaking “the same language as the Bajrang Dal [extremist youth wing of the World Hindu Council] and the state chief minister,” thereby failing its mandate to defend minorities.
Khan denied the NCM’s claims that the Christian community had come under “calamitous attack” in the state, Frontline added.
The newspaper also quoted Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who said the BJP government was greatly concerned about unethical conversions – presumably of Hindus to Christianity.
Attacks against Christians in the state have increased dramatically since the BJP was elected to state government in December 2003, according to local and national sources.
Most recently, Hindu extremists ransacked a shop owned by a Christian convert, Mukesh Badehi, on February 5 in Ujjain district. (See Compass Direct News, “India News Briefs,” February 9.)
On January 2, extremists of the Dharma Sena beat two Christians, Shyam Sunder and Ram Deen, in Sidhi district. The attack took place when nine Christians visited Tez Bali, a believer in Devera village. The extremists damaged a boundary wall and broke into Bali’s house before beating Sunder and Deen. (See Compass Direct News, “Anti-Christian Attacks Mark New Year,” January 5.)
Also in January, the Hindu extremist group Dharam Sena opposed the marriage of Peter Abraham, a Christian, and Meera Gond, a tribal woman, claiming Abraham had offered Gond money to convert to Christianity. The couple was finally able to marry on January 11 after protests delayed the ceremony three times. (See Compass Direct News, “Christian Weds Despite Hindu Protests,” January 15.)
Christians account for only 0.3 percent of the total population of Madhya Pradesh.
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India Briefs: Recent Incidents of Persecution
by Vishal Arora and Nirmala Carvalho
Maharashtra, February 16 (Compass Direct News) – A group of Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on February 10 damaged the unfinished construction of Philadelphia Church in Vagda village of Navapur Taluka, Nandurbar district, Maharashtra. The small tribal congregation of 45 mostly poor people had been gathering for prayer and worship in the house of local Pastor Dinesh Sudam Valvi for two years, and construction of the new church had begun in January after permits were granted. The pastor filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the Visarwadi police station. At press time seven persons were arrested. – NC
*** Photos of the damaged Philadelphia Church construction are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
Haryana – A village chief and a police official on February 13 forced workers of a Christian center in Prem Nagar, in Haryana state’s Hisar district, to move out of the area. A leader from Gospel for Asia, which ran the Bridge of Hope center, told Compass that the village head came with Assistant Sub-Inspector Raj Kumar and ordered center workers to obtain permission to run it from district authorities or leave. Authorities forced the Christians to vacate the house, and they put a lock on the gate and took away the keys. About 100 underprivileged children received tuition assistance and one meal a day at the center. Kumar told Compass that he had received information that apparent political activists were trying to spread rumors that the center workers were luring children to Christianity by offering free education. “This is why I asked them to leave the area, for their own security,” he said. Villagers prepared a memorandum with the signatures of all the children’s center’s parents for the district collector, describing how they benefited from the center and requesting that it reopen. – VA
Madhya Pradesh – A mob of suspected Hindu extremists on February 8 assaulted Father George Thoppil, Principal of St. Thomas Higher Secondary School in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The extremists barged into the principal’s office and slapped Fr. Thoppil as they shouted obscenities against Christianity. They broke office windowpanes, furniture and computers, ransacked the residential quarters of the priests and smashed a statue of Mary. The attack was apparently prompted when two kindergarten children died after a speeding truck struck them as they rode on their uncle’s motorbike. Within half an hour the mob attacked; the Times of India quoted Superintendent of Police Jaideep Prasad stating that some Hindu extremists accused the school of creating a traffic hazard by keeping one of its gates closed. Saji Abraham, secretary of the All Indian Christian Council, said the accident took place 500 meters from the school. “The [Hindu] fundamentalists took advantage of the accident to attack Christians,” he said. At press time, nine people had been arrested. – NC
Andhra Pradesh – A Hindu “seer” in the port town of Kakinada, in East Godavari district of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, on February 11 began forming a group to oppose Christian conversions in the region. Known as Swamy Swarupanandendra Saraswati, the seer pledged to resist religious conversion of Hindus and to “reconvert” those who have converted to Christianity before a large gathering at the Sri Ayyappa temple in Kakinada, regional daily The Deccan Chronicle reported. He said that missionaries would be the first target of the group, christened as Sankara Sena Seva (Army of Hindu god Shiva and Service) Trust, as they would be invited into Hinduism by applying tilak (vermilion) to their foreheads. He said the group would start its work in Kakinada and in neighboring West Godavari district. – VA
Jharkhand – The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked authorities of the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand state to submit a report on villagers’ alleged assault on a tribal Christian family in Kasira. The villagers had attacked in retaliation after the Christian Community Welfare Council of India (CCWCI) accused Krishna Koda and his mother of denying villagers access to a pubic well and pond, regional daily The Telegraph reported on February 14. CCWCI President S.R. Das said in the complaint that Koda’s neighbors accused him of converting tribals to Christianity as a pretext to torture them. The Christians were beaten on November 23, 2006, when Koda was returning home from his farmland, Das said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravi Shankar Verma said he will report to the NHRC by the four-week deadline. – VA
Uttarakhand – The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said it would bring an anti-conversion law if it is voted to power in February 21 assembly elections in the northern state of Uttarakhand, formerly known as Uttaranchal. State BJP leader Ravishanker Prasad said on February 8 that his party would enact an anti-conversion law “to check forceful religious conversions” while releasing the party’s election manifesto in the state capital, Dehradun, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported. Government records show there are only 27,116 Christians in the state, which has a population of close to 8.5 million. The BJP government in Rajasthan state passed an anti-conversion bill on April 7, 2006, but it is awaiting consent by the state governor, without which it cannot become a law. While anti-conversion laws are in force in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, they are awaiting implementation in Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat states. – VA
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Hindu Extremist Youth Beats Pastor’s Wife in India
Young man was part of mob attack on pastor and others in December 2005.
by Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, February 23 (Compass Direct News) – A young man who attacked five Christians in December 2005 beat the wife of one of the victims this week in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state.
Jogi Sahu, a 19-year-old man allegedly associated with Hindu extremist group Dharma Sena, beat Kanti Sharma, the wife of Pastor Kanhaiya Lal Sharma, on Monday (February 19) in Raipur’s Sarora Industrial Area.
“Sahu, who was one among the crowd that attacked me earlier, beat up my wife under the pretext of taking revenge for arguing with him over a dispute concerning a common tap for potable water,” Pastor Sharma told Compass.
Sahu had manhandled a female minor who had objected to him cutting in front of her to fill his bucket at the community water spout, Pastor Sharma said. The pastor’s wife told him to stop mistreating the girl.
A few minutes later, after Kanti Sharma had gone home, Sahu and his two brothers arrived, dragged the pastor’s wife from her house by the hair and beat her in front of local residents. Kanti Sharma bled from her nose and her eye became swollen.
Pastor Sharma, who was away on an errand, returned and took her to the Urla police station. Officers refused to register a complaint against the attackers and insisted that both parties work out their differences on their own.
They also made Kanti Sharma wait for more than two hours for the arrival of the police inspector before allowing her to get hospital treatment. Her doctor suspected a minor nose fracture.
An officer at the Urla police station told Compass that there was no religious motive for the attack, but Christian leaders in Chhattisgarh said the tap water incident was a mere trigger point for venting opposition to Christian meetings in pastor’s house.
Pastor Sharma said he has faced opposition and isolation in the area ever since he received Christ and left Hinduism five years ago. He has been hosting Sunday worship service in his house since 2002.
“Sections of local people do not like the fact that Christians come to my house for worship every Sunday,” he said.
Sahu was one of the attackers in a December 4, 2005 incident in which about 30 Dharma Sena extremists beat five Christians – Masih Das Rai, Anmol Kamble, Ram Vilas Yadav, Ramesh Das Manikpuri and Pastor Sharma. The Hindu extremists attacked during a Sunday worship service in Pastor Sharma’s house. (See Compass Direct News, “Christians Attacked in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,” December 6, 2005.)
While 30 people were beating the Christians, the Dharma Sena had about 200 others gathered in front of the house to prevent anyone from escaping. After beating the Christians, the Sena extremists tore their clothes and paraded them throughout the area as they continued to beat them.
They then took the five Christians to a temple where they pressured them to bow down to the idols and to shout “Jai Shri Ram [Hail god Rama].” The extremists forced Kamble and Pastor Sharma to sign a document saying they were indulging in forced and fraudulent conversions.
Police detained Rai and Manikpuri for questioning but filed no First Information Report against the Dharma Sena, in spite of persistent requests by Christian leaders present to do so.
Recent Attack
Dharma Sena extremists on February 2 attacked a pastors’ conference at the Singh Palace banquet hall in Pandri, a sub-district of Raipur, injuring at least 10 Christians.
The extremists gave the “Hail god Rama!” shout as they beat the Christians with sticks, insulted them and accused them of forcibly converting Hindus. (See Compass Direct News, “Hindu Extremists Attack Pastors’ Conference,” February 5.)
Christians in Chhattisgarh say the state government ruled the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party allows Hindu extremists to launch anti-Christian attacks with impunity.
On February 9, the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum held a rally along with the local Communist Party of India-Marxist in Raipur to protest the increasing number of anti-Christian attacks in the state.
They also submitted a memorandum to the state governor, requesting him to ensure protection of the Christian community.
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State Government in India Takes Aim at Christian Property
District files 271 land-related cases against Catholic institutions in Chhattisgarh.
by Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, February 26 (Compass Direct News) – Christians in Chhattisgarh state said the Jashpur district administration is harassing them by filing 271 property complaints against their institutions.
Local Christians said the state government, ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is misusing a state land law to target Christian workers in Jashpur at the behest of Dilip Singh Judeo, a BJP member of Parliament known for staging “reconversion” events in which Christians are pressured into reverting to Hinduism.
At the heart of the harassment complaint is a 1980 stipulation helping tribal people to re-acquire their land if a non-tribal person has acquired it by fraudulent or treacherous means. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh charges that Judeo wrote two letters to the district administration in 1996 and 2005 asking it to initiate cases against Christians who had bought land from local tribal people.
Mainly targeting Catholic churches, educational institutions, hospitals and social work centers that help tribal people, these cases have been filed in the name of verifying the credentials of the land purchasers, said a public relations officer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh known as Father Muttungal.
But the Christian institutions are using land legally donated by tribal Christians through power of attorney, Fr. Muttungal said.
“Out of the 271 cases lodged against Christians, 250 concern purchase of land by tribal Christians from non-Christian tribals, and since these Christian tribals have given power of attorney to Catholic institutions, they remain the legal owners of their land,” said Fr. Muttungal. “Besides, 17 cases are related to land purchased before 1959. None of these come under the purview of the [Madhya Pradesh (and Chhattisgarh) Land Revenue] Code.”
He added that according to a Supreme Court precedent, a tribal person continues to have a tribal identity even after conversion to Christianity.
“Then how can land transactions between Christian and non-Christian tribals be brought under the Code?” he asked. “Besides, all the transactions concerning purchase of land by Catholics were reported to the district collector, as per the Code, and the tribal people who sold their lands gave affidavits declaring that they were satisfied with the payment.”
The 1980 state law requires that all land transactions between non-tribal and tribal peoples between 1959 and 1980 be reported to the district administration or else they are illegal. Any purchase of tribal land by a non-profit organization, even if it is owned and run by tribal people, also comes under this law, known as Section 170(b) of the Madhya Pradesh (and Chhattisgarh) Land Revenue Code.
But Section 165 of the Code, which concerns exceptions to the law, clearly says that land used for the benefit of the local community will be exempt from it, Fr. Muttungal said.
He also pointed out that the Christian non-profit organizations operating in the district received land in donation from tribal Christian individuals and therefore they do not come under the Code’s purview. “It is the fundamental right of every tribal Christian to use the land as he or she wants to.”
The local Catholic community is planning to resort to the High Court against the alleged misuse of Section 170 (b) of 1980.
On September 1, 2006, the Chhattisgarh High Court directed the sub-divisional officer of Jashpur district to dispose of the pending cases of 1996-97 related to the 1980 law within six months, Fr. Muttungal said.
But instead, the government used it as an opportunity to execute Judeo’s plan, he said.
“It was not a direction to start new cases, but to dispose of the pending cases – yet the administration has filed about 150 fresh cases and reopened numerous cases that were closed in 1996,” Fr. Muttungal said.
The Catholic population of Chhattisgarh is concentrated in Jashpur district. Of the 740,000 people in Jashpur, Catholics number 185,500. At the state level, Christians make up only 1.9 percent of the total population of 19.7 million.
A delegation led by Catholic leaders from Chhattisgarh, including Bishop Dr. Victor Kindo, Fr. Muttungal and Father Edmond Bara, recently met political leaders from cross-section of political parties in New Delhi with their grievance.
On January 22, about 90,000 tribal Christians marched through the streets of Jashpur to protest the government’s attempt to acquire church land.
SIDEBAR
India Briefs: Recent Incidents of Persecution
by Vishal Arora and Nirmala Carvalho
Orissa, February 26 (Compass Direct News) – Hindu extremists allegedly belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on February 22 vandalized a church building under construction in Niladeri Bihar slum area in the suburbs of Bhubaneswar, capital of Orissa. The church belongs to the Mission India organization, said Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians. The Hindu extremists had earlier disrupted the church service and warned congregants to stop worshipping there. Church leaders have informed police of the attack, but it was not clear whether officers registered their complaint. – VA
Chhattisgarh – A local politician from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) led an attack on three pastors on February 20 in Bhidimoda village in Chhattisgarh state’s Raigarh district. The attack took place at 3 p.m. while the three pastors, Elisha Baker, Balbir Kher and Nan Sai of the Believers’ Church, were attending a three-day Christian meeting in the house of a local believer, according to Arun Pannalal, general secretary of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum. The pastors received minor injuries in the attack, led by Panat Ram, former block president of the BJP. Initially Ram had filed a complaint against the organizers of the February 18-20 meeting charging that they were converting Hindus, but a police investigation proved otherwise. – VA
Karnataka – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal have accused a Christian worker in Kargil village of Karnataka state’s Shimoga district of being a Sri Lankan terrorist, and police have questioned three of his local Christian friends. On February 22 police summoned three Christian friends of the Christian worker, identified as M. Devraj, in connection with the case, said Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians. Devraj has been working in the area for the last 18 months. On February 20 about 60 Bajrang Dal extremists told one of Devraj’s friends, identified only as Shanmugam – who accepted Christian about six months ago – that Devraj was a terrorist to be avoided. George said a sub-inspector of the Shimoga police station has threatened Shanmugam and two other Christians that if they did not bring Devraj to the police station, they too would be implicated in the case. “We are filing a case in a court of law against the sub-inspector for misusing his powers,” George said. – VA
Tamil Nadu – Hindu extremists destroyed the nearly-completed St. Mary’s Shrine in Azhikal, Kottar Diocese, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu on the night of February 17. Father Bernard Dionysius, Chancellor of Kottar Diocese, told Compass that the extremists razed the structure, which was under reconstruction after December 2006 tsunami damage. “They even smashed the statue of Mary and the stone cross,” he said. Church authorities have lodged a First Information Report, but in spite of the Collector’s assurance no arrests have been made. Local sources under condition of anonymity told Compass, “The RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] had been angered by the reconstruction of this tsunami damaged Shrine, and have destroyed it.” – NC
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Young Pastor Found Dead in Andhra Pradesh, India
Police investigate state’s fourth known murder of a Christian worker.
by Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, February 27 (Compass Direct News) – The body of a 29-year-old pastor was found with stab wounds on February 20 in a canal in Krishna district of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Pastor Goda Israel was found dead last Tuesday in a canal near his house in Pedapallparru village in the Gudivada area of the district.
Israel had worked independently in the area since graduating from Emmanuel Bible Institute of Emmanuel Mission International (EMI), in Rajasthan state’s Kota district, in February 2003. The slain pastor, who is survived by his wife and small children, was overseeing 15 churches that he established in the region.
“Pastor Israel had earlier been threatened by Hindu extremists due to his involvement in the preaching of the gospel in the area, and he had no enmity with anyone,” an EMI leader who requested anonymity told Compass. He added that persecution of Christians was common in Andhra Pradesh.
On February 17, Israel went for his usual prayer meeting at a nearby village but did not return, the source said. Israel’s family members went to the Gudivada police station to seek help, but officers declined to conduct a search.
“[Police] instead told them that he would come back soon and that there was nothing to worry about,” the source said.
Inspector Venkat Rao confirmed that Israel was murdered. “We have filed a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, and the autopsy report is awaited,” he said.
Rao said he could not say what injuries Israel had suffered until the autopsy report was completed, but the EMI source said the pastor’s body was found with stab wounds.
Asked if Hindu extremists were behind the killing, inspector Rao said that could not be known with certainty as the case was still under investigation.
“Once we have an initial report of the findings, we will make arrests,” Rao said. “We assure you that the slain pastor and his family members will get justice.”
Previous Murders
Compass has reported on three previous, mysterious and brutal murders of Christian workers in Andhra Pradesh.
Two pastors, K. Daniel and K. Isaac Raju, were killed near Hyderabad, the state capital, in May 2005 (See Compass Direct News, “Second Pastor Found Dead in Andhra Pradesh, India,” June 6, 2005).
Unknown persons called both pastors by phone before they disappeared, asking if they would act as wedding celebrants. Raju went to meet a caller in Anantpur district on May 24, 2005 and disappeared; an unidentified caller then phoned police on June 2, describing where to find Raju’s body.
Similarly, callers met Daniel in a motorized rickshaw on May 21 and took him to a cemetery in Karwan, where they severely beat him, strangled him, and then dumped his body on the city outskirts.
The New Indian Express newspaper on June 27, 2005 quoted a man identified only as Goverdhan who claimed he and two friends had murdered the two preachers.
“I am not against Christianity, but Raju and Daniel converted hundreds of Hindu families,” Goverdhan said. “They enticed them with money. We have done this to prevent further conversions. This act should be a lesson for others.”
On September 11, 2000, two unidentified persons beheaded Pastor Yesu Dasu, 52, on the outskirts of Mustabad in Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district. (See Compass Direct News, “Murder of Christian Preacher Remains Unsolved in India,” October 10, 2003.)
Dasu’s body was found in a pool of blood at a cattle shed near Kothakunta, along the Mustabad-Siddipet highway, three kilometers (nearly two miles) from Karimnagar. Hindu extremists had earlier warned Dasu to cease preaching or face the consequences.
Seven years later, Dasu’s case remains unsolved.
Although Andhra Pradesh state is ruled by the Congress Party, with Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, a Christian, as the chief minister, Hindu extremists are highly active in the state. Accusing Reddy of giving a free hand to Christian missionaries, the extremists launch frequent attacks against Christian workers.
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India’s ‘Anti-Conversion’ Laws Linked to Higher Persecution
Himachal Pradesh state approves the latest so-called ‘Freedom of Religion’ law.
by Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, February 28 (Compass Direct News) – With the governor of Himachal Pradesh approving an “anti-conversion” bill last week, India now has seven states with legislation banning unregistered or unethical religious conversions – to the glee of Hindu extremists who arbitrarily invoke them to quash Christian growth.
On February 20, Governor Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje gave his assent to the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill 2006, which was passed in the state assembly by the Congress Party last December 30.
The seven Indian states with anti-conversion legislations, known as Freedom of Religion Acts, are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Hindu extremists commonly use anti-conversion legislation to falsely accuse Christians of converting people through force or allurement; thus they justify attacks on Christians or deflect prosecution away from themselves by pressing charges of “forcible conversion” without any evidence.
While anti-conversion laws were enforced in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (before they were divided into two separate states) in 1967 and in Orissa in 1968, the legislation in Rajasthan state, which passed in the state assembly in April 2006, is still awaiting governor’s assent.
Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat also have passed such laws in 1978 and 2003 respectively, with their governors’ approval, but they have not been implemented as rules have yet to be framed.
According to procedures laid down in the India Constitution, a bill cannot become a law until the state governor signs it. After governor’s assent, a state government can frame rules and implement the law.
Tool of Hindu Nationalism
Christians and political analysts in India link the enactment of anti-conversion laws to the Hindu nationalistic agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of numerous Hindu extremist groups.
The BJP uses anti-conversion law as a tool to institutionalize the ideology of Hindu nationalism, known as Hindutva, which envisions a “Hindu nation” where the religious minorities are allowed to live but in subordination to the majority community.
Christianity, according to Hindutva, is a “Western religion” brought to India mainly under the British colonial rule. The BJP also claims that missionaries are part of an international conspiracy, mainly stemming from the United States, to convert and overtake India.
The Hindu extremist party accuses Western missionaries of using material bribes or force to convert poor and illiterate people in India.
In less than one year, the BJP, which was ruling at the federal level till April 2004 and is still in power in some states, has enacted an anti-conversion law in Rajasthan and made the existing laws more stringent in Madhya Pradesh (July 25), Chhattisgarh (August 3) and Gujarat (September 19). Governors in those states, however, have not given their assent to any of these bills.
Recently the BJP said it would bring an anti-conversion law to the northern state of Uttarakhand, formerly known as Uttaranchal, if it is voted to power in the assembly elections that took place on February 21; results from the polls are still awaited. (See Compass Direct News, “India News Briefs,” February 20.)
Himachal Pradesh is the first Congress Party-ruled state in recent years to enact an anti-conversion law. The Congress Party, which rules the federal government through the United Progressive Alliance, maintains that it is “secular” – a term that, in common usage in India, means equal treatment of all religious communities.
Dr. Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council, said the Himachal Pradesh law betrays the promises of the Congress Party to address the needs of minority faiths across India.
“This law severely undercuts the fundamental right to freedom of religion, particularly for exploited Dalits and tribals,” D’Souza said. “The assent of the governor amounts to an endorsement of the discrimination and persecution against religious minorities in Himachal Pradesh state.”
Creating Persecution
Christians assert that the incidence of persecution is higher in states where anti-conversion laws are in force.
Most recently, on February 8 extremists allegedly belonging to the RSS beat an evangelist of the Friends Missionary Prayer Band, accused him of conversions and forced him to the police station in Devasari village in Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja district. The Kusmi police station filed a complaint against him under the state anti-conversion law, and the court remanded him to custody – while no complaint was filed against the extremists for attacking him. (See Compass Direct News, “India News Briefs,” February 9.)
In Himachal Pradesh state, where the law is yet to be implemented, two anti-Christian incidents were reported soon after the passing of the bill.
A large number of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) extremists on January 21 gathered outside the house of Pastor Timuhias Behal in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, demanded that he close down his Peniel Prarthana Bhawan orphanage and move out of the area. On January 18, extremists from the same group pressured two residents of the Last Resort drug-rehabilitation center in Khokhan village to file false complaints against a pastor and three Christian workers. (See Compass Direct News, “India News Briefs” February 2.)
Last year, two members of the National Commission for Minorities, Harcharan Singh Josh and Lama Chosphel Zotpa, acknowledged that Hindu extremists frequently invoke the anti-conversion law in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh as a means of inciting mobs against Christians or of having them arrested without evidence. They reported this finding after a visit to the state June 13-18.
Dubious Intentions
According to Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, “Freedom of Religion” laws are misnamed.
“Their intention is just the reverse,” he said. “They deny the people the freedom of faith.”
These laws encourage extremist groups such as the RSS and VHP to target Christians and their educational institutions, he said, adding that in Madhya Pradesh it has become “impossible” for Christian workers to even visit rural areas.
Christians complain that the anti-conversion laws define “force,” “fraud” and “inducement” vaguely, which can paralyze Christian social and evangelistic service by exposing Christian workers to false charges.
For instance, Section 2(b) of the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act terms “divine displeasure” – a key component of the gospel message – as “force.” Section 2(d) labels an “inducement” the offer of “any gift or benefit” – thus criminalizing Christ’s command to feed, clothe and give drink to the needy. Section 2(b) vaguely defines as fraud “misrepresentation or any other fraudulent contrivance.”
Section 4(1) of the Act requires any person wishing to convert to another religion to give a prior notice of at least 30 days to district authorities; failure to do so can result in a fine of 1,000 rupees (US$23). Yet, “no notice shall be required if a person reverts back to his own religion” – in a society that largely assumes that to be born in India is to be born Hindu.
Section 3 states that a person who is converted by any unfair means shall not be considered converted. According to Section 5, an offense under Section 3 – which includes conversion “by the use of force or by inducement or by any other fraudulent means” – is punishable with imprisonment up to two years and/or a fine up to 25,000 rupees (US$570).
In case of conversion of a minor, woman, Dalit or tribal (aboriginal) person, the imprisonment can extend to three years and the fine up to 50,000 rupees (US$1,140).
Election Issue
Before elections, the BJP has raised the issue of Christian growth and consequent need to ban “forced” conversions in order to divide voters along religious lines.
On February 10, The Indian Express daily quoted Himachal Pradesh state BJP chief Jairam Thakur as saying that, had the Congress Party government not enacted the anti-conversion law, the issue could have become his party’s “major poll plank” in assembly elections in 2008.
Another such example can be seen in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagamin government in Tamil Nadu state, which enacted an anti-conversion law in October 2002 to woo the BJP as an ally.
The law was repealed in May 2004, a month after the BJP was defeated in national elections.
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Persecution of Christians in Chiapas, Mexico Accelerates
Syncretistic Catholics shoot at, expel, imprison and cut off water of evangelicals.
by Elisabeth Isais
MEXICO CITY, February 9 (Compass Direct News) – Persecution of evangelical Christians in the southern state of Chiapas “is accelerating daily in the indigenous regions,” according to the National Bar of Christian Lawyers.
Most of the problems stem from small town leaders’ insistence that evangelicals pay quotas for the festivals of “traditional Catholics” – a blend of native “traditional” religions and Catholicism – or else they will be expelled from their homes and their properties seized, said Alfonso Farrera, director of the bar.
The organization directed by Farrera has told the government it has records of 200 cases of unresolved religious intolerance in Chiapas, including “threats, intimidation, and robbery or expulsion from their communities, or death.”
Last January 31, three evangelicals from San Juan Chamula municipality were driving home from San Cristobal de las Casas when they were ambushed and shot at, requiring hospitalization. Authorities concluded that it was a case of religious persecution.
Also on January 31, Reynaldo Gomez Ton, representative of the Alas de Aguila (Eagle Wings) church denomination, lamented that several evangelical families in Los Pozos, municipality of Huixtan, had not only had their water cut off but also lost the cash benefits of a government program to help small farmers called PROCAMPO merely for religious reasons.
Local leaders took heavy tools to destroy their water pipes, disrupting the service of 40 evangelicals. Later, on January 21, authorities forbade them to chop wood.
La Jornada newspaper also reported that another 10 evangelicals in Los Pozos were denied PROCAMPO (Program of Direct Rural Support) benefits because of their faith. In December, government agents intervened in the town to keep all evangelicals from being expelled from their properties, but that did not bring lasting results for those who had accepted a “new religion.”
In Chiepetlan, Tlapa de Comonfort municipality, three evangelical families are threatened with expulsion because of their faith. A similar problem exists in San Luis Acatlán, where leaders claim that evangelicals do not do their share in community affairs led by traditional Catholics.
In both places, state government representatives have met with local leaders insisting that evangelical families are backed by the law and should not be expelled. Evangelicals say they cooperate in community projects, often far beyond what is asked of them, but do not feel right about paying for religious festivals involving drunkenness and immoral behavior.
In another case, Fortunato Velasco Pérez had to flee with the eight members of his family from the town of Campo Grande after he became a Pentecostal Christian. The family cooperated with community obligations but refused to help pay for Catholic festivals, and in October authorities cut off their water and electricity. Two of their children were imprisoned for three days, Fortunato was nearly hanged, the family was threatened, and town leaders ordered them to pay a huge fine.
As a result, Fortunato and family had to leave their property behind and seek refuge in a community of evangelicals named Betania, in Teopisca municipality. His case, like many others, is still pending.
In a statement in Mexico City’s La Jornada newspaper published yesterday (February 8), the Roman Catholic bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Felipe Arizmendi, declared his church had no relationship with the “so-called traditional Catholics, who do not depend on our diocese, do not take into account the Bible nor the laws of this country, but are governed by their own agreements and traditions.”
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Pakistani Woman Stands Trial for Insulting Muhammad
Court hearing relocated to deter mob violence.
by Peter Lamprecht
ISTANBUL, February 16 (Compass Direct News) – Pakistani officials have relocated the trial of a Christian woman accused of blaspheming Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, to prevent violent demonstrations tomorrow.
Judge Rao Abdel Jabar has agreed to preside over tomorrow’s blasphemy hearing against Martha Bibi Masih in the district capital of Kasur, 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Lahore, defense lawyer Ezra Shujat said.
He told Compass the trial had been moved from Chunian, near Masih’s home village, because of the sensitive nature of the case.
Police arrested Masih in the early morning hours of January 23 after a violent mob stormed her house in the village of Kot Nanka Singh, the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) reported.
The riot was prompted by claims that Masih made insulting remarks about Islam’s founder, Masih’s husband said in an interview with CLAAS the day of his wife’s arrest.
Masih remains behind bars in Kasur’s district jail, while her husband and five children have gone into hiding to avoid a revenge attack, defense lawyer Shujat told Compass.
“They are afraid and worried now,” said Shujat, an activist with the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. “They can’t work anywhere.”
Accusations of blasphemy can be volatile in Pakistan, where Article 295-C of the penal code prescribes death for anyone guilty of defiling Muhammad. Death sentences have always been overturned by higher courts, but at least 23 people suspected of blasphemy have been murdered.
Implying that tempers had not yet cooled in Masih’s hometown, police requested her case be transferred to Kasur to prevent a “law and order situation,” daily newspaper Dawn reported on February 8. In a February 4 article, an officer told Reuters that police had immediately shifted Masih to Kasur because people in her area were “very furious.”
Masih’s husband said that accusations against his wife were false and stemmed from a quarrel with a Muslim neighbor. In a January 23 interview with CLAAS, Boota Masih explained how his wife had gone to a local mosque construction site on January 22 to retrieve materials that she had rented out to the builders.
“She requested the people present to go inside [the mosque] and get bamboo [sticks] and logs out for her,” Boota Masih said. “But nobody helped her.”
As a Christian, she could not enter the mosque, her defense lawyer said.
When Martha Masih asked a nearby shopkeeper to help her retrieve the materials, the woman refused, and the two exchanged harsh words, Boota Masih told CLAAS.
The shopkeeper later told her husband, Muhammad Ramzan, that Martha Masih had cursed Islam’s prophet during their argument. Ramzan spread word among his neighbors that the Christian woman had committed blasphemy and gathered a mob to march on Masih’s home at 10 p.m.
“We requested our neighbor, Muhammad Rashid Mughal, to hide us in his home, which he allowed,” Boota Masih said. The mob searched Masih’s home for two hours but dispersed after failing to find the alleged blasphemer.
Absentee Complainant
When Martha Masih eventually left her neighbor’s home in the early morning hours of January 23, police arrested her and took her to the nearby city of Changa Manga.
Ramzan’s friend, Muhammad Dilbar, had lodged an FIR (First Information Report) against her with local police, accusing her under article 295-C.
“It’s important to note that the complainant was not actually at the scene of the event,” Shujat told Compass. According to the defense lawyer, the district Superintendent of Police (SP) rubber-stamped the FIR without personally investigating the case.
“He just filled out the papers because [officially] it is only the SP who can investigate a [blasphemy] case,” Shujat said. “But I believe he has not investigated.”
Local police reportedly weighed in on the investigation, telling Pakistani papers that the Christian was guilty of blasphemy the week after her arrest.
“We can’t allow people to desecrate the name of the Holy Prophet. The complaint lodged against her was true,” Changa Manga Station House Officer Reza Shah told Dawn on February 2.
Officers at Changa Manga police station, none of whom spoke English, were unable to verify the accuracy of this statement for Compass.
In a February 9 letter to the editor posted at online news site Paktribune, one Lahore resident called on the Supreme Court to cancel the “appalling case against Martha Bibi.”
“Even the most dim-witted Christian could not dare dream of even approaching anything remotely resembling blasphemy in Pakistan unless it was a novel way to commit suicide,” wrote Professor Wasif M. Khan.
Last month a senior Pakistani official, speaking in Paris about the condition of religious minorities in Pakistan, said the government hoped to amend the blasphemy laws.
“Inshallah [God willing], after the election” later this year, Sen. Mushahid Hussain Sayed said when questioned if Islamabad would change the law, Reuters reported.
Government officials have made similar statements. Most recently, State Minister Tariq Azim told minorities in December that they would “hear the ‘good news’ of amendments to the blasphemy law this Christmas,” the Daily Times reported.
Concrete changes have yet to materialize.
*** A photograph of Boota Masih and his children is available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.
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Churches Increasingly Targeted in Sri Lankan Civil War
Christians report shelling of churches, deaths and disappearance of priests.
Sarah Page with Kana Sivanantha
DUBLIN, February 20 (Compass Direct News) – Following a renewed outbreak of civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), churches in the northeast are fast becoming another war casualty.
The LTTE has fought for an independent Tamil homeland in the northeast since the 1980s. While both parties to the conflict say they are committed to a 2002 ceasefire agreement, analysts say the current situation is more like an “undeclared war.”
Since hostilities resumed in earnest last year, churches on the Jaffna Peninsula have provided shelter to hundreds of internally displaced people (IDPs), prompting retaliatory raids by the Sri Lankan army.
“One wonders if the attacks on churches are just a coincidence, or an attempt by the government to warn the clergy not to give protection to these defenseless people,” one source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Compass.
The same source said those speaking out for IDPs were often silenced by intimidation or “elimination,” often in the form of unexplained disappearances.
“The church, unable to remain a silent witness, has raised its concerns with the outside world,” the source added. “The government of Sri Lanka has taken note and appears to have sought, directly and indirectly, to silence these voices by abducting and sometimes eliminating church officials.”
Deaths and Disappearances
Just over a month ago, on January 13, members of the Sri Lankan security forces gunned down the Rev. Nallathamby Gnanaseelan.
Gnanaseelan, 38 years old and father to four young children, led the Tamil Mission Church in Jaffna.
On the morning he was killed, Gnanaseelan had dropped his wife and daughter at a local hospital and headed towards his church, where members had gathered for prayer. Before he could reach the church, however, he was shot in the stomach and head. His Bible, bag, identity card and motorbike were taken, and he was left lying in the street.
Security forces initially said Gnanaseelan was shot for carrying explosives but later said he was shot for not stopping when ordered to do so. Local Christians say the initial accusation was a deliberate attempt to frame the minister, who was a respected member of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance Clergy Fellowship in Jaffna and was not involved in any political activity.
The Rev. Father Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown (commonly known as Fr. Jim Brown) and his assistant, Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas, may have met a similar fate. Both men disappeared on August 20, 2006, according to local media reports.
Witnesses said they saw the two men in the village of Allaipiddy, on Kayts Island off the Jaffna Peninsula, at about 2:15 p.m. on August 20, being followed from the Allaipiddy navy checkpoint by six armed men on motorbikes. Neither man has been seen since.
Navy commanders denied arresting the two men.
Brown and Vimalathas had gone to visit Brown’s church in the parish of St. Philip Neri. The church and predominantly Catholic neighborhood were abandoned a week earlier, after the church was shelled on August 13.
A firefight had broken out on August 13 between navy officers and the LTTE in Allaipiddy, leaving 15 civilians dead and at least 54 injured in the crossfire. Many villagers sought shelter at the church of St. Philip Neri. When the fighting died down, Brown helped about 800 people move to St. Mary’s church in the nearby town of Kayts. Some witnesses said he got down on his knees at the checkpoint to request a safe transfer.
Shortly afterwards, according to an Amnesty International report, the commanding officer of the navy in Allaipiddy scolded Brown and accused him of helping the Tigers to build bunkers. Brown, however, said the church members had dug bunkers to protect themselves from the shelling and bombing of church premises.
Brown had replaced another priest, Father Amal Raj, who sought transfer from St. Philip Neri’s after the May 13 murder of a Catholic family in the village. Naval officers threatened Raj with death after he protested the shootings.
Security forces had previously attacked Alaipiddy and two other Catholic-majority villages, Vankalai and Pesalai, on June 17, 2006. During the attack, a grenade was thrown into Our Lady of Victory Church in Pesalai, where 200 people had taken shelter – killing one person and injuring 47.
“We were all inside the church when the navy and army broke in and opened fire. A grenade was thrown in through a window,” Mariyadas Loggu told the Associated Press.
Civilians often take shelter in churches, viewing them as safe havens; in some villages, residents who are fearful of air raids sleep every night at the local Catholic church.
Catholic priests elsewhere on the Jaffna Peninsula have confirmed the deaths of many civilians through aerial bombing, shelling, shooting and crossfire – much of it carried out by Sri Lankan security forces.
Civilians are targeted by both army and Tiger rebels – with soldiers arresting and interrogating hundreds, while Tiger rebels have tortured and killed whole families suspected of siding with government forces.
By September 2006, more than 200,000 people had been displaced in the northeast, with homes, schools and places of worship destroyed indiscriminately.
Blurred Lines
Church officials have also complained about government blockades on the Jaffna Peninsula, cutting off vital food and medical supplies to civilians who are affected by, but not involved in the conflict.
“In a civil war, the lines are blurred indeed,” Godfrey Yogarajah, president of the National Christian Evangelical Fellowship of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), told Compass. He pointed out that religious liberty issues are intrinsically linked to the general climate of human rights abuse.
The NCEASL has called for urgent United Nations intervention.
“Thousands of people are being arbitrarily arrested, tortured or ill-treated,” NCEASL declared in a recent statement. “We call upon the international community to raise their voices and prevent the massacre of the innocents in this country. The establishing of a United Nations human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka is an urgent need. The world cannot stand by and watch as this situation deteriorates, while every day, people pay with their lives.”
Attacks on churches are not new to Sri Lanka. Since 2002, large mobs – often led by Buddhist monks – have led a string of attacks on churches in the south. Buddhist clergy have also campaigned for a national anti-conversion law, modeled on similar laws in India, to restrict the growth of Christian churches.
Two separate anti-conversion bills are still making their way through Parliament, although the renewal of civil war has brought a temporary halt to the campaign. (See Compass Direct News, “Anti-Conversion Bill Revived in Parliament,” April 26, 2006.)
SIDEBAR
Threats and Attacks in Southern Sri Lanka
Bangaragama: At about 11:15 a.m. on February 11, a mob began throwing stones into a hall owned by the Christian Center in Bangaragama, Colombo district, as people were praying inside.
Roofing was damaged but no injuries were recorded. A complaint was registered with local police.
This was not the first attack on the Christian Center. On December 24, 2006, anti-Christian posters were displayed in the town, and on December 10 a mob smashed the hall windows.
Polonnaruwa: On the morning of February 9, people traveling in a van with a loudspeaker began calling residents of Polonnaruwa district to a public meeting at the New Town Buddhist Vihara. The meeting was called to “chase away Christians and those who help Christians.”
The van was spotted in several areas of Polonnaruwa district. Although permission to use a loudspeaker is required by law, police said no such permission had been granted.
When the event took place at 3 p.m., about 150 people attended. The police were present and took action to prevent any outbreak of violence. During the meeting, however, the crowd decided they would strongly advise Christian clergy in the area to stop Christian activity in the district or face harsh consequences.
This threat, if carried out, would violate the freedom of religion and freedom of worship guaranteed to all citizens under Sri Lankan law.
Source: National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka
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Slain Priest’s Memorial in Turkey Opens Way to Reconciliation
Killer’s parents show up before service for murdered clergyman.
by Peter Lamprecht
TRABZON, Turkey, February 6 (Compass Direct News) – Turkey’s Catholics extended reconciliation to this tense Black Sea city yesterday, exactly one year after a local teenager shot an Italian priest while he was praying in his church.
Trabzon has come under increasing criticism in the Turkish and international press after the killer of Father Andrea Santoro and the suspected assassin of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink emerged as Black Sea locals. Tight security both in and around the church indicated that authorities did not want a repeat of either incident.
“Trabzon is an honest and clean city,” Anatolian Bishop Luigi Padovese said in Turkish at the opening of an 11:30 a.m. mass in Trabzon’s St. Mary Church to commemorate the death of Fr. Santoro. “We will continue to trust the honest people here.”
Underlining the importance of these words for Turkey’s Catholics, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of Italy’s Bishops Conference, and Antonio Lucibello, Vatican nuncio to Turkey, celebrated the mass.
“The majority of [Trabzon’s] population is like us [Christians], they reject violence and can’t understand such murders,” Bishop Padovese commented to Compass.
A Turkish Protestant attending the service said that negative press against Trabzon has increased nationalist anger among segments of the city’s youth.
“Certain young people have begun wearing a white hat [like that worn by Ogun Samast, who reportedly confessed to murdering Dink] because they see Samast as a leader and a hero,” Sezgin Saglamer told Compass. “The source of this anger is not against Christians: it’s partly because the media have excessively faulted Trabzon.”
The mother, sisters and cousin of the murdered priest were also in attendance from Italy bearing a message of forgiveness.
Fr. Santoro’s mother’s first act upon entering the small church was to kneel on the exact spot her son had been praying when 16-year-old Oguzhan Aydin shot him from behind. Alone with a few security police and clergy, she wept softly in prayer before rising to walk around the rest of the chapel.
“My family and I have forgiven with all our hearts,” Fr. Santoro’s sister told the daily Today’s Zaman following the mass. “Before Jesus died he said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’”
The unexpected arrival of the killer’s parents at 11 a.m. created a minor stampede as dozens of Turkish journalists cornered the pair, climbing on pews and shoving aside a nun. The couple eventually broke free and met privately with Cardinal Ruini and Bishop Padovese to express their sympathy.
“It was very moving that the mother and father of the murderer came,” Bishop Padovese commented. “We could see that they were genuinely saddened by the whole event.”
The exchange stood in sharp contrast to previous comments by Aydin’s mother, who had reportedly defended her son after his sentence. According to Turkish press reports, she said, “If my son is jailed for the state, for the people, then so be it with my blessing. He is jailed for Allah.”
Media Contribution to Deaths
Aydin was given a prison sentence of 18 years and 10 months in October for shooting Fr. Santoro. As a minor, he is expected to serve only 10.5 years of that sentence.
Contrary to reports in the Turkish media, Bishop Padovese told Compass that Aydin’s parents did not meet Fr. Santoro’s mother. The bishop said he had hoped to prevent her from experiencing shock.
Though the ceremony received positive coverage in the Turkish media, members of the Catholic community were wary of several dozen Turkish journalists covering the event.
One member of the congregation commented to Compass that it was negative nationalist media reports against Fr. Santoro, and more recently against Dink, that had provoked their deaths. Local press had published angry statements that the Italian priest was working to convert Muslims to Christianity.
A heavy police presence at yesterday’s memorial service highlighted the uncertainty that Trabzon’s small Christian community continues to face.
“Christians in Trabzon are not afraid, but they have become more careful,” Bishop Padovese told Compass, adding that he was thankful for the excellent security provided by the city.
“Father Andrea always told us that he was more worried for us than he was for himself,” commented one Turk of Muslim background who had attended the church during Fr. Santoro’s three years in Trabzon.
Christians in Turkey have faced increased persecution during the past year. Attacks on foreign Catholic priests occurred in Izmir, Mersin and Samsun in 2006, the most serious in July when a man with a history of mental instability knifed an elderly French priest outside Samsun’s Mater Dolorosa church.
Converts to Christianity have also faced attacks, most recently the stoning of Agape Protestant Church in Samsun last month.
In his homily, interpreted from Italian into Turkish, Cardinal Ruini underlined the necessity for freedom of conscience to underpin worship of God.
“True and sincere worship of God is only possible with free and brotherly love,” Cardinal Ruini said. “We’ve come here to highlight religious freedom.”
*** Photographs of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Andrea Santoro’s family and the Saint Mary Church are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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Uzbekistan Admits Arrest of Protestant Pastor
Indictment equates ‘Charismatic Pentecostals’ with Islamist extremists.
by Barbara G. Baker
ISTANBUL, February 14 (Compass Direct News) – Uzbekistan’s religious authorities admitted publicly for the first time this week that an Uzbek Christian pastor was arrested last month in the eastern city of Andijan and now faces criminal charges.
“Dmitry Shestakov, who calls himself a pastor and heads an illegal religious organization which operated in the Andijan region, has been arrested,” the press service of Uzbekistan’s Religious Affairs Committee told the Russian Interfax news agency on February 12.
Denying reports that Shestakov was an evangelical pastor affiliated with the legally registered Full Gospel Church, the press service claimed he was not an authorized leader of any officially recognized religious organization in Uzbekistan.
Rather, the Uzbek government agency said, he was an “imposter” leading an underground group identified as “Charismatic Pentecostals” who were engaged in “missionary and proselytizing activities under Shestakov’s leadership.”
But according to a written statement from Shestakov’s lawyer on February 12, a church document proves that the pastor has been authorized to conduct official worship services in the Full Gospel Church since October 5, 2004.
Shestakov, 37, was arrested in a raid on his registered Full Gospel Church in Andijan during Sunday worship services on January 21.
He was kept incommunicado for the next two weeks, denied any contact with his lawyer, family or church members.
In an official indictment filed against Shestakov by Andijan prosecutors on January 30, the pastor was charged with operating an illegal religious organization, inciting religious hatred and distributing materials promoting religious extremism.
If convicted on these criminal charges, he faces maximum sentences from five to 10 years in prison for each separate offense.
Prepared by a senior investigator in the Andijan prosecutor’s office, the indictment against Shestakov equated the so-called “Charismatic Pentecostals” group with Islamic extremist groups like Hizb ut-Takhrir, Akramia and Tovba.
The indictment identified Shestakov’s group, along with these Islamist groups, as “religious-political extremist organizations which, under the guise of meeting religious needs, began to strive to seize power.” It also accused all of the religious groups of causing divisions, constituting a “threat to national security.”
It was not until February 3 that Shestakov was first allowed to read the accusations against him. Local authorities have refused to confirm any date set for his court trial.
On February 6, they also attempted to impose a state-appointed lawyer upon the pastor. But that same day, Shestakov’s own lawyer arrived to take the case at the public prosecutor’s office, just as prison guards escorted his client into the building.
“It was an answer to our prayers,” one member of the congregation said. “All our church was fasting and praying for his lawyer to come.”
Local sources who were allowed to bring Shestakov food and other necessities last week reported that he seemed to be keeping up his courage, despite some health problems. He is being held in solitary confinement, according to Forum 18 news service.
Reaction to Uzbek Conversions
According to a report from the Russian newspaper Pravda yesterday, the 37-year-old Shestakov is being accused of “converting Muslims to Christianity.”
He had been subjected to previous harassment by Andijan prosecutors in June 2006, when secret police raided his home and church, temporarily detaining him and confiscating tapes, videos and printed literature.
The crackdown was an apparent reaction to ethnic Uzbeks converting to Christianity through Shestakov’s ministry. His 100-member congregation in Andijan worships in both the Russian and Uzbek languages. In these services, according to his wife Marina, whole families have become Christians, people have been healed of epilepsy, and several home groups have formed.
But after verbal warnings that serious criminal charges were about to be filed against him, Shestakov fled Andijan last summer with his wife and three children to avoid arrest. After a few months they returned, and by late November Shestakov resumed his open ministry in the church.
“We felt that it had calmed down,” his wife said. “If they wanted to find Dmitry, it was easy. But nothing happened. We organized Christmas meetings, and had a big service with prayers on New Year’s Eve. So we decided there was no problem, and he wasn’t wanted anymore.”
But within two hours of his detention, Shestakov was told he had remained on the “wanted” list. Officials read to him an arrest order that had been issued against him last June, declaring, “Now we have found you, and we are arresting you.”
‘Illegal Proselytizing’
The government statement issued two days ago described the pastor as a “former drug addict” involved in “illegal proselytizing.”
“He was a real drug addict,” Marina Shestakov acknowledged. “He was in prison several times, and was a terrible and awful man.”
But that was before “the day of Dmitry’s salvation,” she stressed. Since that time, more than 15 years ago, she said her husband’s life had been transformed by his Christian faith.
“All of our Christian life, God has been guiding us,” she said. “We believe God has a plan for us.”
But she admitted she was very afraid for the first two or three days after his arrest, as she tried to calm her children’s fears – and her own.
“I felt fear, not for my own sake or the children, but for my husband. Maybe they have begun to torture him, to beat him, to use the gas mask on him,” she said. “We know many stories when people just disappear forever. Police in Uzbekistan can put a lot of charges on you, or plant drugs.”
But in the week after his arrest, she said, “Our church was mobilized. People encouraged me every day. Some gave me money or food. They sustained me.”
Although she pled with the chief prosecutor to be allowed to visit her husband, she said he told her: “He was wanted, so we searched for him and caught him. He is a dangerous criminal. We forbid you to visit him.”
Uzbek authorities have been particularly repressive of all religious activities in Andijan after a May 2005 uprising there in which hundreds of protestors were killed by government troops.
After the U.S. State Department added Uzbekistan to its religious freedom “blacklist” last November as a Country of Particular Concern, the country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry declared it was “perplexed” by such an “unfounded” rating.
“In the last years, not a single fact of an interfaith standoff or conflict situations, neither among the confessions themselves nor [between] confessions and the state structures was observed in the country,” the ministry claimed in an official statement on November 25, 2006.
*** A photograph of Pastor Dmitry Shestakov is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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COMPASS DIRECT NEWS
News from the Frontlines of Persecution
Jeff Sellers, Managing Editor
Bureau Chiefs:
Barbara Baker, Middle East
Sarah Page, Asia
Peter Lamprecht, Middle East Correspondent
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